0:00

And now join Kevin Hart

0:02

as he dives into the minds

0:04

of some of your favorite celebrities

0:07

This is gold mines with Kevin

0:09

Hart. What our world you

0:11

already know what it is This is gold mines,

0:14

you know we do here. It's sad that I have to

0:16

explain it But just in case something forget I love

0:19

to give you an amazing reminder This is a show

0:21

we get inside the minds of amazing individuals. Oh my

0:23

god Today will be

0:26

no different why well because of individuals

0:28

they don't fucking disappear they reappear

0:31

And actually the good thing about having relationships is

0:33

that I know where the dope people are I

0:37

know where the good energy is. I know

0:39

where the minds are that I want you to fucking know

0:42

I know what the information is that I feel is

0:45

valuable Today's information. I feel

0:47

like it's gonna be special. Why well because I'm

0:49

talking to a friend, you know, a

0:51

friend is actually unfair Let's say a sister I'm

0:54

talking to a sister Ladies and gentlemen

0:56

this sister of mine you may know

0:58

from a latest work on BMF. That's

1:00

right BMF season 3 by the way,

1:03

which premieres I believe March 1st going

1:05

down on stars. That's gonna be

1:07

a big deal But

1:09

before she got there, she was

1:11

an amazing VJ or MTV TRL

1:14

after that She's like she's acted in some

1:16

of I will say our coaches most iconic

1:18

shows like power shy Of course being math

1:20

more poorly. She was also a thing like

1:22

a man an amazing movie I'm

1:24

not saying that because I was in it. I'm saying that

1:26

because it actually was ladies.

1:29

Oh, please welcome lala Anthony to

1:31

go How

1:34

are you how do you how do you

1:36

do all of this stuff like I work I

1:39

thought I was crazy but you got me be

1:42

A Heroin what you

1:44

got to do find you a good dealer lie

1:47

You get you a good dealer a good

1:49

supply here put it in the vein Go

1:53

right to the vein or you could put coffee beans in

1:55

your butt either one of them give you energy feed

2:00

if you didn't love it. You gotta love

2:02

it. No, I am beyond

2:05

excited about what I do.

2:08

And I love the discovery. I love the discovery of

2:11

new. But this, honestly, you know what gold mines is?

2:13

Gold mines is like, this is

2:15

like a hobby. And it's one

2:17

where I find joy out of because, you

2:19

know, I get to talk to people in

2:21

a manner that they don't normally talk. This

2:23

is unprepared conversation.

2:26

It's authentic dialogue, which is what's non-existent,

2:29

you know, in today's time. Everything is

2:31

so programmed. People feel like they have

2:33

to be and say a certain thing or

2:35

be a certain way all the time. And

2:37

on this one, you know, it's about flowers.

2:40

It's about love. So the level of comfort

2:42

that the guests get to talk to me

2:44

with is different. There's no salacious activity here.

2:47

That's a beautiful thing. That's what you say.

2:49

I love that. With that being said, La,

2:52

you know, I want to start off in such a

2:55

dope place with you because

2:57

your career is one that's full of

2:59

transition now. And before you get into

3:01

the topic and conversation transition, I love

3:03

to talk about the beginning, right? And

3:05

the beginning, of course, is you, young

3:07

you. And when you go and

3:11

talk about the TRL days, that

3:13

was such an exciting time because that

3:15

world at the time was one where

3:18

that was the way in, right? It was

3:20

like, you know, they had these crazy moments

3:22

where people would line up around the corners.

3:24

They were looking for their new, their new

3:26

VJs. They were looking for the new faces,

3:28

the new talent. And, you know, those that

3:31

were lucky enough to make it to the

3:33

final stages, put themselves in a position to

3:35

be seen. My question for you at the

3:37

beginning stage is in the entry is why

3:39

this business? Why, why and

3:41

what drove you to make

3:44

the decision to lean towards the world

3:46

of entertainment media in the earlier

3:48

days? This

3:50

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return to Goldrind. So

5:00

in the earlier days, it was just because

5:02

I loved music. It was simply because I

5:04

love music. I didn't have a career plan.

5:06

Everything kind of happened by accident. I just

5:08

loved with such a fan of music. So

5:11

I was always like at radio stations or

5:13

music store openings, anything where I could really

5:15

feel music or get close to artists that

5:17

I was a fan of and just, you

5:19

know, celebrate their work. I started

5:22

interning way before the TRL days at

5:24

the radio station in Atlanta with Shaka

5:26

and Ludacris. So that was like the

5:28

16 year old me interning for Shaka, just

5:30

like a young girl trying to figure my

5:32

way. And I just, I knew music. That's

5:34

what I knew and what I was good

5:37

at. So Shaka gave me a chance interning

5:39

and then Chris ultimately put me on, you

5:41

know, the radio with him. And that's when

5:43

I started getting known in that world. And

5:45

after that, you know, the MTV

5:47

opportunity came around, which at that time

5:49

was, it was unheard of one

5:52

to be African-American Hispanic woman on

5:54

MTV. That wasn't really happening. You had

5:56

Ananda and that was like the only, the only

5:58

thing. So The Laws. And.

6:01

Ninety. I can't The I was just. Honored.

6:03

To even be. Shows. In

6:05

a represent us on Mtv because you

6:07

didn't see us. Like. That on on

6:09

Mtv and when I got that that job with

6:12

such an incredible moment. but I think it's of

6:14

me looking back on it to realize how special

6:16

it was. Some time it becomes a job you

6:18

there every day. You know how to give your

6:20

onset, you're working and sometimes you gotta really stop

6:22

and take it all into the one. I think

6:25

back to this year old days now. I'm.

6:27

Like that was crazy times. flooding time

6:29

square every day which thousand the kids

6:31

all the i come through. As it

6:33

was it was historic but it was

6:35

like. A. Job you to go everyday, going,

6:38

going, going and now when I look back I'm like

6:40

we were in the center of. Pop. Culture

6:42

and some real moments. And I'm proud

6:44

to say as you know lay in

6:46

my teens, early twenties that I was.

6:49

A part of all of that are

6:51

out there is a step further for

6:53

you are due to some further and

6:55

give you different piece of realization that

6:57

you may or may not have rights.

6:59

First of all the the radio background

7:01

that you speak of you know and

7:04

turning and then of course you know

7:06

being a part of the radio show

7:08

with luder go that was your those

7:10

your world of grooming you know for

7:12

opportunities as yet present itself because when

7:14

when an opportunity presents of he was

7:16

so well spoke to do so comfortable

7:18

and of course radio. Is the

7:20

best preparation for speed. Talking to people every

7:23

day you're talking cross the airways, your coffee

7:25

talking in a manner where you want everyone

7:27

to be able to receive with his you

7:29

say you don't want any by the be

7:32

confused. Here's a crazy thing about the Trl

7:34

days. Rain is why would start to start

7:36

here. You. Are

7:39

responsible. For. popping the

7:41

pop culture right though the

7:43

the the young you know

7:45

the young arm be the

7:47

young the hip hop the

7:49

young pop this without the

7:52

trl exposure back in a

7:54

day it was very hard

7:56

for success to be obtained

7:58

so you are very much

8:00

a necessary asset to

8:02

those individuals, right, that were

8:04

coming through at that time.

8:06

And the relationships that you

8:08

were able to create and

8:11

develop over the course of time, I would

8:14

say, ultimately, probably, are like some of the

8:16

most valuable relationships today because you were there.

8:18

How long were you at TRL? How long

8:20

was the run? I was there for like,

8:22

probably like five years, six years? Five,

8:25

six years. So through that time,

8:27

I mean, while you're in it, you don't, like

8:29

you said, it's the job, right? It's

8:31

the job. But you, okay, it's Britney

8:33

Spears, this day, it's Timberlake,

8:36

this day, you got Usher coming this day, you

8:38

got Jay-Z, you got Destiny's Child, Beyonce.

8:41

Like, if you think about it, the Mariah

8:43

Carey of the world, this is so, so

8:45

deaf when they were coming. By the way,

8:47

this is where hip hop was desperately trying to

8:50

get to the MTV side because they wanted

8:52

that crossover wave. So there was so much

8:54

of a merger and like synergy

8:57

of what from the

8:59

artist? I would say, do you

9:01

now look back and like pinch yourself? Like

9:04

when you go and say fuck, look

9:07

at the relationships that I

9:09

now have, but that are genuine. These

9:11

are genuine, developed relationships that

9:13

came from the space and

9:16

place of work. Yeah, I

9:18

definitely do. It's mind blowing when you put

9:20

it that way because a lot of my

9:22

friends, family now are from the MTV days

9:24

and also seeing everyone

9:26

come up at the same time. One person

9:28

that comes to mind distinctly is 50.

