Larenz Tate on Black Hollywood, British Actors Taking Over Film, Finances, & Working with 50 Cent

What are some of the challenges that people face in Black Hollywood as far as getting a movie produced or not getting the same budget for their white counterparts? Because I don't think people have an appreciation of that.

As our counterparts, right? And that being said, it's the same way. We're not valued the way I believe we're supposed to be valued. My graduates from my school being Forbes, backdrop.

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Money.

It comes with a lot of questions, and Fidelity can help you get answers. Visit fidelity.com slash blackwealth to learn more.

All right, guys.

Welcome back.

EYL. We back home, back in New York. And this is a legendary episode because we got a legend with us.

This is legendary. This is a generational talent. Yes.

So, Lorenz Tate, I think I first saw you in Minutes to Society.

We got to go back further than that.

What was further than that?

South Central.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Oh, you know what?

Okay, go ahead. Yo.

South Central.

I'm going to tell you why.

That's OG Bobby Johnson?

No, no, no.

The show, not the movie. Wait.

Okay, y'all both are right. So there was a movie called South Central. Right.

Well, OG Bobby Johnson.

Played by Glenn.

Legend.

That was a legendary too.

But Menace actually did come before.

Before.

The TV show. The TV show was after.

You know why I ever know the TV show?

Tell me why.

Maya Campbell. Ah, yeah. She was one of my favorites.

She was. She was.

Shout out to her.

Yeah.

So, so Lorenz Tate, man, is, what was that? 25 years ago?

Wow. 30 years ago? 93. Yo, we getting older, bro.

Yeah.

And he still looks like he's 17. 30 years. So, an illustrious career, not only acting, but directing as well. And entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur.

We talked about investing, your passion for financial literacy. I know you're a big advocate for your hometown, Chicago. And one of these people have just remained consistent. It's extremely hard to remain consistent in anything, but especially in Hollywood. We know that there's trials and tribulations and a lot of people you don't see anymore. So to see you even now, Shout out to 50 and the whole Power franchise.

Yeah, Councilman Tate is a rock.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's dope. So we're going to have a really dope conversation. But first and foremost, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

And listen, I appreciate the warm welcome and having me here. I'm a huge fan of what y'all are doing. You know, we saw each other in L.A. at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood celebration and award show. I told y'all I was looking forward to coming to New York, spending some time with y'all. I've been watching y'all. and truly loving what you all are doing for the community and for the culture. The way you all present what you present and what you represent is so relatable and it's palatable, right?

Because oftentimes when we think about financial literacy or things with finances, it just feels like, quite honestly, everything is sort of encrypted, right? It doesn't feel like we can always understand it and what y'all have and what y'all do. It's just, it's really clear.

You know what I mean?

So it's a beautiful thing to see. Two brothers doing what y'all doing. Y'all been rocking together since y'all was, you know, youngins.

Since Menace.

Since the days of Menace. We like, oh, don't. Oh, man, you already know.

So I just want to give y'all brothers y'all flowers and salute to what you both are doing for us.

For all of us in the culture. So thank you.

I appreciate that, man.

And likewise to you, especially when we talk about all the accomplishments of actors, but specifically black actors.

Right. Right.

The, the leading men, right. From, like you said, menace, we can't forget that presidents being in crash. And now, you know, being on TV with the power series, like you've been consistently a representation for us. And it's never been any controversy with you.

It's just been like, yo, this is the guy. For a long time. So we appreciate you.

Well, thank you, man.

And I've been really fortunate to have a career that has spanned it over the length of time. Y'all just mentioned Menace to Society, which was my first feature film back in 93. And I can't believe that it's 30 years. It's like, where did the time go?

Right. And along the way, I've had some amazing life experiences. There's been a lot of ups. There's been some downs. highs and lows.

But for me, I just always wanted to do what I love to do.

And I felt like it's a privilege.

My mother and father always said to me, specifically, my father would tell my brothers and I, you know, y'all in this business and whatever you do, you know, you find.

Your calling, right?

I understood what the assignment was and run the marathon and not the sprint. And so I'm still in that marathon. And so now, We rocking.

This is crazy. I feel like you just got Darius Lovejoy.

Oh, yo, yo.

I got some.

Yeah.

Every now and again, I'll fall in and out of. You might get a little old dog in a minute. You might get a little Anthony Curtis from Dead Presidents.

Life.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You mean life.

