Interviews

EarHustle411 Exclusive: An Intimate Conversation With Tyrese Gibson As He Talks About Life, Furious 7 and His Upcoming Album Black Rose

EarHustle411 has been very busy lately but never too busy to take the time out of our busy madness to have an intimate conversation with one of the entertainment’s most awesome talents.  This person would say that they are just following a dream they had, but from their track record, what they have done thus far has been nothing short of phenomenal. EarHustle411’s Media Correspondent SunShyne had the awesome and distinct pleasure of interviewing and holding an intimate conversation with Tyrese Gibson.

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EarHustle411 and fans alike are more than excited about what is next on the agenda for Tyrese Gibson aka Baby Boy, Roman Pierce…well you get the picture!

So we’re just going to dive right in and allow Tyrese Gibson to run down what is happening in his world plus some additional info his fans may not have known about this amazing talent:

EH411: Tyrese first let me say thank you for allowing EarHustle411 to speak with you we are so excited and we are happy with what you are doing so thank you for taking the time out we appreciate it. 

Tyrese: Listen my dear bless you, I think sometimes “we” don’t recognize the God-given stage that we have as bloggers, news media outlets; you got a bunch of people that come to your site to check out your work everyday and we’re about to put something really special on their minds that wasn’t there at first.  I hope we have some good exchange and some ideas because I just wanna motivate and inspire the world. 

EH411: If you hadn’t had the opportunity to do the Coca-Cola commercial which essentially started your music career what were your other career goals at that time?

Tyrese: Well honestly, the Coke commercial happened because they called my high school and said they were looking for a male black  age 16-18 and my music teacher told me and a friend of mine named Timothy Jackson about it and we both went to the audition.  I was the last person to show up and it was the last location because it was a national audition and that Coke commercial change my life forever.  I can tell you now that anybody who knew me back then will tell you that there was no one that was more determined to make it and do something and be successful than me.  I just think there’s certain people that just got that DNA, any of my friends and teachers will tell you that’s who I was.  I did 4 years of high school in 3 years, I graduated early.  I didn’t go to college but my career has been popping ever since I did the Coke commercial and it’s been just non stop.  It’s one thing to buy a house another thing to be able to keep a house.  The fact that I have been at for 20 years doing some form of show business and staying on, I never claim to be the biggest star; I’m just me.  So I feel very blessed and I have that mind state where I believe in taking advantage of my America. 

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EH411: On Facebook, Twitter you post a lot of inspirational videos what would you like for the people to take away from all of that?

Tyrese: Here’s the thing for me, I have this feeling that what else is my life and my career about other than being able to pass on insight and information that will help somebody else become successful.  We have social media, I think people are addicted to “likes, shares and views”, clicks on videos and whatever else there is.  There’s an unspoken addiction that a lot of people have so instead of me getting clicks, likes and shares, my Facebook page has 1.2 billion hits a month and I only have 23 million followers.  1.2 billion are the amount of eyeballs that view my content that I upload on my Facebook page.  Anybody else would look at those numbers and become arrogant or egotistical about that and in my mind I got 1.2 billion souls and spirits, and hearts and I can reach with a motivational and inspirational message.  So in my mind I feel blessed to use the stage that God has blessed me with and I am able to use it to motivate and inspire.

EH411: Let’s talk about your Green Lantern post on you made on Instagram back in January. You posted a picture pulling up to the WB lot and you captioned it “I don’t pull up, I move”.  Were you trolling the sites and your fans, did you actually show up to talk about the upcoming Green Lantern movie and how did it go if you did? 