9:31

Like I met him when he was promoting Get Rich and Die Trying

9:33

and we just instantly hit it

9:35

off and we just always communicated, always

9:37

said like we were going to look out for

9:39

each other. And now all these years later, power

9:42

comes up around, which is the biggest show on

9:44

television. And this is like, remember what we talked

9:46

about all these years and our elevation

9:48

and our growth. Now it's the time to do something

9:51

together. So we do power and it's an insane hit.

9:53

And then BMF comes and he's like, I'm not done

9:55

with you. We got to get to this BMF bag

9:57

next. And we do that. But All

10:00

that cultivated from MTV TRL,

10:03

him promoting Get Rich or Die Trying, and he used to come

10:05

there and say, I only want La to

10:07

interview me. That's who I feel comfortable with. La

10:09

gets it, she's the culture. That's who I'm gonna

10:12

talk to. And now look, all these years later,

10:14

I would still say he's one of my closest

10:16

friends, a mentor and someone who's always looked out

10:18

for me in business and television and film and

10:20

everything. Well, it's a great segue because,

10:22

you know, as we now talk about the progression, I was

10:25

gonna say, you know, being

10:27

in the space of DJ hosting, you

10:29

know, journalism, where

10:32

and when did you say, okay, I'm

10:34

ready for the more. I

10:37

like this and, you know, this space was

10:39

great, but I'm ready for the

10:41

more. I'm ready for the

10:43

opportunities to come that are more than just

10:46

a personality. I'm ready to like, I'm ready

10:48

to really dabble in the space of

10:50

acting. Like, I wanna do it. When was

10:52

it that you feel like that bug got

10:55

incentivized by you? So the funny

10:58

thing is during the MTV days, we would

11:00

always hear, literally almost every day, you would

11:02

hear MTV is the gift and a curse.

11:04

After MTV, no one really does

11:06

anything. You would constantly hear that like, enjoy it

11:08

now, because when it's done, this is it. This

11:10

is the peak. Like, there's nothing. From who?

11:14

Do you think that was like from coworkers or people?

11:17

Co-workers, fire people that work there, just seeing,

11:19

you know, some career paths that happen

11:21

to other people. You just felt like

11:23

this is it. Like, after MTV, where's

11:25

everybody go? You know, and then they used to do these

11:27

specials, Kev. They used to be like, where is so and

11:29

so? Like, after MTV, like, where are they

11:31

now? Where are they now? Like, no, they

11:33

were just gone. And I just kept

11:35

telling myself, I'm gonna break that.

11:38

Like, I'm not gonna be a part of that.

11:40

Like, this is just the beginning for me. So

11:42

being on television, another thing with TRL that people

11:44

don't understand, that's live TV, Kev. That's a different

11:46

beast. And people don't give it their respect that

11:49

they need to like, to do a

11:51

show live is something completely different. With thousands

11:53

of people in the crowd, you know, you're

11:55

talking to these icons and celebrities, you can't

11:57

mess up, it's live. If you mess up...

12:00

you got to keep going. So I was trained

12:02

in live television and a lot of people don't

12:04

have that type of training that I

12:06

have. So I'm great at that, but I was

12:08

like, how do I take this and turn it into

12:10

something else? So I just thought like, okay, I'm comfortable

12:12

on TV. I'm comfortable in front of cameras. I

12:14

speak really well. Let me try

12:17

this acting thing. That seems like the next

12:19

like natural progression. So I'm like, how do

12:21

I become an actor? Oh, I enroll myself

12:23

in acting class and acting school and take

12:26

this seriously because for a long time it

12:28

wasn't happening. I was Lala from MTV. That's

12:30

it. Every audition, every director, every producer. Oh,

12:32

you're the girl from MTV. And BJs don't

12:34

become actresses. I mean, we want you in

12:36

a movie as Lala. You can do a

12:39

cameo. I'm like, I don't want to be

12:41

Lala. And I just worked really hard and

12:43

just knew at some point I would get

12:45

my break with hard work. And I really

12:47

feel like, I mean, you and I, we did

12:49

Soul Plane together. I felt like that was kind

12:52

of like a still a Lala kind of character,

12:54

but my break for me was, you

12:56

know, when Shayla and Will Packer saw my

12:58

audition for Think Like a Man and gave

13:00

me gave me a shot and Will Packer

13:03

still tells the story when I auditioned. My

13:05

legs were shaking. I was like shaking, but

13:07

he just saw something and was like, you

13:10

could do this. And to be, you know, amongst

13:12

you and Taraji and Cab and Megan and Regina

13:14

and just all the talent that was in that

13:17

movie was just mind blowing to me. And

13:19

that's where I felt like, no, like I

13:21

can do this. Like I can really do this.

13:24

Well, the dope thing about you lies, like,

13:26

you know, you're not a stranger to the

13:28

idea of hard work. Like you are a

13:30

pure example of, all right, I'm gonna

13:32

go get it. I'm gonna figure it out. I'm going to get it.

13:35

And, you know, in going to get it, there's going to

13:37

be some bumps, hills, curves, but none of them are going

13:39

to deter me. And then Think

13:41

Like a Man, I think the dope thing

13:44

that we were actually able, as we're talking

13:46

about just looking back on moments, right, like

13:48

years ago, Think Like a Man was, but

13:50

when you look at the idea and component

13:53

attached to a cultural class of

13:55

like, oh, shit, this movie

13:57

is actually like, this

13:59

is an evergreen. movie now. This is a classic.

14:01

This is a classic in wow.

14:03

You look at the personnel attached to it,

14:05

right? You look at you, you look at

14:07

Terrence, you look at the, you look at

14:09

the, the, the, the Jerry of it all.

14:11

And the reason why I say you guys,

14:13

these were, these were cast members of this

14:15

movie that were all looking to like break,

14:17

by the way, myself included, I'm looking for

14:19

the break. I'm looking for my breakout role.

14:21

I'm looking for the thing that's going to

14:23

help launch me. We all had an energy

14:25

in one, but I think there was also

14:27

a high level of support and understanding everyone's

14:29

need. Right. And, and there was a

14:31

nice amount of baton passing there. And it

14:34

ended up being something that was dope that

14:36

expanded into part two. The roles got bigger.

14:38

The roles got bigger. It wasn't smaller.

14:40

They got bigger. What's the

14:43

feeling attached to that? Okay. It's not just one. It's

14:45

part two. You get the call to come and do

14:47

another one to play again. At this point, do you

14:49

feel like fuck is working?

14:51

I felt the shift.

14:53

Something is happening here and people

14:56

are now taking me seriously in

14:58

this space. And you know, everyone on that

15:01

movie was just so supportive. We're still

15:03

in emails and group texts to this

15:05

day. You know what many years ago that was

15:07

to still be communicating and watching every, like no

15:10

one's lacking right now. Everyone's career has taken off

15:12

and done great things. And it all, it's

15:14

not that it started there, but that was just like

15:16

for a lot of us, for me, it was the

15:18

start for you after that. You was completely.

15:21

You're absolutely right. It

15:23

was like, and that's like, it's, it's, it's dope

15:25

as hell. When you can look at that, like

15:27

I remember we were, um, Shelly

15:29

had called and she was like, look, I'm, I'm

15:31

desperately trying. She's been trying for the longest time

15:33

to get this reunion together. Right. And, and I

15:36

was like, look, Shay, when you do, I'm going

15:38

to be here for you. There's no way that

15:40

I'm not going to participate because there is a

15:42

level of loyalty that I had to that group.

15:44

But to your point, you know, it's one

15:47

of those things that you look at

15:49

and then everybody has been able to

15:51

branch off and still do. Everybody is

15:53

flourishing in their own way. And

15:55

now I want to keep talking about your level

15:57

of flourish because as you brought up power, right?