You know what I'm saying? So, you know what I'm saying? There might be some highs and lows in here.

Love it.

Love it. So, let's get into this. All right. financial literacy mistakes. So we interviewed Steve Harvey, legendary.

I love that interview, by the way.

Thank you.

That was like, that was a legendary like interview.

It was so informative. It just was, it was amazing.

Thank you. Thank you. So one of the things that he said was that, you know, there's really no blueprint to follow in Hollywood. A lot of people make mistakes as far as, you know, having the manager, the agent, the CPA, it's a lot to, you know, keep track of. And, You don't really know where your money is going and you don't know what properly to invest in. Then you might not have a role for a while. I hear that from a lot of actors, like, you know, that it's a very tough business because you might be hot for a year, then you might be cold for two years.

So what was your experience? What has your experience been in Hollywood? What are some of the mistakes that you have probably made? And what are some of the lessons that you've learned as far as investing, business, financial literacy?

Well, I'm glad you pointed that out. The truth of the matter is there's a lot of highs and lows. There's going to be dry seasons. There's going to be times where you're super, super hot. And there's times where you're cold. And when you're cold in Hollywood, especially as a black actor.

it's real cold.

You would sometimes be sitting on that glacier in Antarctica, you know.

What I mean?

Like Chicago.

Yeah, it's cold, cold.

And what happens is, you know, we get a lot of money up front sometimes, depending on, you know, where you are in your career. So you get this money up front, but your only good is your last project. So your value to the bottom line when you're dealing with networks or studios, it's like, how valuable are you?

And sometimes if you're not that valuable anymore, you're not bringing in the money. But what happens is there's a lot of money going out of the door, right? So you get this money. And if you hit a time in your career where the money is not, you know, sustainable, it's not really coming in, but everything is going out the door. So you, as you mentioned, you got agents, you got managers, right? You got financial people that you have to pay. You have lawyers you have to pay, right?

You have, let's say, if you have a team, pardon me, for like publicity and all that stuff and all the things that come with creating an entity or creating a commodity as an artist.

So it's a lot of money that's going out. And let's not forget the government. The gangsters, you know what I'm saying?

The silent partner. Yeah, man, the silent partner. If you don't do it, they stick you up, right? They come and knock at that door. And so in my experience, I just kind of started out, because I started out early, I kind of had something set up a little differently. When I was making money as a miner, a portion of my money had to go into a savings account, right?

So I couldn't get to the money until I was either 18 or 21. They automatically would put my money away. So I was working. My first gig was in 1985.

There was a remake of the TV show, The Twilight Zone.

I was just watching this.

Right, right, right.

So the twilight zone, but I was just wanting everybody to, I'm not in the twilight zone from the fifties and the sixties.

I'm not that old. They remade it and I was 10, right?

Time traveler.

Yeah, the time traveler, right? So I was about 10 years old and it was my first professional paid gig. I want to say maybe it was 500 bucks, but because I'm a minor, the money had to go right into a savings account, basically a trust, if you will.

And that set up by set up they just do that legally you know be when you're a minor right.

We have the stories are like Gary Coleman with it was a little different.

Well because they have they also not all of the money okay so a portion of it I mean let me be clear about that a portion of the money is goes into account of however you get paid because.

You're a minor.

But then the more money you make, so let's say if you are a child star, I wasn't a big child star.

I was just working here and there. So I wasn't making a lot of money at that time.

And so what happens often is when you make a lot of money in your career and you've never made a lot of money before, you have handlers. Sometimes the people in your family, sometimes it's people who are outside of your family. And they have access to that money. But if you're a minor, what do you know? You're not learning this in school, right? Because you're being paid like an adult. So it gets, you know, it can get a little funny for me. My parents never touched my money. They just made sure that it was, you know, anytime I work on a little project, a guest star here, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, make sure.

That that money go.

And, you know, I would have, have to pay taxes and all that stuff as a kid because of, anyway, by the time I got roles on like, you know, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I did a guest star there, Family Matters, still making a little bit of money. When I did my first film, which was Menace to Society, didn't make a whole lot of money, but I was still a minor.

I was 17 when I played Old Dog, still a minor, right? So all of my money was still going.

So by the time I was 18, there was a nice little money set aside for me. And for me, I just did not want to spend my money on all the things I saw the people around me spending their money on. I was like, I'm going to save this just because now I have access to it.

I just didn't want to, you know, trick it off.

