|
|---|
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
 |
Asked & Answered: Malcolm-Jamal Warner ‘I wanted to be taken seriously after 'Cosby,' says Warner. That much will become clear once audiences have a look at his one-man show, “Love & Other Social Issues,” which will have its West Coast premiere this weekend. In it, not only does the 36-year-old performer show a little skin, but exposes his soul in a way that is a far cry from the mischievous teenager the world watched grow up on the “The Cosby Show.” Still, while most former child stars tend to avoid talking about their underage fame, Warner does the opposite. The actor, who founded Miles Long — a funk/jazz /hip-hop band that just released an album under the same name as his one-man show — looks back fondly on the series that made him an internationally recognized figure. That being said, Warner — who has also starred in television series “Malcolm and Eddie” and “Jeremiah” — promises that “anyone coming to this show thinking ‘Theo’ will leave a changed person.” Says his mother Paula Warner, who also manages his career and produced “Love and Other Social Issues”: “I want people to see the man. I want people to see that even though ‘The Cosby Show’ still runs today … this is a man, this is a man with many accomplishments and who has something to say.” And the man had plenty to say on a recent sunny afternoon at his mother’s Studio City home, where he freely discussed the ins and outs of working solo, his musical and poetic pursuits, and a variety of other issues ranging from the N-word’s place in popular culture to the state of hip-hop.
Who should people expect to see once the curtain goes up? People will see a side of me that they’ve never seen before. As an actor and as a public person, there’s a certain mask that you wear, in a certain way that you have to professionally deal with the public. This show really allows me to really take off the mask, take off the uniform and really be, unapologetically, unabashedly, and it’s my being vulnerable enough to show you who I am, which is scary, because it will be me really opening up, opening myself up, showing you who I am and some people will agree and a lot of people will disagree.
What will people think when they see this side of you? That’s the fun part. I call it the shock factor, the surprise factor. When you see in people’s eyes that they get it and they say ‘wow, OK he’s not that little kid use watch on television.’ Not that I do it for the shock value, but it does let me know that someone has had the chance to see me. To reach people with [your] own creation, that has an added level of satisfaction.
What is the purpose of doing this show and why has it taken you so long to bring it to Los Angeles? Initially the concept of this show was to be a showcase for me, again, so people can see that I am much more than Theo. But this time around, the showcase element never came up as much as it was something that I felt I needed to do. Back in early ‘90s the poetry was very different, when we were all excited to write new pieces, whereas now, now the poetry in L.A. has become cliquish … with all of these poetry slams, it’s affected the integrity of poetry. I felt I needed to do this for my own art, for my own craft’s sake. I’ve done the show, I know the show, it’s such a part of me. But there’s always been a fear of doing it in L.A., unlike in N.Y. In L.A. you make yourself vulnerable. In L.A., it’s really easy for people to take potshots at you and a lot of times, L.A. can be [unfairly] critical.
Has Bill Cosby seen the show? No, not that I know of. I mean, he knows my music. Had a conversation with him once, talked about my love-hate relationship with hip-hop. He knows my music. I mentioned to him how I’m always being asked if ‘Mr. Cosby approves of me using [certain] kind of language.’ He told me: “There’s one thing I can say about you, I trust you, I trust you will not use vulgarity gratuitously.” That was all I needed.
In regards to the title of your show, what are the most important issues you really want the spotlight to fall on? The most important, I have realized that there seems to be a running theme through a lot of the pieces is — self-esteem and self love. There was a time when I stopped going to schools to talk to kids, because I realized that they wanted to hear from Tupac, Snoop Dogg and Biggie, and my messages of self love and positivity were considered corny. Through poetry I found a way that being positive doesn’t have to be corny, you can be positive and be cool, you can love yourself and be cool, and what I found is that message of importance of loving yourself, and believing in yourself and being comfortable in your own skin. That is the reoccurring theme in the show.
Where does the inspiration for your pieces come from? From years of having workshopped them. There’s one that I wrote the day after Biggie got shot, wrote it in the car while I was driving. I write when the channel opens, and sometimes the channel will open at the strangest times and in the strangest places. Now in tune enough to know when that channel is open, so I’m able to catch what I can while the window is still open. But it doesn’t always happen like that. I’ve been working on a piece since 2001, still isn’t done yet. But often times pieces will write themselves, sometimes they’ll take a while. But I’m OK with that, because I know that when they’re done, I’ll know they’re done.