16:00

And we talked about the opportunity. You said something

16:02

really dope. You said, nobody wanted to see me

16:05

as anything other than La La, the host. La

16:07

La is the MTV host. So breaking that is

16:09

what the priority was. Not only

16:11

did you like break it, but

16:13

it was like a demand for respect

16:16

within the break. Power comes along and

16:18

to your point, it's a relationship. 50

16:20

comes back, La got something dope for you. And

16:24

taking on power, did you have any idea about

16:26

the storyline that was gonna be attached to your

16:29

character and the potential of what it would be

16:31

or where it would go? Or was it just

16:33

one stage in the beginning? So it

16:35

was just a recurring character,

16:37

not a series regular. And for those who

16:40

don't know, recurring is just someone that pops

16:42

up here and there. You're not on every

16:44

episode, you come here and there. So 50

16:46

was like, we really have to convince the

16:49

showrunner that you can do this. Again,

16:51

Kev, I'm still, I'm doing good, but I

16:53

still have to convince. I'm still nowhere. We

16:55

love her as like a host and a

16:57

TV, but an actress, like, can she really

17:00

do this? So it's still convinced, convinced, convinced.

17:02

I'm like, I don't want you to give

17:04

it to me. Make me audition, put me

17:06

in the room. So I auditioned and it

17:08

was just a recurring character. Keisha was a

17:10

recurring character. And then after some really great

17:12

work and fans really taken to the character,

17:15

I got the call like, we wanna turn

17:17

her into a series regular. And that's when

17:19

I was like, oh shit, like

17:21

something is happening again. And that's

17:23

when it was such a moment

17:26

in testament to like my

17:28

hard work and never giving up. Like you said, it's

17:30

easy for people to just put you in a box

17:32

and say, hey, we want you over here, but not

17:34

over here and to be discouraged and

17:37

lose faith. And you know, even friends of

17:39

mine and family mine would say like, well,

17:41

you're a great host. Like just do that.

17:43

Like you can make a lot of money.

17:45

People love you. You're great. Just do that.

17:47

I'm like, I don't just wanna do that.

17:49

I wanna show that I can do other

17:51

things. And I don't wanna be in that

17:53

mentality of putting myself in a box. Like

17:55

that's all I can do. So I just

17:58

pushed myself. And when I got the call. that

18:00

Keisha was going to be turned into

18:02

a series regular. I was like, this

18:04

is a moment and I'll never forget.

18:06

This is something I get chills talking about

18:08

it. I'll never forget being in

18:10

Times Square and in the middle of Times

18:13

Square where I started my MTV career and

18:15

looking and having a billboard

18:17

in Times Square that was just my face. It

18:19

was just me. And it said, you know, Lala

18:21

Anthony as Lakeisha in power. That was just a

18:24

surreal moment. And my mom came and my friends,

18:26

we put like a blanket, my family, we had

18:28

like champagne and we felt like that was such

18:30

a moment. I'm from Brooklyn. I grew up in

18:33

New York to just break, you know,

18:35

everything I said, everyone told me I couldn't

18:37

do and be on MTV. That was like,

18:39

wow. But then go back and have a

18:41

billboard in Times Square as an actor on

18:43

a hit show was just something that that's

18:45

a feeling I'll never forget. See,

18:47

so as people, you know, wonder

18:50

when you say like, you know, okay, like, wow,

18:52

God, you do so much. This

18:54

is the joy in me doing what

18:56

I'm doing. Like these stories, these, these

18:59

anecdotes that are able to be given, you know,

19:01

I thought the listeners need

19:03

to know that they need to hear about

19:06

the full circle moment. They need to hear

19:08

about the joy and, and like, real

19:11

fucking value that

19:13

was given to you by you simply

19:15

putting your mind or something and seeing

19:18

it come into play, seeing it play

19:20

out correctly. Now, what I do love

19:22

about you saying, okay, there's the billboard.

19:24

Wow. Power fuck Times Square. Holy shit.

19:27

MTV. I was right here. I was

19:29

hosting. God damn it. I'm right here

19:31

now, but I'm promoting the show continues.

19:34

Okay. The journey of the show goes.

19:37

And now ultimately the journey of the show comes

19:39

to an end. Yeah, it comes to

19:41

an end. We got to have the hard conversation

19:43

and impactful character. Everybody's

19:46

got to die. Everybody's got to

19:48

die. Okay. And at this point,

19:50

at this point on power, people

19:53

get laid out left and right. Now, as

19:55

a producer, as a producer, I

19:58

know what the stories are. I know

20:00

how they're being developed. I know

20:02

the writer's room, the showrunners, et

20:04

cetera. What was the

20:07

conversation had with you

20:10

before the time of departure?

20:12

Because they gotta talk to you. You don't just come

20:14

in and read the script. They're gonna prep you for

20:16

it. So give me the world of prep and

20:19

the feeling that you had attached to that time.

20:21

By the way, these are great questions, Kevin. Great

20:24

fucking questions, Kevin. How do I do

20:26

it? Give me a feeling of that

20:28

moment. So, okay.

20:30

Well, let's start with what you said on

20:32

power. Every time you got the script, you

20:34

were bracing yourself. Like, as my characters are

20:36

gonna die. And what people don't think,

20:38

this is name cap that people don't understand. When

20:41

your character dies on a show, this is

20:43

what people don't understand. It means you're

20:46

not gonna get paid anymore.

20:48

You're done. You fulfilled your contract.

20:51

You might have a lease on an

20:53

apartment somewhere that now you don't know

20:55

if you're gonna live there anymore. More

20:57

than just, oh, she just got killed

20:59

off the show. Now no longer have

21:01

a job. I don't think people understand.

21:03

That's what that means. And I would see my

21:06

other castmates going through it and really emotional and

21:08

crying and dealing with a lot. What do I

21:10

do now? I just signed a six month lease

21:12

or a year lease and I gotta go. I

21:15

don't have any more money. Whatever it is, it's

21:17

a big deal. So every script that I got

21:19

through that I was still alive, I'm like, okay,

21:21

I'm still here. But then I

21:24

started hearing a little whispering, little

21:26

whispering that something big has to happen.

21:28

We get in towards the end of the show, like there

21:30

has to be a big moment. So

21:32

something big has to happen. Let me stop you just

21:35

one second. I want the listeners

21:37

to understand the power of a whisper. Well,

21:40

Lala is saying about the whisper, what she's referring

21:42

to, I'm hearing whispers. Well,

21:45

let's go to class. Let's go to

21:47

school. In school, rumor spread, conversation

21:49

started. You heard, oh my

21:52

God, such and such did. What? Yeah,

21:54

they saying, or I'm hearing. And it

21:57

grows. The whispers grow on a

21:59

set. on a set,

22:02

a television set, a production

22:04

in general, I now, right

22:06

now, I can feel what her anxiety could

22:08

be because she's watching it in real time.

22:11

So now I was approaching, you're hearing whispers that it

22:13

could be Keisha. Oh fuck, it

22:16

could be, it could be, but nobody's

22:18

talked to me yet. Nobody's told me yet. Okay, good. Also,

22:21

another thing about the whispers, you start seeing

22:23

the change in the people around you. You're

22:26

like, hey, good morning. They're like, hey,

22:28

Lott, the energy is starting to change.

22:30

You're like, what's going on? Like, nobody's telling

22:32

me anything. And then I got the call

22:34

that Courtney, the show runner,

22:37

who's just amazing and 50, wanted

22:40

to have a conversation with me. I said, oh

22:42

shit, here we go. So I go- You're

22:44

in season what though? This is season- Season

22:47

six, this is like sports, sports the end,

22:49

but- I was gonna say five. But

22:51

Joseph who plays Tommy on Force, there was always

22:54

talks that him and I were gonna spin off

22:56

and have our own show. So it was gonna

22:58

be like the Bonnie and Clyde, the Keisha and

23:00

Tommy show, which I was excited

23:02

about that. Like then I would have my own

23:05

show and there was a lot of talk about

23:07

that. So when I got in the office, they

23:10

were just like, we just wanna talk to you

23:12

about something that we feel like we

23:14

need this moment. And now is the time that

23:17

it's over for this character. And

23:21

it was a tough conversation, but I'll never

23:23

forget one thing 50 told me, and I

23:25

will never forget this. He said, wow, listen

23:27

to me. The show's ending

23:29

anyway. He said, would you

23:31

rather have an iconic ending that people will

23:33

always talk about or just you just disappear

23:36

like some of the rest of the characters.

23:38

You don't know what happened to them. They're

23:40

just gone. And at that time I didn't

23:42

really understand it until it happened. And it

23:44

was voted as one of the most memorable

23:46

scenes in television history or something people will

23:49

never forget when my character was

23:51

killed off the show. And that's something people still

23:53

talk about to this day, like how it happened

23:55

that my best friend, the character of Notorious played

23:57

my best friend, killed me, like how was that?