And the more I, you know, developed a career where I command a little bit more money, I kept that same mentality. made sure I paid the taxes, and I just always just saved the money. I was not spending money on very expensive cars. I didn't spend money on jewelry. That wasn't for me. And I felt like I didn't need it necessarily. I just need the basic essentials. And the one thing I'm happy about is because when there were times where I hadn't been working, I wasn't doing a couple, you know, those movies or I wasn't doing a TV show like South Central at that time, it was about 18 or 19. I had a way to be able to still take care of myself because I was out of the house from underneath my parents' roof

when I was about 16 or 17. My brothers and I got a place together. My brothers were making money. They were, you know, in the business, Lamar and Leron acting and You know, Leron, who's our oldest brother, he started writing and started getting writing gigs and Lamar was working. So I was 16, 17, living with my brothers and my parents allowed them.

To be like my guardians.

So you're not, this is in L.A.

This is in L.A.

Chicago, 17, 17.

Yeah.

So I went to Chicago early.

So when I was not living in Chicago, when I was back in 85, at that point we were in LA, my father was going to school to get his another degree at USC. And so my mother felt like her three sons needed to be close to their dad because we were away from him for a couple of years. And, you know, the neighborhood started changing on the West side of Chicago. And she wanted to make sure that we weren't a product of our environment. And an interesting story, how we even got into the, Hollywood game or the industry is that she wanted us to spend more time.

So we decided to, they relocated us to LA, but we didn't feel like we really fit in. And we went from one sort of hood to a Dex, but we thought like California was like palm trees and, you know, yeah, living nice. But listen, they ain't nothing sweet about them, you know, those neighborhoods.

Where'd you move to in LA?

Right, where did we move? We moved right on near West LA. You know what I'm saying?

I was like on the cusp of, West LA where there was some pockets of the community that started changing. We thought it was nice. And it was like, what is this big gangs over here?

And they, they throwing up. It's toxic.

Yeah. They, they, yeah, they throw it in and was crazy because we would, When we came from Chicago, we didn't understand like colors was the thing so if you went all that Red or you went all blue is like wait a minute We were so confused by it all right and so my father my mother was like y'all not gonna get caught up in this so my father got us involved with a performing art school called inner city cultural center and it kind of allowed us to kind of get away from that during the summer times or like weekends and it was really nice because I We were able to do theater, music, dance. It was like a real cultural thing. Black artists. And I'm happy that that happened. Along the way, they always made

sure that we went back to Chicago. They was like, y'all going to go home and spend time with your grandmother and your family, your cousins and uncles and aunts every summer. So we spent a lot of our summers in Chicago where I really started. you know, your first girlfriend, you know, all those, those elements in the neighborhood was still changing.

Right.

And I was able to see some real things happening.

So going, bouncing back from LA to Chicago, uh, I was able to see some real interesting things. By the time I got to do Old Dog, I was very clear of what the assignment was.

You know what I'm saying?

Without draft snitching, I was like, I know what this is.

Yeah, I've seen this character before.

I've seen this.

Say less. Let me just give you the script.

I got it.

I'll flip it.

But getting back to the money side of things, again, I just always wanted to find ways to save.

I got to a point where....

After Dead Presidents and Love Jones and Why Do Fools Fall in Love, I made some really good money.

Are those the films where you start negotiating your own contracts, finding out what you're worth in Hollywood?

Absolutely.

Right, because obviously Menace was great, and I feel it was Dead Presidents.

Was Inkwell in between?

Yeah, so it was Menace Society, the Inkwell, Dead Presidents, Love Jones.

Love Jones. And then Wild Fools Fall in Love.

Yeah.

And so at that point, after they saw the success of it, which is the film that you're like, all right, now I know what my worth is.

Here's what I'm negotiating for this film.

It's probably Love Jones.

Okay.

Because at that time, I had some success with the other films. And I knew that I could have some more negotiating power to be able to get the kind of money that I felt was necessary for me to have. And, you know, I remember talking to the president of New Line Cinema at the time, Mike DeLuca. I was telling him like, oh, I think I should get this amount of money. And he thought I was outpricing myself. He was like, listen, you know, I don't think you can, that's not what we're going to do. And I was like, nah, I think I want to, I think I deserve it.

You know what I mean? I'm going to come in, I'm going to do the.

