00:03Hi everyone, I'm Ashley from The Hollywood Reporter, and we're here in the studio with Brandon Michael Hall.
00:08I'm Brandon Michael Hall from The Mayor.
00:09From The Mayor, premiering on ABC on Tuesday night. Thanks for stopping by.
00:15All right, so tell me what it's about.
00:16It's about a young up-and-coming rapper named Courtney Rose who does a publicity stunt to promote his new
00:22rap album.
00:22And Courtney being a very ambitious guy, he runs for mayor, and he winds up winning of Mayor Fort Gray,
00:30California.
00:30That's amazing. So you are not a rapper?
00:35Maybe.
00:36Before auditioning for this show?
00:37I was.
00:38Were you?
00:38If I consider myself, yeah, I was a rapper. I had some hot bars. I was throwing down some bars.
00:42I was a part of a music group when I was 16 called The Yard Boys.
00:46Ooh, okay.
00:47T-Y-B, yeah. Shout out to The Yard Boys.
00:49And we dropped our first mixtape when I was 16. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. When I was 14, we
00:55dropped a mixtape.
00:56I was 14 because 16, I moved and went to Greenville, South Carolina to the Governor's School.
01:00So I wasn't as affiliated then, but when I was 14, we dropped a mixtape called The Million Dollar Hit
01:05Stars, which you can still find on Dat Piff, which is kind of cool.
01:09And it was my first time where I got to express myself as an artist.
01:15There was a lot of things that was just happening in life, and I think for a kid, we always
01:19try to find ourselves, we try to find different outlets for ourselves to express ourselves.
01:24And rap was the ultimate expression for me.
01:27Yes.
01:27And so, yeah, that was when I found poetry.
01:28I love how full circle it's come.
01:30Oh, it has, yeah.
01:30Yeah. So when you went to the Governor's School, I read that you were the first male graduate ever accepted
01:36into Juilliard.
01:37The first black male graduate.
01:38Oh, watch out now.
01:40From Juilliard.
01:40Yeah.
01:40So, and then after that, you were on Search Party, and then you are now starring in this ABC show.
01:46So what was the audition like? I mean, did you have to do A Million Components?
01:51For Juilliard or for the mayor?
01:53No, no, no, for the mayor.
01:53For the mayor, yeah.
01:54Yeah, the mayor took four auditions.
01:56So I was working on a film called Les Bombs, and that's going to drop pretty soon.
02:02And I was sitting on set, and I got the email.
02:05The email came through, and they were like, hey, there's this new untitled city mayor project.
02:09And I was like, all right, this seems cool.
02:11Scroll down, and it said, a rapper turns political mayor.
02:16And I was like, all right, that's even better, rap.
02:18And they said, you have to do two freestyles in the audition.
02:22So I said, if I don't get the acting down, I'm definitely going to get the rapping down.
02:25And so I went into a Telsey office, and I did the first initial audition.
02:33Went back, and then I got a slew of notes from Jeremy Bronson.
02:37And he was basically saying, do everything different.
02:39Do the entire thing different.
02:40And so I went back for the second audition, did it completely different.
02:44And then I went back and finished shooting Les Bombs.
02:47I got a call back that they wanted to see me during a Skype session.
02:51Did the Skype session.
02:52Then they flew me out to L.A.
02:53I got to perform in front of the entire production company and the producers and all them.
02:59And then a week later, I was writing, and I got the call.
03:04Amazing.
03:05Lots of steps.
03:06Lots of bars to pass.
03:07So the show also has Yvette Nicole Brown, whom we all love from Community as your mom.
03:12And then we also have the great Lea Michele of Glee and Scream Queens.
03:16And the show is executive produced by David Diggs, the Tony winner of Hamilton.
03:22So he writes all the raps for the show, and he coaches you on that.
03:27So how has that process been?
03:29That's been really nice.
03:30David and I have cultivated a really good friendship.
03:34And David is a very, very specific guy when it comes to music, when it comes to his art.
03:39And so he'll have me in the booth.
03:41He's even done Skype sessions as well.
03:43Oh, wow.
03:43Because he's working on his new TV show, Snowpiercer.
03:47And congrats on that, Diggs.
03:48But he's shooting in Canada, and he'll Skype in.