24:00

dynamic. It's still something that's talked about, that's

24:02

studied in acting class, you know, that they

24:04

run that particular scene. And I'm like, that

24:06

was the right way to go because the

24:08

show was ending anyway. So it's like, what's

24:10

going to happen? And I love that he,

24:12

he put that in my mind, I was

24:15

like, wow, it's also time to do something

24:17

else. You get comfortable six seasons on a

24:19

show, you just play in the same character,

24:21

you're in your zone. It's like, it's time

24:23

for something else. And one thing about me,

24:25

I'm always prepared for the transition. I've been

24:27

transitioning my whole career. I've always been like

24:30

transitioning. So I knew when he said that, I'm

24:32

like, you're right, because you do get pigeonholed as

24:34

to only be in that character. You can only

24:36

do that. And then it's hard to do anything

24:38

else. So it was right at the time where

24:40

it was time for me to do something else.

24:42

That's so dope. I was scared. Of

24:45

course. But by the way, rightfully so. Yeah. Rightfully so,

24:47

like to your point, you're on season six, season

24:50

six. And what I want to highlight for my

24:52

listeners that may not be aware of

24:54

the show Power. Power is what

24:57

I refer to as the saving grace for stars. Stars

24:59

Network is an amazing network with stars

25:01

had no cultural identity. 50 and

25:04

50 success through

25:07

producing and, and, you know,

25:09

creative was attached

25:11

to power. And after Power, you know,

25:14

he was able to springboard and do so

25:16

many other things. By the way, he had other

25:19

things brewing before then. I think he had some things

25:21

on ABC and a

25:23

couple of other projects, but Power was

25:25

such an impactful thing because it gave

25:27

stars a pulse attached to the culture

25:29

that they were able to springboard off

25:31

of. So he's talking about the most

25:33

memorable scene or voted this. These things

25:35

are correct because at the time, this

25:37

is what the culture was talking about.

25:39

This was our series, something that we

25:41

were able to refer and identify with.

25:43

Now, naturally it comes to an end,

25:45

but through 50s creative and

25:48

now continued push and realizing that I

25:50

can now take these characters and do

25:52

more and spin off of the opportunities,

25:54

present themselves. How did BMF

25:56

come up? So BMF came later

25:58

that In Between was now. Me

26:00

back auditioning again and I have to give

26:02

a special shout out to Lena Wait That's

26:04

for me when the shy came along cuz

26:06

I had I'm sorry. I'm sorry shadows before

26:09

don't fucking do that law Don't skip

26:11

my segues. Okay, don't fucking skip

26:13

my segues. Like I don't know what I'm

26:15

doing here All right, I was gonna be

26:17

a mess and then I was going fucking

26:19

shy don't do that Let's

26:22

go shine. Let's go shine first Always a

26:24

fan of the shy and I would always write

26:26

Lena like I love this show if there's ever

26:28

opportunity I would love to get down with you

26:30

guys and then when power was over She was

26:32

like it's time like I want you to come

26:35

to Chicago. What was the what was the list? Give

26:37

me give me the left in between so

26:39

you can power I Would

26:41

say a couple months nothing crazy a

26:43

couple months like three or four How

26:45

dope is that? That how

26:48

good of a feeling is it? You

26:50

know to put a punctuation on

26:52

something and then not long

26:54

after when most are in the thought

26:56

of panic You're in a moment of

26:59

discovery and because of the relationships and

27:01

the opportunities crazy and it's like you never

27:03

know Who's watching you never know

27:05

who's paying attention and we always have to

27:07

be conscious of that sometimes It's like you

27:09

just working and like what am I doing

27:11

all this for does anybody even cares anybody

27:14

taking me seriously? You never know who's watching

27:16

you never know who's seeing the growth in

27:18

the transition Like you just don't

27:20

know and Lena was watching and was like

27:22

I've seen what you've done from the beginning

27:24

till now And I want to bring you

27:26

into our world So I went to Chicago

27:28

and started shooting the shy and something that

27:30

I'm really proud of is I got a

27:33

nomination for my role On the shy and

27:35

double a did nomination did it's something I

27:37

was so proud of you Talk about a

27:39

girl from Brooklyn who was on the radio

27:41

then MTV told all you'll ever be is

27:43

MTV VJ Nothing else now you get nominations

27:45

for like hold up like changing

27:48

this changing so I was

27:50

so so excited about that and then after

27:52

that, you know, I did um, Some

27:55

some films as well shout out to just

27:57

at Gabrielle Union, you know, we recently did

28:00

the perfect find, but just a person that's always

28:02

been in my corner like, like, I'm paying attention when

28:04

I have something I'm going to call you. And we

28:06

were able to do that. Um,

28:08

relationships, relationships. And another thing, you

28:10

know, it's so funny cause you talk, we talked about

28:12

Will Packer and I always say this in my interviews

28:14

and he sends the clips to me, but will always

28:17

tell me like he wants

28:19

to work. Yes. Of course you want to

28:21

work with talented people, but you want to

28:23

work with people that you like and people

28:25

forget that like you want to work with

28:27

people that you like. I'll take someone that's

28:29

talented and well liked than somebody that's this

28:31

amazing talent, but can't nobody stand and want

28:33

to be around. Like I'll take the other.

28:35

So for me, I always wanted to be

28:37

easy to work with, always prepared, always on

28:39

time. And you're the same way I've watched

28:41

you many times. You're the same way. Like

28:43

we don't play around with being on time,

28:45

you know, respecting people's time, being polite to

28:47

people, that's just who we are. And then the

28:49

talent is there as well. But when you package it all together,

28:52

we're people that people want to work

28:54

with. Absolutely. You

28:56

are the golden, you become the golden

28:58

ticket. The golden ticket is what

29:00

I refer to as as soon

29:02

as someone says your name attached to

29:05

it is a golden ticket that people go,

29:07

Oh my God, such a good person. So

29:09

cool. You know what? Nothing but it makes

29:11

like when people cash in great

29:14

words immediately attached to your name,

29:17

it's the best thing. It's the

29:19

best reputation to have. And

29:22

by the way, you do have that. Like that's

29:24

not cap at all. You 1000% have that. And

29:27

as we talk about just, you know, the

29:29

world of game, we, we're going to the

29:31

show, we're talking about another show. We're talking

29:33

about another show. And it's like an impactful

29:35

series. You're talking about something else. That's like

29:38

really made a dent in

29:40

the world of television and attached to culture

29:42

and Lena's done an amazing job with that

29:44

show. Then you talk about BMS coming back.

29:47

You talk about 50, you talk about the

29:49

progression. Okay. We now are in the space

29:51

of saying, guys, I'm,

29:54

I'm doing this for real. I'm here. I'm

29:57

here for real. Right. And cast and

29:59

direct. and people in

30:01

the industry, well now they know. Here's

30:04

the beauty of where I'm going now. Because

30:08

it would stop for most. It would

30:10

be a comfortable setting and a great energy.

30:12

But now let's get into the business of

30:14

La La. The business of La

30:16

La is an amazing business as well.

30:18

People don't know. People don't know

30:20

about your world of business. People don't know

30:22

that you have your hands in a

30:25

lot of things as an entrepreneur. I

30:28

want to give you a huge shout out

30:30

and congrats for your latest endeavor. To

30:32

my knowledge, this relationship with Airbnb is

30:35

one of significance. You are, what are

30:37

you? You're a director? Creative

30:40

advisor, right? These

30:42

things aren't just given. These

30:44

are these positions and titles and

30:46

opportunities come for a reason. What

30:49

I would like to know is more about the opportunity.

30:51

How did it come up? Why

30:54

you? And what exactly does it mean?

30:57

What does it mean? Your involvement with Airbnb

30:59

right now, which is such a successful brand

31:01

in itself, is an amazing work. What is

31:03

the relationship with La La? Define

31:06

it so people can really understand what the position

31:08

is. Yeah, so I met

31:10

Brian Chesky, the founder of Airbnb

31:12

through Beecher,

31:14

who's a mutual friend. And he was like, I

31:16

just think there's some synergy here. There's something cool

31:19

that can happen here. And when I- Relationships.

31:21

Relationships. When I talked to Brian Chesky

31:23

about his vision, we totally aligned in

31:25

why he created Airbnb and just his

31:27

struggle in getting- I just admired how

31:29

hard he worked and his passion and

31:31

his dedication and his idea of bringing

31:33

people together, bringing communities together. And I

31:35

was always passionate about that in our

31:37

community, like bringing us together, looking out

31:40

for each other, getting out of this

31:42

crabs in a barrel mentality. And when

31:44

I talked to him, I just realized

31:46

how much our minds and our thoughts

31:48

aligned. And I was like, this is

31:50

a company who values people and community.