Work and we'll be okay. And he was like, honestly, You know, I would love to give you that number, but we just don't. It's just it's just not in the budget because that film was not a big budget movie. So this wasn't a huge studio film, but I knew how important it was. So I told him a number and we settled on that. And my agents, you know, negotiated it at that point. And, you know, we were cool.

But I then understood by the time I had gone to other projects, you know, sometimes you would take either a pay cut because of the project. is significant enough for you to just you know to be a part of it you know you want to do things for the culture or whatever it is or things that speaks to you from an artist standpoint then you know by the time i got to uh negotiate why the fools fall in love to play frankie lyman you know i knew they had a little bit more money so each film or each project you do you would hope to have a bump so you want to get a little increase in pay and i was able to do so with that uh And there's a million different ways to create contracts or negotiate things. And if you have value,

it's really great. I've mentioned before, you're good as your last project. So studios and networks are like bottom line. They're really, it's about the business side of things, which oftentimes we as black actors are not as valuable, or at least we're told we're not as valuable as our white counterparts. And that's been something historically that we've been fighting against for so long, Black men and particularly Black women.

We don't get what we deserve. And so I understood a few things along the way. In negotiating, I oftentimes found myself saying, OK, I know about back end. I know about basically what would be royalties. So you want to have back-end participation. So you would negotiate a fee up front, but when the movie goes to theaters, there's where the real participation, the ownership, comes in and all the time I would think about like what about international because I know some of these movies go overseas and they would always say to me my entire career no overseas only domestic you have there is There are no deal points for international. And I would think, why not?

And it was said that black people don't sell overseas. Meaning it's only at the time they would say it's only one person. Will Smith, because I think he had done like Independence Day.

Right.

Well, or Denzel Washington. No, excuse me. I take that back. Wesley Snipes.

Cause he would do all those action films that they will sell over there.

So they were the only two people Denzel, you.

Know, sort of later, but it was like Will Smith and Wesley Snipes that were the ones who really commanded that box office domestic and international, uh, free, you know what I mean? To, to get that, to get the bag here and over there and get all the back end.

Right.

And I would go to, you know, overseas I would travel and I would think like no one knew who I was because they said we weren't valuable over there like our movies don't do well they don't sell them there but that was not the truth when you start traveling you start saying wait a minute I can't walk down the street and everybody knows the words to you know my dialogues of my films but they don't even speak English but they know how to say, you know, what'd you say about my mama?

You know what I mean?

They know, you know what I mean?

You know what I mean?

They know this stuff.

Right. And so I'm thinking to myself, something, something has to be off with that. And so I would discover that only certain people could get that international back end, you know, um, participation and how understood how important that was. Because I was saying, well, where's the backend participation going to?

Where's the people getting all those royalties? It was the studios and the producers. That is one of the things that I learned. Oh, you don't want to give up half of that and share that with me because that's generational wealth. You ain't going to split that with me. You give me enough to make me happy up front.

But when I hit that cold, or Antarctica when I'm hitting that glacier and I'm not getting those movies, I'm not getting that deals. Those residuals are important to me to sustain my lifestyle or to sustain the things I want to do. I want to send my children to college. I want to give some opportunities for them to start a business or whatever that is. I can't do that.

But those producers and those networks and those studio heads, they got that locked down.

So at the time, I'm trying to think, as you're coming up, nobody's putting you onto the game? Because there are black actors, like you mentioned, there's Denzel, there's Wesley, I'm thinking Omar Epps, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee's directing at this time, even Cuba Gooding. Is anybody aware of this?

I'm sure they are, but a lot of the information is not being passed around. And if the information is being passed around, we don't know how to utilize it. And I think that was part of one of the things when you say the mistakes, like I didn't know, you know, how to, like, I didn't really understand, like, how could I negotiate that? But the argument would be, what is your last movie do? So now you're basing it off that. What is your last movie do? And some things when it comes to films in the box office success may have nothing to do with you at all.

I might say, well, Love Jones didn't do anything. the numbers that they wanted to do in the box office, you know, from a financial standpoint, but it meant something to the culture.

Cultural.

So let me ask you this, as far as you've been in the game for 30 years, streaming, how has you, because I feel like everything has changed. And I remember when going to the movies was a big deal.

Sure.

Nobody really goes to the movies like that. I mean, some movies still doing well in the box office, but now everything is on Netflix straight to, you know, streaming services. even movies that have, you know, like Coming to America 2 where it's direct on one streaming service, right? How has that transition been like just to observe it? How has that affected Hollywood as far as the actors going from big box office productions to movies that are tailor-made for Netflix and Amazon Prime?