Tell us about your personal journey, going from child-iconic figure to the man you are today? Has there been anything so personal that you couldn’t present it to the audience? What I found this time around with this show, with some of the newer pieces, that this is really the first time I’ve connected much sooner [to pieces] more than the others. There were a couple of times that I could not get through without having this emotional journey, which you will, for me it’s a good sign because it’s showing me that this time around, I’m that much closer to the honesty that I’m looking for. It’s strange, because as actors we’re always looking for honesty.
You ask your audience, “What’s worst, selling dope, or selling dopey images?” What would your answer be to this question? Wow, I would say selling dopey images. I think the dopey images are far more detrimental to our younger people. I think under that umbrella dope will come in the path of those trying to follow those images.
What do you mean when you say: “Hip-hop is mostly treason over a beat?” I think hip-hop started out telling tall tales. Hip-hop was born out of that. That is when hip-hop was fun and the MC knew that these were merely tall tales. As nowadays some people are outright lying when they’re talking about how many people they’ve killed. Again you have young people who between the music, between music videos and between video games are so desensitized to violence, that to hear that, young people don’t understand that all these people are entertainers and that they don’t really live the lives you see. Young people don’t really understand that. There’s a difference from when hip-hop started, now it’s about lying and as far as I’m concerned, committing outright treason.
Does “Love & Other Social Issues” evolve with other social issues that come up? The social issues that I talk about in the show can be evergreen. [For instance], I wouldn’t do a piece about Don Imus. One of the things that I really learned from Mr. Cosby is that you want your work to be timeless. It’s now 2007, and people still talking about and watching “The Cosby Show,” and they talk about how relevant The Cosby Show still is. I know now that that’s what he talked about back then. He wanted in 20 years for the show to be relevant. That’s what I learned from him. I may do a poem about Don Imus, but not for this show. I want this show to have a long life.
You use the N-word more than once in your play, what are your thoughts about the attempts to ban it? I’ve taken a lot of profanity out of my work, but it’s still in the show. Every time I’ve ever used the word in my work, it’s been in a certain context, always with a certain level of contempt along with the word. The word is never used gratuitously, and it’s not used as term of endearment. But sometimes when I’m expressing myself, certain words, certain profanity words just work. As a creative person, as an intelligent person, I know there are times when there are other ways to say something, which I do and have done, but there are sometimes, when certain words are just. … Even when I use profanity, when I use fuck, fuck is not used lightly. Whether it’s profanity or the N-Word, it’s very specific. There are pieces where I’ve tried exchange the N-Word with brother, it didn’t work.
Have you gotten any backlash for using the words in your pieces? I [grew] up listening to Gill Scott Herring, listening to the Last Poets, to people in my community who use the word, including other artists. I heard that in their work, so as a writer, there are times when I use the word and it works. I was a big part of the resurgence of the underground spoken word movement here in Los Angeles in 1993, and at that time, the audiences I was talking to were predominantly black audiences. There’s also a certain kind of familiarity with the audience you’re talking to, they didn’t have qualms about using the word. When the audience expanded the word was still part of the piece, Have thought what now, do I change it because I’m now talking with different people?
Tell us about your music. What do you get out of it? I’m a soulful musician. I didn’t become a musician until about 10 years ago. People I’ve played with have played all their lives. I started so late … what I lack in formal training I make up for with feel. I’m a soulful musician definitely, I go with what I know analytically and put that into what I feel.
Where is your show coming from: mind, heart or soul, and why? Soul. I say that out of three because soul encompasses the mind and the heart. I think the mind is the mind, the heart is the heart, but the soul is an amalgamation of all of that.
What’s next for you? I don’t know. I’m just open to the journey. Just sitting here it just occurred to me that I’ve spent so much of my life trying to distance myself from Theo. During the show, I knew that I wanted to have a life after “Cosby,” I knew I wanted to be taken seriously as an adult long after “Cosby.” So I realized that I spend a lot of my life trying to distance myself from Theo, because both are nice guys. I didn’t want Theo’s niceness to overshadow Malcolm being a good guy. I want people to walk away being inspired, to be comfortable in their skin. ... This show is also a reminder to me to be who I am and not feel guilty about my life and not be apologetic about having had a good life and dimming my own light. [Also tells me that] it’s OK that you’re a good person, it’s OK that you’re a nice person, that doesn’t mean that you’re corny. Just sitting here, realized that that’s the same message for myself.
“Love & Other Social Issues” runs from June 1 through July 8 at the Assistance League Playhouse, 1367 N. St. Andrews Place, Los Angeles. For more information, call (323) 960-7784. |
|---|---|
 |
|---|
 |
|---|