31:52

And I wanna be a part of that. And

31:54

so when the opportunity presented itself and he came

31:56

to me and said, I would like to bring

31:59

you on board. as creative advisor,

32:01

I was thrilled because now I'm in

32:03

a position to do exactly that, to

32:05

bring people together, to bring communities together,

32:07

to bring friends, you, other people into

32:09

the Airbnb business and do great experiences

32:11

that bring people together, that bring people

32:13

closer to us. And I think in

32:15

this day and age, we've missed out

32:18

on a lot of that. Everyone's just

32:20

isolated, doing their own thing after the

32:22

pandemic, after COVID, everyone's just in their

32:24

own world. It's not a lot of

32:26

socialization happening. Everything's just on the phone.

32:28

It's time to get back to bringing

32:30

people together. And I'm able to do that

32:33

through such job at Airbnb and just bring

32:35

great people, like I said, like yourself and

32:37

people that I love and respect to the

32:39

company and do great things together.

32:41

I'm very excited about

32:43

it. Relationships, it

32:45

all circles back, right? Once again, you

32:48

don't get away from it. If you

32:50

really, if you

32:53

really, really, really approach it correctly

32:55

and understand the importance of a

32:57

handshake, a hello and building, these

33:00

things definitely come back around. And for

33:03

you, as you're talking about an opportunity

33:05

where you're attached to a brand, to

33:07

a business, you're not attached to a

33:09

brand in the business as just a

33:11

face. You're attached to the business as a business because

33:13

the value that we feel we can get from you

33:15

is an ecosystem, an

33:18

incubator. Lala becomes an incubator for

33:20

Airbnb. So now the progression attached

33:23

to the brand can be attached

33:25

to you. That's dope as fuck.

33:27

Thank you. That's dope as fuck.

33:30

And those things are, I

33:32

want to say, sometimes they're not highlighted

33:35

enough. When you

33:37

look at these big entities that

33:40

exist, sometimes people don't understand the

33:42

success and the growth is

33:45

attached to personnel, is attached

33:47

to likeness, is attached to

33:49

bandwidth. And right now Airbnb

33:51

is making smart decisions by broadening their bandwidth.

33:53

And I love that they're doing it with

33:55

you, Lala. I couldn't be happier for you.

33:58

And I love to see you. flourish

34:01

in more ways than just the

34:03

world of personality. And like

34:05

you said, Kev, it's the relationships we keep talking

34:08

about that. And I want people to really understand

34:10

how important relationships are because when I call you,

34:12

when I call whoever and I'm like, Hey, there's

34:14

this Airbnb thing, or I want you to sit

34:16

down with, you know, our founder, whatever it is,

34:19

like, there's no questions asked. You're like, lie, what

34:21

time? Where do I need to be? And you

34:23

know, like you value our relationship that I'm only

34:25

going to put you in a great situation. I'm

34:27

not going to waste your time. And that's a

34:29

beautiful thing to have those kinds of relationships after

34:32

all these years to where I can pretty much

34:34

call anyone. And there's no questions. Cause I'm

34:36

not calling with bullshit. I'm not, I'm calling for a

34:38

reason. When I called you, you didn't ask

34:40

me a single question. It was literally like, all right,

34:42

what time? Where I need to be, what time? I

34:46

will be there. I

34:48

will show it for you any day of the week at any

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35:22

What will you find? We've

35:25

seen all the video call fails by now.

35:28

The mute button mishaps the cat cameos. People

35:30

not realizing the camera's on when their pants

35:32

are off. But none of this makes Fred

35:34

feel any better about giving an entire sales

35:37

pitch, mistakenly using a filter that turns him

35:39

into an itsy bitsy baby duck. How

35:41

do I call you? Say hello. It's

35:44

too late Fred. It's too late. When you

35:46

realize it's better to do business in person,

35:48

it matters where you stay. Welcome to the

35:50

Hilton Garden in Fred. The meeting room is

35:52

right down the hall. Hilton for the stay.

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37:01

Now back to Goldmine with

37:03

host Kevin Kour. I

37:10

can't not talk to you and not talk

37:12

about just the things that you're doing in

37:15

the reform space. There's

37:18

been a lot of conversations attached to prison

37:20

reform. I

37:22

think that there's a group of

37:24

individuals that are doing great work here. Yourself, of

37:26

course, is included. Meek,

37:28

Rock Nation. Kim has

37:30

actually been active in this space as well. For

37:33

you, I want to talk to you about 360. Just

37:36

understand more of it. For my

37:38

listeners that may not know the

37:40

work that you're doing there, just table that for me for

37:42

a second. 360

37:44

is a program that I started out of Rikers

37:47

Island. If the listeners don't know, Rikers Island is

37:49

a prison here in New

37:51

York that's not

37:53

considered a great one. It has a

37:55

stigma attached to it. I wanted to go

37:57

in there and really do some mentorship and

37:59

programming. for the young incarcerated population. So

38:01

ages 18 to 21 is what I focus

38:04

on. And the

38:06

reason I decided to do that is when I was

38:08

talking to a lot of these young men, it was

38:10

like I was talking to Kyan. I saw my own

38:12

kid and, you know, one bad

38:14

decision, hanging with the wrong crowd, you know, wanting

38:16

to be cool, wanting to fit in. And now

38:18

all of a sudden you find yourself in a

38:20

situation where you're locked up and you're like, how

38:22

did I even get here? So once a week,

38:25

we do weekly mentorship, where we go in there

38:27

and just talk to them about self-esteem,

38:29

how to change, you know, negative thoughts into

38:32

positive thoughts, just anything to build their self-esteem

38:34

back up. And you realize so many of

38:36

them, it's just the environment they grew up

38:38

in, lack of love, lack of opportunities, lack

38:40

of hope. And we try to instill all

38:42

of this in them. And then upon their

38:44

release, really link them up with employers to

38:47

get jobs and really, you know, have a

38:49

good, smooth reentry into the community and the

38:51

workplace. And like I tell everyone, listen, they're

38:53

coming out anyway. So either they're gonna be

38:55

assets or they're gonna be a problem. You

38:57

can help me create assets in our

38:59

community or we're just gonna continue to see

39:02

problems in our community. I love that.

39:04

So I'm very grateful to Reform and

39:06

Michael Rubin and who have given kids

39:08

in my program jobs and a kid

39:10

in my program is over there working

39:12

at Reform now. He's running their whole

39:14

Gen Z division and he just got

39:16

accepted to Columbia University. Great things happen

39:18

when you put people in the right

39:20

situation with love and support. And that's

39:22

what we're doing. And it's work that

39:24

I'm passionate about and I'm really proud

39:26

of. What I

39:28

love about the idea attached to Reform is like, you

39:30

know, there's a

39:33

misunderstanding attached to the

39:36

quote unquote criminal, right? And there's

39:39

like, there's a fucking, there's

39:42

a bubble that you put all

39:45

criminals in because you assume that they're all

39:47

the same. And, you know, the murderer,

39:50

the, you know, I don't wanna go

39:52

in depth, but there's a

39:54

grouping and the lower tier

39:56

gets grouped in with the

39:59

high. and the

40:01

idea of probation is attached to the

40:04

idea of an assumption. The assumption is

40:06

always horrible. I love that

40:08

reform is like changing the narrative and, you

40:10

know, really

40:12

allowing the prison

40:14

sentence to be the punishment, but then

40:17

after, you're giving the opportunity to rebuild.

40:19

It's saying, well, they did the time.

40:23

At the doing the time, what we're trying to

40:25

do is give the opportunity

40:27

to evolve. And if

40:29

you don't have that, well, then my

40:32

question is like, well, then

40:34

jail has no real meaning. The

40:37

punishment is supposed to teach you a

40:39

lesson. And then ultimately, the lesson

40:41

that you learn from, you never

40:43

go back to you do better. That's what it's

40:45

supposed to be. You actually go back and you

40:47

go back to jail again. Instead

40:49

of creating a cycle, a hamster wheel. So

40:52

I love what you said. It's like, you

40:54

know, these these prisons are coming out anyway,

40:56

and they can either be assets or

40:59

not. I love that you're

41:01

giving them the opportunity to be valuable assets. I

41:03

love that you're giving the time. I love that

41:05

you're you're taking out out

41:08

of your time, out of your

41:10

day and saying the impact and

41:12

positivity and voices that I'm able

41:14

to provide them with. And

41:17

that is going to be beneficial, but like

41:19

fucking necessary. It's shit. And it's all about

41:21

feeling, Kev. Like the feeling you get,

41:23

we talked about our children, the feeling

41:25

you get from seeing a success story

41:27

like the one kid, his name is Michael,

41:30

that I mentioned that that reform now there's,

41:32

there's no greater feeling. I found, you know,

41:34

this kid in Rikers Island and now he's

41:36

speaking on platforms with Kim Kardashian, with Meek

41:39

Mill and going to Columbia University. I mean,

41:41

you can't dream it. It's mind

41:43

blowing. And to see it happen just

41:45

because somebody said, hey, I got you.