I'm glad you asked that. It's a really good question.

And it did affect us because when we would negotiate points, you know, we, was really banking on the box office success.

And once the switch happened, we didn't really understand.

No one understood what that would look like and how these deals would be put together. And now that's sort of the staple. Most people are watching things at their leisure on their phones or at home, streaming. And so you negotiate points back in.

You get whatever you're going to get up front.

And depending on what that streaming service is, it can kind of vary of what your deal could look like.

Do you think that it has hurt the mystique of being an actor? Because growing up, going to the movies was such a big thing. And it was such a big deal. And now it feels like it's become... Less of that because there's so much content out. It's like music, right? Going to buy the album used to mean a lot.

And now there's so much music on Apple Music that Lil Baby puts an album out, but then 2NE1 puts an album out, and then Drake puts it, and it kind of gets lost.

For me, I feel like I agree. It is sensory overload. There's so much content out there.

But I.

Can't complain about it. It's just what it is.

There's nothing that we can do to change it. So you have to adjust and pivot. find a way to be a part of it. So as opposed to standing on the sidelines, looking at the industry change and progress and evolve, jump in, you know, get involved with the streaming services, get involved with, you know, podcast or digital, get involved with, you know, content that, you know, you could be a part of and still be able to make a living and do what you want to do and love to do. And in some cases it's okay to, to go with a streaming service for a film or a concept because there's no pressure of the box office.

So I started looking at it from that standpoint. There's a demand for the content and they are subscription driven. So if I can help my movies that are on these platforms can help subscribers tune in, then great. For instance, we mentioned power and the whole, Power Universe, shout out to 50 and Courtney Kemp and everybody who was a part of that, Mark Canton, who are behind, you know, this incredible, huge, you know, show, right? That's, you know, on a premium network being stars. Whereas like, you know, subscription is crazy. Like that art, our show is, is a flagship show. It's driving a lot of subscriptions there, right?

And which we want to continue. And so there's a lot of business to be done in that space. And creatively, I think sometimes some of the better stuff is actually on these streaming services, especially when it comes to TV and TV series. Because you now can sort of live with these characters. You can live with these stories, right?

And you can really lean into it. You don't have to try to wrap everything up in a bow that you might do in a movie.

But I still think that the box office is still very viable. You know what I mean?

And because the studios and the networks are getting money from the subscriptions and they can put movies in The theaters, it's, the house never loses.

The house is always going to win. It's like Vegas.

They'll find a way to win. So, you know, for me, I think it's a great combination of both.

So when you talked about having a cold spell, this proverbial Siberia, where actors, plenty of them go through this at some point in their career. What are you doing in that old time? Is this the time now when you're creating? Are you investing? Are you saying like, maybe I'll start writing? What are the things that, are happening during this time when it's a cold spell?

Another very good question. For me, I'm not sitting tight. You know what I'm saying? I got a wife and four children, right? I got four sons, man.

And I got them, you know, and prior to me even being married and having children, my brothers and I would put our heads together. We would huddle up and figure out like how are we going to get this money, right? So we have to write, we have to produce, we have to be a part of telling our own stories and our narrative, right? And there needs to be other outlets.

So again, Where we are today, we just have more opportunities. We have more outlets. So there's really no excuses. But there were times where it's like, man, how do we how do we get this money? I'm going to be very honest. A lot of those things is because you have value and your face card is right.

You can do appearances.

You can sit and, you know, some people can show up and, and you know sign autographs other people can go and uh either write a book book tours or you can actually find ways in speaking engagements because your time is about is a value the fact that you have something to say people will come and so you find uh situations where people want you to come to their you know events or if there's a corporate situation where they feel like it would attract the eyes and the ears of the people that they're targeting, there certainly will, will bring you in and you can find a way to hustle that way. For me, it was like, always get something. My, my father would always say oatmeal is better than no meal.

Get it. You got to eat. You know what I'm saying?

So let me ask you this black Hollywood. And we've been spending a lot of time in black Hollywood. So, um, I'm hearing a lot of the same stories told like, it's very tough, it's difficult, the budgets are not the same. And a lot of people were saying the same thing. For the outside people that's not in that cluster and they don't understand, what are some of the challenges that people face in Black Hollywood as far as getting a movie produced or not getting the same budget for their white counterparts? Because I don't think people have an appreciation of that.