03:51He's like, all right, B, let's run through this.
03:53He's like, oh, you need to fix this word.
03:55It needs to be a little bit more Bayer-like.
03:56I need you to hit it like this.
03:58And so David has been a coach on how to specifically find my voice in rap and as Courtney Rose.
04:07And with Lea Michele and Yvette, Lea is a really great person to work with because she's so on point.
04:13She's so on point of her game, and she represents Valentina in a great, great light.
04:17And I'm excited for everyone to see how she shines in that.
04:20And Yvette is mom on and off the screen.
04:22When I moved to L.A., Yvette was the first one to be like, all right, you need to get
04:26this.
04:26We need to do this.
04:27We need to do this.
04:27And she met my mom recently, and they'll build a relationship.
04:31And so the relationship that you see between Yvette and I on the screen is the same one that you
04:37see off the screen.
04:38It's very authentic.
04:39Awesome.
04:39And I love her to death.
04:40Yes, amazing.
04:41Let's talk a bit more about the rapping.
04:43So the pilot gives a very, very short preview of what your rapping style is.
04:48How would you describe it?
04:49Like, if you were to reference, you know, contemporary rappers, like, what can we kind of expect a blend of?
04:55You're going to get a blend of, you know, it's not even much of a blend.
05:02You're going to get a bass-sounding show.
05:04It's going to sound like Oakland.
05:06It's going to be from that Northern California tip, you know, that hyphy movement that came from the E-40s
05:12and the Nephthiferos and the Mac Drays, you know,
05:15because that's where David is from, and that's where his roots are.
05:18So that's what you're going to hear a lot of in the show.
05:20Did you know much about that specific rap scene beforehand?
05:22To be honest, no, I didn't.
05:23And from the South, you notice, like, the Southern hip-hop in Northern East Coast, Northern West Coast hip-hop
05:31is very similar because of the migration that happened.
05:34But I didn't really know much about the hyphy movement, and it took Diggs and some of his other friends
05:40to get me on that tip and watching a lot of interviews and music interviews about that.
05:46But it's a different, it's a completely different way of rapping, and I like it.
05:50I really like it.
05:50Awesome, definitely.
05:51Also, David is known for his lightning-fast rapping in Hamilton.
05:56Are you, do you attempt that at all?
05:58I attempt it in some areas.
06:00I can't rap fast like David, but I'm working on it.
06:03All right, awesome.
06:04But no, I haven't attempted it yet.
06:06Very cool.
06:07So did you know much about local politics before you started this show?
06:12Or just even the process of doing, like getting involved in it?
06:15Yeah.
06:16When it comes to politics in the show, I didn't, I knew of the problems in my own community.
06:24The political problems of my community, I didn't really know about.
06:26But when you grow up in an environment where you see these problems constantly happening,
06:31you hear these stories from your friends, you get a tip of what's going on in your environment.
06:36And so I knew that there were, there are a lot of social issues that are going on.
06:40And what Courtney and being a part of this show has done for me is educated me on the
06:46things that I need to know.
06:47And then from the education, I've been able to reach out and find out ways to help, find
06:53out ways to dive into my community and reach out to people and, you know, figure out ways
06:56we can make a change.
06:58And I think that's the biggest form is just education and starting there.
07:01But yeah, that's what I've been able to do.
07:03Very cool.
07:04So we happen to live in a country where our president is from the entertainment sector,
07:10which is somewhat coincidental.
07:12There's a few references in the pilot, like, you know, Russian hack jokes and things like
07:17that.
07:18I mean, did you mean for there to be, not you, but the team mean for there to be quite
07:22a parallel and how do you hope it lands today?
07:26Um, I, uh, maybe there's a parallel.
07:29I don't know.
07:30Um, the artists, the artists inside of me is saying that we're, what we're doing with
07:35this is holding up a mirror and showing society what's actually going on and also showing an
07:40alternative of what is happening.
07:42I mean, we also, also saw yesterday of what happened with the shooting and, you know, prayers
07:47out to everyone that was involved of, well, everyone that, um, is suffering and hopefully
07:52recovering from that.
07:54Um, but we saw that there are a lot of things that are happening.
07:58We're still in a day and age in which these crazy things are taking place.