41:47

I love you. I'm going

41:49

to support you. I'm going to be here for you. Amazing things can

41:51

happen. And I'm excited to see a lot

41:53

more stories like that. It's huge. I

41:56

don't want to, I don't want to

41:58

put a funny moment on this, but I'm going to I wouldn't be

42:00

myself if I didn't. You know, there was

42:02

a point in my career early on where

42:05

I was performing at the prisons. I

42:07

did a prison run. I didn't know that about you.

42:09

Of comedy shows. Listen, this is 23, 22, 23 year

42:11

old cat. And

42:16

you know, this comedian

42:18

named Capone, who also was a

42:20

promoter, he's like, yo, I got these gigs. These

42:22

are great gigs. When they paying like $500 a show, you

42:24

know, it's

42:27

a prison run. So we're going to do like eight

42:29

prisons and you know, you

42:31

don't have it. So you're like, yeah, no, this is where the

42:34

shows are. This is where you

42:36

got to go. Some

42:38

of my best shows that I've ever done in

42:41

my life were done in

42:43

a prison. Wow. Because they

42:45

were so appreciative of

42:47

talent coming and it being something. But

42:50

also some of the most fear that I've

42:52

ever had as a comedian has

42:54

come from those shows in prison.

42:57

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh

43:01

my God. If you walk in there, it's not in

43:03

a play with you. Oh my God. No, not in

43:05

the fucking. You

43:08

got to look, you got to look, you

43:10

got to have the face like you cool.

43:12

But inside I was shitting myself. Oh my

43:14

God. Same. As

43:17

we now talk about just, you know, our

43:19

world, right? We're talking about entertainment. We're talking

43:21

about media and we've crossed so many bridges

43:24

to get to the conversation now. What I want to

43:26

know is like, you know, in the

43:29

perfect world of what? Like where's

43:31

Lala's focus at today? Like what

43:33

are the things that you feel

43:35

will best complete the

43:38

chapter or chapters? Like what do

43:40

you must have before it's all

43:43

said and done? What else

43:45

do you want right now from the business? From

43:47

the business I would want to see more on

43:51

the producing side. I would love to see, I

43:53

am producing, but more of it to really

43:56

identify stories that, you know, are compelling to

43:58

me and things that I feel. like will

44:00

really push the needle out there

44:02

and really get people to think. So identifying

44:04

projects from a producing standpoint that maybe I

44:07

can star in or maybe other people can

44:09

star in, but really using you know the

44:11

production side and identifying great projects

44:13

is where I'm at now. I love acting.

44:15

It's my passion. I would do it if

44:17

I didn't get paid for it. I love

44:20

it so much. So continuing to act. We're

44:22

about to start like you said filming season

44:24

four now of BMF. We go down to

44:26

Atlanta in a couple weeks to start that.

44:28

So that's always fulfilling to me. Just you know

44:30

working on the character and building you know

44:32

the character. I love that and producing.

44:34

That's where I'm at and Airbnb has

44:37

been great and I feel like that's

44:39

a long-term play for me. That's something that's

44:41

going to be there hopefully God willing for

44:43

a long time and something I can help

44:46

you know the company continue to grow. I'm

44:48

excited about that and then you know I'm

44:50

a mom first before anything. I mean we're talking

44:52

career but I'm a mom before anything and Caiyan's

44:54

getting ready to he's in 11th

44:56

grade and start getting ready to go to college

44:58

and choose the school he wants to go to.

45:00

So that comes before anything.

45:03

Well the dope thing about you talking about being a

45:05

mom that I'm

45:07

most impressed with is when you see kids and

45:10

you see kids pick up the

45:13

anecdotes from their from their households

45:15

and him starting a business. Him

45:17

starting like the clothing line. Him

45:21

like just being creative,

45:23

being ambitious. I mean

45:25

that's got to be like the most fulfilling thing to

45:27

you. How do you feel

45:29

you know about that? Like when you hear

45:31

him have an idea and follow through with

45:33

the idea and look for this the world

45:36

of support right? Not just to do for

45:38

me mom and provide and give me but

45:40

like here's what I'm doing and this is

45:42

what I'm working towards. Watch

45:44

me go do it. What's that level of feeling?

45:47

That's the greatest

45:50

accomplishment, the greatest feeling as

45:52

you know me feeling like I'm a great

45:55

mom just trumps everything

45:57

and when he tells me Like,

46:00

you know, you've raised a great son, you've

46:02

done a great job. And shout out to

46:04

his dad, because we've done it together. It's

46:06

like, it's an amazing feeling. Like you

46:08

want to have great kids, you

46:11

want to be a great parent. And it's

46:13

this world we can get so caught up

46:15

in our own lives and work and this

46:17

that we just don't have the time. And

46:19

next thing you know, these kids are out

46:21

here terrorizing, you know, people and things. So

46:23

to have them be an entrepreneur, this y'all

46:25

can be successful. I'm happy to see them

46:27

so dedicated to school and being an athlete,

46:29

he's an incredible basketball player. And just to

46:31

see the dedication he puts into it, I've

46:33

never had to wake this kid up to

46:35

go to work out. I've never had to

46:37

wake him up to go to the gym.

46:39

We've never had any of those issues.

46:42

He's self-motivated and disciplined. And that's an

46:44

amazing thing to see. You

46:46

know, that was one thing. I

46:48

remember Melo when we were talking for our

46:50

listeners, Carmelo Anthony

46:53

is his dad. And

46:55

Melo was like, look, I don't want to force

46:57

him to play the

46:59

game. I don't want to push him until he tells me

47:02

he's ready to be pushed. And you know, that's what

47:04

I'm waiting for. And I remember we're talking to Melo

47:06

when he told me, he's like, nah, he's

47:09

got that dog and like he wants

47:11

to do it. And now that he

47:13

wants to do it, like there's been

47:15

a big change in just what he

47:17

realizes he can be. And it's

47:19

so dope just to see, once again,

47:21

just any kid give a shit. A

47:24

kid give a shit. And

47:26

go like, I give a shit about this thing. I

47:29

want to work to get that thing. I

47:32

mean, even with my kids, you know, I

47:34

got one in college, one

47:37

going to the 11th grade next year, he's

47:40

a sophomore crushing in track.

47:42

And then I got my two young, my

47:44

two babies. But to see my oldest give

47:46

a shit, that's

47:50

what you pray for. It's like, please just let my

47:52

kids give a shit. Please

47:55

just give a shit. Don't not

47:57

give a shit. Cause I know what it

47:59

was like to. not give a shit. I don't

48:01

know about you, but I didn't give a shit for a

48:03

little while. I got lucky. I got

48:05

lucky in not giving a shit. Not that

48:07

my mom didn't do an amazing job because

48:10

she did. I was just a late bloomer

48:12

with the realization of productivity.

48:15

Right. And also, it's not what we saw.

48:17

In my life, it's not like we saw

48:19

these mega successful people. People was just grinding,

48:21

making ends meet, tired all the time, working

48:24

multiple jobs. That's what you saw. So it

48:26

was like, you didn't know what to strive

48:28

for. You didn't know what to give a

48:30

shit about. Because it was just like, everybody

48:32

looks miserable. They work their ass off. They

48:34

come home. They sleep. It's just like everybody's

48:36

just on this hamster wheel. And you didn't

48:39

know what success looked like or had something

48:41

to say, oh, I want to be like

48:43

that. I didn't have

48:45

that. Well, you know, you're big on family.

48:48

And that's one thing that I've

48:51

always seen. It's something that

48:53

makes me smile. Just like that's a thing that

48:55

you cater to, that you're true to. I should

48:58

have asked you this earlier, and I

49:00

did it. But through the push in

49:02

What 4 More, how

49:05

much of a role did your family play

49:09

in just supporting you to just stay

49:11

consistent and persistent? And second piece of

49:13

that question is, was there ever a

49:15

moment where you almost said, fuck it?