Well, the very thing that those who are outside of the Hollywood industry that are in our community that see the challenges that we deal with every day as a people. You know, we work twice as hard to get, you know, twice as less as our counterparts, right? That being said, it's the same way. We're not valued the way I believe we're supposed to be valued.

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So those budgets are really important for us so that we can have the kind of quality that we can present to the consumer. And the smaller the budget, the more creative you have to get. And we don't have resources oftentimes as our white counterparts. The real deal is we don't own any platforms the way we should. There's a few black owned platforms, but we don't have a lot of outlets. We don't have as many. So we are not sort of.

Governing over these.

Entities or these corporations um to say hey you guys have a great story y'all want to tell it and there's money to be made come here.

It's not it's not as many.

So when we do find that those places everybody's trying to go through one keyhole everybody's trying to go through one uh tunnel and even when you go to non-black owned places they'll tell you to go over there Because, you know, they have to find value in what we do. And that's changing quite a bit as we're making it very clear and we're loud about it because we have to.

That I always say, and I talk to execs in the industry in Hollywood that either look like us and particularly the ones who are not from the black community. I tell people all the time, we're not looking for handouts. We're not asking for any favors. Black folk have earned the right to have the things that we believe, right?

From what we've contributed in front of the camera, what we've done behind the camera, the things that we have done and changed the narratives.

And we've taken the reign.

We've been able to do so much and we've made y'all a lot of money. Ten times, a hundred times over in a real way. but also the consumers, black communities, black people support all movies, right? So we have earned that. We have earned the right to be at the table. We earned the right to have the decision-making power. And oftentimes in Hollywood, historically, black folks don't govern over anything.

We're in front of the camera and it looks good. Give black folks enough to keep them quiet, but not enough to make them a real difference or have a real impact on the other side of things.

And we want to change that.

We don't want to just have enough to keep us quiet, but really not make a difference. We're trying to really do something here and we've earned it on both sides. So now we have black entrepreneurs, and I don't mean to cut you off, but now we have black entrepreneurs or black you know, companies that recognize that and they, Hollywood has had to come together and be a part of sort of, you know, the movement and because they understand we bring a lot of money.

So you look at this, it's like, look at Black Panther.

That's what exactly I was- About to go with that?

That's where I was going because I was like, what you're saying is it takes for a Black Panther and a Ryan Coogler to do that, a billion dollar movie, do it again, another billion dollar success on its way and then you hear like, well, Disney has a division called Onyx and that was focusing on black creators. And so I wonder if, I mean, it seems like it's a timing thing, right? Because even now, like you said, there's a cold time, but now.

It's hot. It's a hot thing and it's a topic.

It's a topic.

Right?

And so now it brings more creatives, but having just Onyx isn't enough, right? I was going to, the next point was like, hey, Take me in entertainment.

Yeah, exactly.

Now this develops and it's like, you've been working on it for a long, but now the timing of it makes sense.

Yeah.

Because now we have executives who are in these places now that are, you know, the heads of production and their heads of these companies and entertainment companies that when I walk into a room, they understand. And it's not something that I have to, you know, beat them over the head about like, okay, they get it. And I'm not going to bring anything that's mediocre. I'm going to really, believe that I'll bring something that's quality or I won't bring it at all, right? But you mentioned Tapeman Entertainment, which is a production company, entertainment company that my brothers, Leron and Lamar and I decided to put together years ago.

And we've had some cool deals, you know, they'll go and give you a housing deal, make sure that you're cool, make me pay you some money, take care of you. But it's like, okay, it's great to be in there and it's great to get a little bit of that money, but we want to get the product out there. We want to be able to get the stories told. We want to be able to make sure that the voice is of the voice list can be heard. And if we are those, you know, the pathway and we're the conduits to do that, then we really need to see those who are like-minded and understand.

The bigger overall picture. And we want equity.

It's more than just, you know, getting a project off the ground. We want some ownership. And as we do business with other, you know, black entities, uh, quality you know we're looking for quality we team up with the quality we want equity because that's what it's about it is a business and so the fact that we recognize more of the business we walk into the rooms and we are on we we we we know what we're doing.

I thought old dogs don't come out he's gonna say we own our shit i was about to we're about.

To it's been a pleasure my brother um Anything that you want to make the public aware of? Any new projects? Of course, you know, Power, but anything you're working on?