Tyrese:  Well, first thing I will say is that it was two fans on-line that sent me direct message online with me as the Green Lantern; they started it and it’s nothing like a comic book fan getting excited about someone they can see playing one of their favorite comic book characters.  As far as I’m concerned I’m innocent.  I was at home, I was relaxing eating a bowl of cereal and then I started getting direct messages with me as the Green Lantern.  So naturally because I like it, I put it up on my timeline and then that’s when everything started.  So then I started putting my feelings out there getting some energy going and next thing you know it end up being on everywhere on every website ” Tyrese is Green Lantern”   John Stewart, I just ran with it and have fun with the fans.  They were like yo, we really want you to do it, we think you’re awesome.  Well I’m like I’m almost at $5 Billion of box office receipts under my butt from all these movies, I never starred in every single movie but I’m in ’em.  So domestically and internationally I think I can strap up and put on a Green Lantern suit and take the oath and put the ring on and do my thizzle.  So I said f**k it let’s rock.  So when I went to the Warner Brothers lot I did go there to have a meeting and I won’t speak on the outcome of the meeting but I went to have meeting a ‘lil something.

EH411: We heavily support any African-American creator of comic books, in 2009 you dropped your Mayhem comic which was pretty awesome, How was your experience and do you have any plans to bring back a Mayhem comic or any other comic?

Tyrese: We made history in a lot of ways, first of all as an independent comic book creator or co-creator of Mayhem,  I had 3 other partners that did the artwork , wrote the story and did everything.  We made history, you know I went and met Steve Jobs in San Francisco right before he died, when he introduced the iTunes LP version of iTunes, which means you were able to get album packaging and all the other things that you were able to get on iTunes that’s called iTunes LP.  So we got contacted once my comic book started doing so well with Mayhem we got contacted by the folks at Apple, they said they wanted to create the first ever animated comic book experience and launch that as part of iTunes LP so if you were to type in Tyrese and Mayhem on iTunes, all 3 of my comic books have motion graphics, sound effects, we did voiceovers,  we were performing and we did everything.  We did all under a secret code name in conjunction with the folks at iTunes.  and it got released.  They said in order for us to feature they Mayhem comic book on the main page of iTunes, because iTunes is about music you have to release a brand new song that’s being released with the comic book.  So that’s what we did. I released a song called ‘Take Me Away”.  I did a duet with one of  my favorite singers names Jewel produced by Babyface.  I did another song called “You Put Up With Me” and each one of these songs were associated with the Mayhem comic book. So all that went up on iTunes and that was very cool and I met with Steve Jobs at the launch of it, we exchanged a few moments  and I was able to thank him and tell him I’m honored to be featured as one of the people on this iTunes LP rollout especially as a black superhero.  It’s amazing, a life changing moment. 

EH411:  What happened that you drove with a fan from San Francisco to LA?

Tyrese: I missed my flight and I overslept, my manager started texting me saying you gotta be on Big Boy in the morning  at 7 am and your flight would be landing at 6:40am if you were to fly first thing in the morning.  I was like, man I’m never gonna make the show.  It’s very easy to cancel a show if you can’t make it but Big Boy has just left Power 106  after 20 years and he just got his brand new station 92.3 in LA and I was there for him mentally, spiritually praying for him.  Giving him inspiration and motivation when he like down and sad in energy and I was there for him as a support system.  I was promoting that I was coming on his show but it slipped my mind.  I was like, yo if I cancel, if don’t make this show specifically; I’m going to feel like sht.  So I did whatever I had to do and got there.  The dude that drove me to LA, nicest guy ever, funny as hell.  It just shows you the power of social media.  My security guard was sleep in the back seat.  He was tired as hell so I took him to the radio station with me, gave him some love, gave him $1000 a surprise under his pillow, gave him a suite at a hotel made sure he got plenty of rest before drove back to the Bay Area.  This dude was out of a job, don’t have a girlfriend and he was like; yo, I was financially wiped out, I didn’t have sht so he’s like I didn’t expect anything from you so for you to do all this for me for driving you to LA, he was very, very humble and very grateful.

 

EH411: Congrats on the release of Dumb Sh*t, it a very catchy song.  You announced that here will be a short musical titles Shame starring you and Jennifer Hudson could you give a little detail on the story behind that?

Tyrese: I’ve created what like to call a Black Rose Universe and this will be my LAST solo album.  We all know that the music business is a very different music business. Even though I’m an independent, it cost me that much more money to be an independent label because nothing is free.