49:17

We almost said, fuck it, man. This

49:19

shit ain't it. And I'm about to

49:21

go find something else. Yeah. I

49:23

mean, my family has been great. They've always

49:26

supported me. My mom has been incredible in

49:28

helping me with Kyan through allowing

49:30

me to be able to take certain jobs and

49:32

then helping with him, which has been great. But

49:34

there's been many times. It was a time recently

49:36

where I was like, is

49:38

it worth it? Like, is this

49:40

hard work to this? At

49:43

this stage in my life and career, is it

49:45

worth still going this hard? Like,

49:47

Kev, you know, I go hard. And I'm

49:49

like, do I just need to kind

49:51

of slow down a little bit? And for Kyan's

49:53

sake, with all, you know, everything he has going

49:56

on, like, I'm always present, but you always feel

49:58

like you could be even more present. I

50:00

was just in West Virginia shooting a movie and it

50:02

just so happened the week I'm shooting the movie was

50:04

the week of his winter break. I'm like, just my

50:06

luck. The one week he's off is I'm in West

50:08

Virginia shooting this movie. He can't come because he has

50:10

basketball and stuff. And you start questioning like, is it

50:12

worth it? Like I want to be there with my

50:14

kid on his days off and have fun with him.

50:17

So you go through that as a parent, but also

50:19

when I hear him talk about how

50:21

seeing me be so motivated and career

50:23

driven, you know, inspires him and pushes

50:25

him to want to do more

50:27

and be more, because then it makes you feel

50:29

like it is worth it. Cause our kids are

50:31

watching everything that we're doing. I

50:34

love you being transparent about that. You

50:36

know, once again, it's about gyms and

50:38

you know, I can only

50:40

hope that my listeners take away the gyms,

50:42

but that moment of doubt, that moment of

50:44

like, fuck, you know, those lows are real.

50:47

And the lows only prepare you

50:50

for the success of the high.

50:52

And sometimes just addressing the low

50:54

and, you know, overcoming that low

50:57

is a test to like, to

50:59

basically see like, are you really committed?

51:03

And within the world of commitment, do you

51:05

have what it takes or do you break? It's

51:07

very hard to not break. Very hard to not

51:09

break. And you see so many people break,

51:12

you see so, and it's like, I get it.

51:14

Like I get how this work and this industry

51:16

and the pressure like can really break people. Like

51:18

I've seen some of the best get broken by

51:20

it. It's not easy to keep your head on

51:22

straight with everything, all this shit coming at you

51:24

all day long, trying to have a life, trying

51:26

to deal with this, that, and social media and

51:28

people saying this, everyone has a comment on your

51:31

life. That shit is not easy. And

51:33

it's like, well, you're a celebrity or you have

51:36

money. So what is there to complain about? What

51:38

are you complaining about it for? Well, goddamn, I'm

51:40

a person with feelings. I deal with feelings. Like

51:42

I'm just supposed to not feel anything. Cause what?

51:45

I got some extra money in a bank. That's not how

51:47

it works. Well, I will tell

51:49

you this. If there ever is a moment of

51:51

doubt, you look at that goddamn boy.

51:54

You got to look at that boy. And I

51:57

want you to understand every time you look at

51:59

that boy. That is a

52:01

pure example of what he sees. He's

52:05

a product of his environment.

52:08

And that is a powerful thing

52:10

to understand. When you look

52:12

at your kids, understand that

52:14

those kids are a reflection of you

52:16

in some way, shape or form. So

52:18

if you see a kid getting up

52:20

for practice, as you said, if

52:23

you say, oh, he's on time,

52:25

he doesn't miss a workout, well,

52:27

he can't go because he has

52:29

this, his responsibilities are forward thoughts.

52:31

That's because he comes from a

52:33

household that's been committed to being

52:35

responsible, being committed to having a

52:37

purpose. So that doubt that

52:39

you may have had, like you just said

52:42

a little bit ago, every

52:44

fucking time. I don't give a shit

52:46

if you keep it in your fucking phone. I can't picture my mom

52:48

in my wallet. That's cool. I got

52:50

a picture of my mom in my wallet. And the

52:53

reason why I got a picture of my mom in my wallet

52:55

is simply because whenever I'm pulling out

52:57

a credit card or my ID or

53:00

something, I got to go through my

53:02

mom's thing. It's a memory to

53:04

me. It doesn't matter what the fuck it is, the

53:07

responsibility, the commitment, the drive,

53:10

it comes from this face. So every once

53:12

in a while, I just need a reminder of that face because she's not

53:14

here. Fucking look at

53:16

that goddamn boy. It's a dope thing.

53:19

It's a very dope thing. And I won't get too sappy

53:21

on you. I still got more to talk about. I

53:25

still got more to talk about. I got to get

53:27

to the world of fun now. OK. And

53:30

then speaking of the world of fun, it's

53:32

quite the transition. But people, I want you

53:34

guys to understand, Lala Anthony is responsible for

53:36

now what I would call Halloween

53:39

festivities that are done on

53:42

a yearly basis. And Lala's

53:44

Halloween parties are big

53:46

deals. These are things. You take Halloween

53:48

very serious, right? Very, very serious. And

53:51

the reason why I want to talk

53:53

about this is because it takes a

53:55

special person to understand the value of

53:57

Halloween and the value and

53:59

commitment to competition. You have done

54:01

it. You have done it and

54:03

you are committed to it. When

54:05

did the love for Halloween start? And

54:07

how did it get to the level of it that today? I

54:10

love Halloween. It's just another day to

54:12

be creative, to express yourself, to get

54:14

in character, to feel it, to wear

54:16

the clothes, to become something else. Same

54:18

thing with acting. It's all about creating

54:20

characters. And I got

54:22

more into it when Lenny S. kept calling me,

54:25

saying, we got to do Love Halloween, I Love

54:27

Halloween. Let's start doing this annual party. And we

54:29

could never have imagined it would become what it's

54:31

become. But to have everybody

54:34

just, where's the party? And they go crazy for it. But

54:37

again, you know what it is for me? Going

54:39

back to what I said, bringing people together, bringing

54:41

community together, having fun together. We all get so

54:43

caught up in our lives that you can go

54:45

years without seeing each other or talking to each

54:47

other. And the problem with social media is, I

54:49

see your page every day, Kev. So I'm fully

54:51

in tune with what you have going on. In

54:53

my mind, I've talked to you every day. I

54:55

might not have, but I'm seeing you on the

54:58

ground. I'm like, oh no, Kev's good. He's with

55:00

his family one year a day. I think I

55:02

know everything, but I haven't actually called you

55:04

and connected with you. And that's the problem

55:06

sometimes. We got to stay connected. So

55:08

this party, to me, brings everybody back

55:10

together. Connected to tissue. How

55:12

far in advance are you thinking of costumes? I

55:15

think a costume is probably like, I would say like three

55:18

months in advance. Okay. I was putting

55:20

you like a six to eight month banker. No,

55:22

three months is enough time. Three months. Three months.

55:24

Three months. You're cracking the code on the idea

55:26

and you're putting it together. Okay. I'm not mad

55:28

at that. I'm

55:30

a little longer if I'm going to do

55:32

it. If I'm going to be in town

55:34

for it, I'm a little longer. I think

55:36

my best one to date is when I

55:38

was a Tearian from Game of Thrones. Okay.

55:40

Yes. When I did this, I

55:42

just little bit. How long did it take you

55:45

to do that? Well, I just went full out.

55:47

I went full throttle with the costume. I got

55:49

everything like custom made and the wig and everything. But I

55:51

thought I was like, this is going to be a big

55:53

one. This is going to be a big, big one. Like

55:55

that's what which one is going to be the big one

55:57

for me. I don't know what I want to do this

55:59

year. I think I'm gonna be in town. I

56:02

have to make one of yours. The thing is,

56:04

you go in New York. So I wanna like-

56:06

Now it's gotten so big. Lenny say we're

56:08

doing bicoms. LA and New York

56:11

though. I'll make sure you know when it's all

56:13

happening. I need to go. I'm going to go.

56:15

I'm never- You're always working.

56:17

Yes, I'm always working. That is very true.