Yeah, I want to talk about, obviously, Power, Ghost, Season 3. That's out. That's covered out. It's going to be an incredible season.

Councilman Rashad Tate.

Yes, Councilman Rashad Tate.

There's a connection.

And, you know, can't give too much away, but I can say that we've elevated some things. We're definitely going to, you know, see Councilman Tate. Up to his shenanigans.

If I had to do that, it wouldn't be. There's going to.

Be some backdoor deals and some nonsense going on. No, I'm excited about it. Somebody will be sacrificed.

Absolutely. Mandatory. It has to happen.

But I'm excited about this season and what the whole Power Universe is representing.

What else we got?

We my brothers and I actually are working on a docuseries about social injustice, about the marginalization of specifically black people.

And we filmed it in Chicago. Right.

We've been working on the west side and the south side of Chicago, really just showing, you know, why some of the things are happening, but beyond why are the things happening in terms of. the marginalization of us in our community, what are the solutions? And we are trying to create something that allows the people who are going through what they're going through to come up with the solutions.

Oftentimes it's people who are behind the scenes or off to the side who is not even, we're not even from the community deciding what is best for those who are dealing with the, but guess who knows? The people who have been able to survive, the people who have been able to overcome those hurdles and those pitfalls and those landmines. So we wanted to create something that allows the voices of those who are dealing with it to tell us what the solution is and let's figure that out.

So we're also involved with some redevelopment you know, we have to call it a redevelopment, but basically it's gentrification in the hood.

And I'm like, yo, hold up.

How can we be a part of that, you know, redevelopment? Because it's really important. And as you know, with gentrification, you know, it's valuable land, it's valuable, you know, communities, but They displace those who inhabit it.

And it's particularly black folks, black and brown people.

Right.

And so we're like, how can we find the social equity?

How can we find opportunities.

To keep, you know, to redevelop it, get all the amenities, housing, affordable housing, you know, businesses that the people who live there could take part and they're not displaced.

Right.

And we can create businesses and we can create, you know, schools and museums. And this is not like sort of a pipe dream. It's like, it is attainable.

It happens.

It just doesn't happen with us often. So we're doing all the things that we can to be a part of that. We're dealing with developers and architects and lawyers and, you know, financial people that, you know, look like us that we could be a part of the narrative to redevelop and help buy back the block.

You had my last thing, you had a successful audio series.

Yes, Bronzeville. So Bronzeville represents that. More of that?

Yeah, so we have more of that. Bronzeville is sort of a roadmap, if you will. The actual story is like a theater of the mind where you can hear this podcast, right?

But we scripted it. There's characters in it.

And it takes place in the 1930s, 1940s on the south side of Chicago in a community called Bronzeville where black folks were self-sufficient. And the way that they came became self-sufficient financially was running numbers. Other communities were, you know, bootlegging when doing liquor and all that stuff during prohibition.

Black folks, we were running numbers. And what happened was as a result of creating this economic infrastructure, they began to invest in the community. So these people were called policy kings, decided to invest into like the first black owned bank. The first department store in Chicago that was black on the grocery stores. And we had this metropolis of of a community where we had our own police departments when we policed ourselves. And we had our own grocery stores and butcher shops where people will look out for each other.

And I felt like we got away from that.

And we want to tell the story of how we can get back to that because it is attainable for us as black folks to unite, thrive and have a true a part of the piece of the American dream.

Sound familiar, Shadi? Our people telling our story.

There you have it. Legendary. Appreciating my brother. I'm sure we'll be crossing paths soon.

Yeah, we got to build.

I'm here to actually, I told you I was going to listen. I was talking out front of my mouth, but we're going to, we're going to, we're offline. We're going to definitely sit and talk because I would love you all to be a part of the things that.

We're doing and building.

I would like to learn more from you all and how we can, you know, join forces and get this money.

Yeah, I mean, Hollywood is in the cards for us.

Oh, we're headed to Hollywood.

We're headed to Hollywood.

We got to talk about that, too.

I got y'all. You know I got an entertainment company.

Let's do something. Let's get the deals done.

Yes, sir.

All right, guys. Thank you for rocking with us. We'll see you next week. Peace.

Peace. Peace.

There you have it.

Yes, indeed.

I didn't get a chance to thank you for being the leading man to some of these leading ladies.

Okay.

This is it.

Halle Berry.