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Everything you do, everything move you make, every single you drop; I’m literally paying for everything.  With all the things going on in my life right now, I have to make sure if I leave my house it is worth it.  All of that is a part of motivation of me saying this is my last solo album.  Now will I still sing…yes but I’m not doing no more albums…this is IT! So with that being said Black Rose is a universe that I created.  It’s a double album, one whole side is R&B,  the other side is me rapping Black Ty, it’s gonna be a total of about 20 songs, 10 on each album including some interludes and everything that I’m doing it’s like a story.  So I’ll be doing Dumb Sht and I’m ashamed of it but I’ll be waiting on you because your love is unbelievable.  So those are the singles that I have in mind back to back and those are the titles. So Dumb Sht is the first single featuring Snoop.

 

 

Dumb Sht featuring Snoop is an honest record and I’m looking at this album; shout out to Usher who’s one of my friends.  We basically came into the business around the same time and I was even featured in some of his videos from way back in the day but one of his most classic albums is his Confessions album where he’s just coming clean even if it embarrassed him he’s coming clean and that’s what I’m doing.  I did some dumb sht  I was in a relationship for 5 years, my girl lived with me and between cheating and lying and being sloppy with everything I was doing, I know better but sht can be stopping us from doing better and it’s not just men it’s women too and when you’re doing dumb sht it’s not always connected to cheating.  I feel like this album is my most honest album, it’s my most uncomfortable album and it’s my truth and even it embarrasses me…I’m telling my truth.  The last thing is the Jennifer Hudson movie, it’s called “Shame”.  Now Shame I’m basically playing like Ike Turner/Teddy Pendergrass/Marvin Gaye.  this movie is in 1968, it’s a period piece directed by legendary Paul Hunter it is the most uncomfortable movie that me and Jennifer Judson has ever done.  I am abusive, on cocaine, I’m drinking and smoking.  I am a struggling soul singer that is married and abusive and is all over the place.  I had a vision to do a movie that’s connected to the actual song.  So it’s a movie not a music video.  So Dumb Sh*t leads to Shame and that’s it…that’s the Black Rose Universe.

 

EH411: Now that you’re gearing up and getting ready for the release of Furious 7 as you look back; how has the cast and crew pushed forward after losing an important member of the family?

Tyrese: Good question, I want everyone to know that Paul Walker was literally an angel.  Paul Walker was one of the nicest guys that you could ever know and meet.  He was a sincere soul ans as you see people doing all these tributes and giving all this love you’d say…man we see people pass away all the time.  But it reminds me and if you remember how everyone was sad after Aaliyah died, remember how sad everyone was when Aaliyah died in a plane crash right, she was the sweetest, most innocent girl ever and it reminds me of how people feel about Paul.  Totally different situations but it’s like…oh my God, it’s not that he’s some attractive guy because there’s a lot of attractive people out here that are mean as hell and you just don’t like them.  So he was the nicest guy ever and I think the world knew it, and it’s really kind of hard to let it go or shake it. I have known Paul for 14 years and we’ve had so many different moments of laughter and just exchanging stories about our families, fatherhood.  We broke the ice between each other in a crazy way, here we are in Miami on the set of Too Fast Too Furious and I described a girl to him and he had spent time with her the night before how ironic we ended up going out with the same girl.  No one in the Family wanted to do any press because it almost impossible to not make it about us.  It’s not about us it’s about Paul, we all are still mourning and we have a movie poster with our brother on it and he’s not here.  The one thing that made us feel better is that when Paul’s mother and father stepped up and said we are in full support of you guys finishing Furious 7  because Paul was at about 85% of the movie done.  Universal pictures donated $1 Million to Paul’s charitable organization called Reach Out Worldwide and that made us feel really good and then what made it even better for us and made us feel much better about moving forward is when Paul’s brothers Cody and Caleb Walker was physically on the set everyday stepping in to play Paul Walker to help us finish the movie because they looked just like him.   So all of that made all of us feel that much more comfortable with doing something we all felt uncomfortable with doing.  This is his last movie we look at this like a celebration of his life.  This was the movie that put Paul on the map so it’s a coincidence that he was working on The Fast and The Furious as his last movie before his untimely death.  It’s all heavy, we all miss our brother and it’s through prayers and our faith in God that allowed for all of us to pull together as a family and get through it to get through this tragedy.