56:19

Just we don't need to fucking, we

56:21

don't need to put a stamp on that, okay? Now

56:23

just, I'll fix it and I'll make it. I'll make

56:26

it happen. You just mark my words. What

56:29

I wanna know is this. The world of

56:31

like storytelling. You have such

56:33

an amazing story. Have you put

56:35

any thought, any

56:37

thought into the idea of

56:40

like talking about your journey,

56:42

like from point A to

56:44

point Z. Have you put

56:46

any thought to the world

56:48

of like, you know, a

56:50

book or like really, really

56:52

papering just the trials, the

56:54

tribulations, the mindset

56:57

attached to the goal at hand

56:59

and pretty much like the success

57:02

in fulfilling the idea of the

57:04

goal. Are

57:07

you thinking about that? Would you write a book? Do you want a

57:09

book? So I wrote a book a long

57:11

time ago, a long, long time ago. It was called

57:13

The Love Playbook and that's when I was married and

57:16

it's like, here's the playbook and Rules to Love. And

57:18

then you realize that you really don't know

57:20

shit about love and there's no rules. And there's

57:22

no, it's kind of like, think like a

57:24

man. Like there's really no rules

57:27

in the end, it is what it

57:29

is. So I think now that I've experienced

57:31

life in a different way, also, you know,

57:33

being married and now being not

57:35

married anymore is a new space and

57:38

just, you know, navigating through that space. It's been

57:40

a while, but still understanding what that space looks

57:42

like. I think there is story

57:44

there. I think it's inspiring story for

57:46

women out there that, you know, life

57:48

does go on and you can go

57:50

on talking about even co-parenting and being

57:53

great parents to our son, which is

57:55

something that we do incredibly well and

57:57

understanding the importance of co-parenting.

58:00

and getting along, I think there's so much

58:02

story there that it's something I would consider

58:04

revisiting and thinking

58:06

about. Because you want your story

58:08

to be a testament to

58:11

what people have gone through, and you want to be

58:14

able to help people out there. So many people went

58:16

through the same thing and had no outlet, no one

58:18

to talk to, no one they felt understood it. So

58:20

I've been there, and I want to be a

58:22

voice for all of that. And it doesn't have to be

58:24

negative. No, that's all I was about to say.

58:27

Mellow and I get along great, we were at

58:29

Tyann's game yesterday, sitting together, we love, we have

58:31

a great time. Everything doesn't have to be negative.

58:34

And oh, I hate him. It doesn't have

58:36

to be that. And you have to remember,

58:39

the kid or the kids are watching. They

58:41

see everything. Hence why I bring

58:43

it up. And I keep telling

58:45

you, I told you earlier on,

58:47

I tell them this is all the time.

58:49

This is just a platform for fucking positivity.

58:52

When I say, you have an

58:54

amazing story of audibles, of

58:57

pivots. And think about those words for a

58:59

second. Think about those words,

59:02

gold minders. Audibles and pivots

59:04

is what you call when you want to fucking change.

59:07

A pivot is what you take when you need to go in another direction.

59:09

And there should be no fear attached to

59:12

change. There should be no fear attached to

59:14

the new thing that you have to do,

59:16

or that you're going to do. More

59:19

importantly, there should be a level

59:21

of acceptance. And if you have

59:24

a story that's attached to doing

59:26

that in so many different ways,

59:28

and still finding a through line

59:30

to happiness, still finding a through

59:32

line to the

59:34

thing that you want to do, I'm still

59:37

going to get to the thing that I

59:39

want to do. That's a

59:41

fucking important story to be told. I mean,

59:43

you do a lot of things, but those

59:45

stories, those opportunities

59:48

to voice the things that you've done

59:50

or the things that you've been through,

59:52

or the move that you've made, and

59:54

the road that you took to get

59:56

there, people do need that.

59:59

Yeah. People do need the

1:00:01

ammunition of to know fuck is not

1:00:03

just me. Right? Like

1:00:06

a lot of people feel like it is just them. And

1:00:08

I personally knowing you, I just think your

1:00:10

story is dope as fuck. Thank

1:00:12

you. Dope as fuck. So at some

1:00:14

point in time, you should like just

1:00:16

think about what that looks like. Think

1:00:18

about what that would be. And you

1:00:20

know, ultimately talk to you just for

1:00:22

a business perspective. That's revenue on the

1:00:24

table. Don't leave that there. Definitely. Somebody

1:00:26

else will take it. They'll take it.

1:00:28

They'll take it. Don't take

1:00:30

it. It's right there on the table.

1:00:33

Hey, RPA Productions. Listen, it's right there

1:00:35

on the table. Definitely. Look,

1:00:37

I can talk to you all

1:00:39

day because that's what

1:00:42

I love to do. And

1:00:44

I can't hear because of course, all good things have

1:00:46

to come to an end. But

1:00:48

what I will say is this. I

1:00:50

don't take for granted. You

1:00:52

saying, Kavi, I'm a fuck with you. I'm going to do the podcast.

1:00:55

I don't take it for granted when anybody gives

1:00:57

me their time. I respect and I value your

1:00:59

time. I'm going to tell you this. I

1:01:03

think that the best is yet to come. And

1:01:05

you know, I think the success

1:01:07

and the opportunity to rebrand and

1:01:09

rebuild yourself from

1:01:12

the world of the MTV host that once

1:01:14

was to the actress that we now

1:01:16

know to the personality that we love, more

1:01:19

important to just a fucking great voice, a

1:01:22

great voice, a great voice, a

1:01:24

great face and a

1:01:26

great goddamn example. That's

1:01:29

what you are. And what you're doing

1:01:31

from an entrepreneur standpoint, from a business

1:01:33

standpoint, I love I'm watching you. And

1:01:36

I just think that you got some

1:01:38

more shit. You got some more

1:01:40

dope shit simply because you're just you're

1:01:43

one of those people that just can't sit out.

1:01:45

You can't sit out. You

1:01:50

want more and you will get more. And

1:01:52

I hope that the listeners took away a lot

1:01:55

of the dope shit that you said. And

1:01:57

a lot of it was attached to ambition.

1:02:00

follow through, want, and

1:02:02

the need to prove like

1:02:04

naysayers wrong and more importantly,

1:02:07

prove yourself right. That's what I took

1:02:09

from this conversation. That's true. That's

1:02:11

true. You wanted to prove yourself right and

1:02:14

you felt I can do and since

1:02:16

feeling that way, what you've done. So

1:02:19

don't stop fucking doing it. This is inspiring

1:02:21

and thank you for allowing me to have this

1:02:23

platform to talk and just catch up with

1:02:25

you. Like, we need more of this. Like you said,

1:02:27

we need more of these just real

1:02:30

authentic unfiltered conversations.

1:02:33

Everything now is just so cookie cutter. Okay,

1:02:35

so tell them about the next project. Tell them

1:02:37

like this is just a different conversation and it's

1:02:39

refreshing to me to have it. So thank you

1:02:41

for giving me this platform and do this with

1:02:43

you today. I think it's gonna be refreshing for

1:02:45

listeners to hear you talk the way that you talk

1:02:48

and to hear you speak with the passion

1:02:50

that you speak with. I love

1:02:52

it. Ladies and gentlemen, this is gold

1:02:54

mines. You know what we do here. God dammit,

1:02:56

we drop gems. It's your choice to pick them

1:02:58

up. If you choose to

1:03:00

pick them up, then God dammit, you'll choose

1:03:03

to capture reward at some point in time.

1:03:05

You choose to let that gold just sit

1:03:07

on the ground. That's on you. So that's

1:03:09

on you. There you go. Thank you. I

1:03:11

love you, lie. Love you. Love

1:03:13

you. I love you. Bye.

1:03:16

Gold mines with Kevin Hart is

1:03:18

a serious exam and rap out

1:03:20

loud radio production and executive producers

1:03:22

by Kevin Hart. I

1:03:24

like the price of every decade

1:03:26

and every mile produced by Danny

1:03:29

Sellers. I

1:03:31

love you. I

1:03:37

love you. I love

1:03:39

you. I love you.

1:03:44

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seen all the video call fails by

1:04:16

now. The mute button mishaps the cat

1:04:18

cameos. People not realizing the camera's on

1:04:20

when their pants are off. But none

1:04:22

of this makes Fred feel any better

1:04:24

about giving an entire sales pitch, mistakenly

1:04:26

using a filter that turns him into

1:04:28

an itsy-bitsy baby duck. How do I

1:04:30

call you, say hello. It's too

1:04:32

late, Fred, it's too late. When you

1:04:34

realize it's better to do business in person, it

1:04:37

matters where you stay. Welcome to the Hilton

1:04:39

Garden in Fred. The meeting room is right

1:04:41

down the hall. Hilton, for the stay.