Yes.

This is off.

No, we can still, you're just doing some other stuff. This is some bonus stuff.

I mean, we got to start with Halle.

Okay, let's start.

My favorite, of course, Neil. Okay. I ran into her. I don't even know what to say. Jada. Yep. Multiple times. At the time, Vivica Fox.

Okay.

Let's keep going. No, I mean, I'm going to count this because it was a video, but Ashanti. Ashanti. Wow.

Yeah.

I've been fortunate. I've been fortunate.

Ashanti's probably the best one out of that group.

I said Halle Berry, bro.

Currently.

No, I said Nia Long, bro.

Currently.

I'm going to fly on a wall.

I love to hit it. I said Nia Long, bro. After that, you can't.

Currently.

Ashanti's bad.

She's 41. Nia's 50.

It's a different level, bro. No, it's a different level. But the question.

I love the conversation.

The question was this.

Is there.

I got a couple questions. But is there a leading lady that you haven't worked with, that you're inspired to work with?

Oh, yeah.

I would love to work with Sanaa Lathan. She's dope.

She's not on that list. Yeah.

I have not worked with Sanaa. And there's a few other ones that are.

that are amazing, but just thinking about all the women we talked about that you mentioned, Halle, Vivica, Leela Rashan.

Jada, who else did you say? Nia Long, obviously, Queen Nia.

But yeah, you know, Sanaa is someone, I was able to work with Regina Hall. I would also love to work with Regina King. Regina King.

She was in Girl Strip, but you guys.

Yeah, we as a girl, it was kind of.

I knew that, but it was different.

Yeah, but I would love to work with some of those sisters. They're incredible.

The other part of it was, we saw the success of The Best Man becoming a series.

Sure.

And so I wonder, did the opportunity even be presented to have Love Jones in that format?

Yeah.

Of course, it's happened many times.

There's been so many conversations about how Nia Long and I should get back together.

Y'all could play the same role.

The conversation has been had many, many times for many, many years because the movie is so iconic and it's been such a staple in the community about how black love means so much to us and how You know, just the movie itself was very unique.

I started writing poems. Darius Loveall had you in there?

I had a brown leather book that I was writing. I thought they was rhymes, but they turned into poems.

They're poems, as you said. You wasn't able to record them?

Yeah, nah, nah, nah. I didn't record them.

My brother actually was like doing spoken words. So he would go and I would just be there watching him. I'm like, yo, that's the impact.

Of that movie. Yeah, it was a thing. So Nia Long and I were just trying to figure it out.

But I think... something has to happen.

I'm not quite sure what that is, what I can say right now, but the conversation of Love Jones has happened.

And we just, here's the deal.

If you can't do it that justice, like take it to the next level, you gotta leave it alone.

Find something else. So, you know, we'll see what happens.

This is the last thing. This is the last thing. Is this recording? This is not recording. Is it recording? Yeah, we can record. All right. The black actor American actor. I feel like there's been a decline.

The British invasion.

The British invasion has taken over. The days of you guys, like you, like the guys I mentioned are far in between. But you guys are still doing it. But I don't see the next rendition of the black male actor because of the British invasion.

What are your thoughts?

Listen, I don't look at the It has a competition. I look at the collective. So, you know, there's brothers who are doing it, whether they're doing it here in America, whether they're doing it, you know, over from the UK or even from the mother continent, Africa.

I'm cool with whatever it's going to be.

But I feel like Hollywood believes there's more value.

In British black actors than they do black actors.

And I think a part of it goes into that, oh, they have an audience over there.

So they translate internationally.

Going back to that, what I think is, you know, a hoax that we don't sell or we're not valuable. So I think they put that in the mix. And also I just think Hollywood is just in love with the UK and all things, you know, British. And so I feel like the Black American actor is, you know, I see what that decline is.

But, you know, we're here.

You're here, yeah. Y'all are here.

Yeah. But I love the collective. They're killing it.

I mean, those guys are killing it.

Yeah, they're killing it. You know, listen, my heart ain't pumping no Kool-Aid. I know what I stand on. You know what I mean? You know, it's blood running through these veins.

You know what I'm saying? It's cold as ice, bro. So we're going to be all right.

Chi-town's on.

Already.

You dig?

You have it.

My graduates from my school being forced.

Back dropped.

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Larenz Tate on Black Hollywood, British Actors Taking Over Film, Finances, & Working with 50 Cent

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