08:01And to have a young, uh, guy from the inner city come into power, knowing, like I said before,
08:10knowing that there are problems going on, just not being very much educated in it.
08:14And then through his friends and through Valentina and through his mom, he finds, he gets that
08:19education.
08:20Um, so what we're doing is we're just holding up a mirror and we're saying that there is
08:25a, there is change that can be happened.
08:27There is a way to make it happen.
08:28And here's a possible way of doing that, you know?
08:31So that's, yeah.
08:32Very cool.
08:33Uh, so the show being set in the Bay area, you, you were dropped there for a few days hanging
08:39out.
08:40Um, what's your favorite thing that you saw there?
08:41Yeah, Diggs dropped me in the Bay for three days and just left me.
08:45But not like in the, not like in San Fran.
08:48Nah, he didn't.
08:48I was out, I was out during where the mission is, like the whole mission trail.
08:51He left me with two of his really good friends.
08:53And to be honest, it's, the Bay is a good, for me, it's a good blend between New York and
08:59Los Angeles.
09:00You know, it's the city.
09:01I agree, yeah.
09:01But it's slow paced and everyone's very chill.
09:04So, uh, so it was very nice.
09:06What, what I, the main thing that stuck out to me is I went down to Fruitvale Station.
09:09Oh, wow.
09:10And I was at the same place of where, uh, the incident happened.
09:14And so I was able to connect, connect to that on that level and be able to bring that spirit
09:19of what we're actually doing the show for into the show, um, and constantly having that
09:24in the back of my mind.
09:25Um, so that's, that's what I've been able to, that's what I grabbed from there.
09:29Yeah.
09:29And you're also a new LA resident.
09:31I'm a new LA resident.
09:33I'm on the LA.
09:34Is shot.
09:34So how's that going?
09:35It's good.
09:36I like LA.
09:37It's nice.
09:37It's, uh, it's very comforting.
09:39It's a very comforting city.
09:41Um, I've been lucky enough to meet LA natives.
09:44So that's a big thing of like, they're like, yo, go here instead of do this, try this out.
09:48Um, I still have yet to go to Disneyland.
09:51I'm going to try that out.
09:52Okay.
09:52Um, but no, I like, I like LA.
09:54I really dig it.
09:55I really dig it.
09:55Cool.
09:56Favorite, favorite neighborhood of LA so far.
09:58Ooh.
09:59Or you have a favorite like spot to eat?
10:03Santa Monica.
10:04Oh, okay.
10:05I love going to the beach.
10:06Uh, that's my new like favorite thing now.
10:08Santa Monica walking down to Venice and was that Manhattan beach?
10:11That's next.
10:12Um, cause you're, you know, that too.
10:14Um, that's that.
10:16And there is a, there is a coffee shop that I found in my neighborhood, but I'm not going
10:20to say what it was.
10:21Keep it a secret for now.
10:22Coming out there.
10:23Uh, yeah.
10:23So when you're, when you're preparing to shoot, um, is there specific rap songs you're listening
10:28to beforehand?
10:29And yeah, I listened to E 40 sprinkle me off of his album.
10:32Um, oh man, it's not coming off the top of my head, but I love what he's talking about
10:37in, in those rap lyrics.
10:39And it's very, very, uh, parallel to what Courtney's going through.
10:42And this is a song called sprinkle me.
10:44And I think he he's doing it with his partner that he had, uh, he had his rap group with.
10:47And so, uh, uh, yeah, I like that.
10:50I like that song.
10:51And then because there is original music that's snippeted in the show.
10:54I mean, can we expect like some kind of sound?
10:57Absolutely.
10:58For sure.
10:58So Courtney was promoting his album.
11:00So what we're, we're doing, what we're going to do is we're also going to promote an album
11:03too.
11:04So for every episode, there's going to be a track that drops.
11:06So you guys can check that out on iTunes as well.
11:09Is there a subsequent tour?
11:11You know what?
11:12Possibly.
11:12If you look directly at ABC and tell them, they might say, yeah, we will work on that.
11:18All right.
11:18That's all the time that we have.
11:19Thank you so much for having me.
11:20Of course.
11:21Thank you for stopping by.
11:22The Mayor premieres on ABC on Tuesday night at 9.30.
11:26And for more entertainment news, head to THR.com.