 

EH411: What do you find most challenging and most rewarding aspect in portraying Roman in Furious 7?

Tyrese: Honestly because the movie is so intense, there’s so many deep voices and baby oil flying around..(laughs) I just love that I can be the voice of reality and it’s so much stuff happening, it’s so big and you’re like…really??. But I’m able to say…really??  I’m able to like talk sh*t and kind of be the voice of reality, I love that can get to say what the audience is thinking.  Because these movies can sometimes be so intense and traumatic, I’m able to make sure the people are having fun and cracking jokes and laugh a little bit while their enjoying their favorite franchise.

 

 

EH411: Tell us a little bit about the Dumb Sh*t behind the scenes?

Tyrese: Absolutely, so the making of Dumb Sht is gonna really shock a lot of people because it’s raw.  I was on the video set and outside of all of the interviews with the models and the vixens that we had, Snoop ended up surprising me with a birthday surprise.  We show way more footage of the birthday surprise and just kind of going into the back story of the dumb sht you know that men do.  Lying, cheating and just getting caught being sloppy with moving around and doing some of the things that we do.  Like I said I’m not proud of it but it’s just part of the reality of life, you know you know better but you are working hard every day to try to do better.

 

EH411: Based on the increase police brutality cases occurring in America what advice would you give young black males in today’s society?

Tyrese: Well listen, I sent this message out to President Obama I wouldn’t want to go case by case because there’s too many cases from the past and the present popping up.  I sent out a message to our beloved President.  I said President Obama, could you please use your power and influence to get the chief of police from all of these states where they’ve seen the highest level of police brutality on the common man and woman taking place.  Because I believe that leadership starts from the top down.  and if you are able to get all of the chief of police as well as the 2nd in command at that police station and you flew them all to DC and you hosted them for 2 or 3 days and put some leaders in front of them that can help change their approach because no 2 situation in no 2 cities, no 2 levels of brutality is the same but it’s all pretty much stemming from the same issues. If you change the head the body will follow.  So the body are all of the other police officers male and female that are on the police force, if you change the mind state of the head of the police department it’s gonna trickle down.

 

EH411: How would you direct an up and coming actor trying to skyrocket their career off the ground just as the person that help you?

Tyrese: Well John Singleton gave me my opportunity, he actually had to force me to do movies because I wasn’t interested.  Here I am singing “Lately” and “Sweet Lady” and touring and having access to all of these ladies and he’s like man I gotta get you in a movie and I’m like John if you don’t get the hell away from me.  He’s like I got this movie called Baby Boy, I wrote for Tupac but Tupac just died I want you to do it and I’m like…huh?  Well we ended up doing Baby Boy and it changed my life forever.  I would say just in general there’s a website called IMDB (Internet Movie Database) and anybody walks up to you claiming to be a producer, writer, director, just look them up to make sure that you are dealing with people that are real and authentic.  I think talented people who have great cinergy and are like-minded are the people who end up doing great things that are effective.

EH411:  On Behalf of EarHustle411 Tyrese we thank you for taking time out to speak with us. 

Tyrese:  You’re very welcome love!!

 

EarHustle411 and the writing staff is so pleased with the platform and moves that Tyrese Gibson is making as he moves forward with his career.  We wish him all the best on this next journey he’s embarking on and it is our prayers that he continues to utilize his time, talents and insight to inspire, motivate and encourage those who follow him.  As he stated earlier in the interview “if you change the mindset; the body will follow” and we could not agree more. 

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  1. Pingback: Tyrese Gibson's FINAL Solo Project "Black Rose" Drops TODAY & He Takes To The Streets To Promote It! | Ear Hustle 411

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