What kind of memorabilia do you personally collect?
Everything I can get my hands on. No, being in this position I get a chance to meet a lot of people I admire, a lot of my heroes back in the day. Going to All Star games and stuff like that, you get a chance to get jerseys signed, footballs. I’ve got a big 22 shoe from Shaq. So things like that. It’s like, “Man, that’s the icing on the cake of my career there.” I can go rub elbows with some of these sports figures that I’ve watched play and do their thing over the years.
What’s your favorite item? The thing you’d never give up.
I’ve got a Cowboy helmet signed by Emmitt Smith. I’d never give that up. I’ve got a jersey signed by Deion Sanders. I’d never give that up. I’ve got a basketball signed by all the greats from Julius Irving to Oscar Robinson. It was at an All Star game I got them all to sign it. So that ain’t going nowhere. I’m going to die with that in my casket.
From NWA to dramas and comedies to this family film, your career’s really evolved.
To me, it’s been a nice progression to show maturity, to show growth. Not to be stuck in the same thing. Let people know where you start, you don’t have to end in the same place. But, you know, throughout my career I hope to do all kinds of different things. You never know.
It definitely is going to swing back towards the more hardcore stuff. But that’s just a part of moviemaking to me. I think you should be a part in as many good projects as you can, to build up your trust with the moviegoing audience. So whenever there’s a good project that comes along, whether it’s a comedy, drama, action, family movie, or hardcore movie, I’m going to jump at it if I can be a part of it, you know?
You’re involved with another film franchise now with “XXX: State of the Union.” Were you ready for the physical challenges involved in that movie?
I don’t know if you’re ever ready for something like that, you know? When you do a movie like that that’s [so] big, you’re going to have to do some things that you never thought you were going to have to do in life. But I was up to the challenge, physically ready. But that doesn’t help you from getting scrapes, sprains. I’ve gotten cut, burnt, bruised, sliced. I tore a couple of things - tendons, everything – working on that movie. It felt like I was in the NFL or something. But it’s going to be a good movie, a hell of a movie, a hell of an experience. Real big, bigger than anything I ever worked on.
Do you have any permanent scars?
I hope everything heals. I ended up getting turf toe on one of the scenes. That’s slow-healing. A couple of burns and bruises, but it’s kind of what I expected.
What’s turf toe?
Turf toe’s when you hyperextend your big toe. You step into the ground or something too hard and your toe is hyperextended back. These ligaments right on the top of your toe are just sore. You don’t notice how much you walk on your big toe until you get that injury. For a minute, running was out of the question. Like cutting and turning and all that was out of the question for a minute. I feel for those athletes. I used to hear “turf toe.” “Man, get your ass back on that field!” Now I understand you can’t do nothing. There ain’t no playing with that.
You crossed over from music to film so many years ago that people look at you as an actor now, not as a rapper. How does that feel and what do you think of the other rappers transitioning into acting?
You know for me, it’s a dream come true to get to this point where you’re gaining, like I said, trust with the moviegoing audience. They can see your name on the film and know that it’s going to be worth their money and worth their time, and know that it’s not going to be a waste of time. I’ve been working hard to get there. There’s been a lot of things that I’ve done to get myself there, as far as taking on things with my company and trying to gain respect as a filmmaker as well as a rapper/actor.
With the other rappers and stuff that [are] getting into the movies, I’m all for it. Acting to me is a thing where either you got it or you don’t. Either you’ve got the chops or you don’t, so it [doesn’t] really matter where you come from. That part is really a non-factor, where you come from, because everybody comes from somewhere. I think rappers are getting a shot in the movies because we’re just an observant breed, you know? To be a rapper, it’s like a comedian. To be able to give people stuff that they can connect with, you have to be observant. So that translates to the screen. Little things like that.
We’re not doing [anything] new. I mean, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis Jr., they all went from music to movies. It’s not like the rappers are doing something that’s never been done before. We’re just on this end of the spectrum.
