The Breakfast Club - Best of full interview: Phylicia Rashad Talks Respect, The Rhythm Of Acting, Chadwick Boseman's Brilliance + More

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Best of 2025- Queens - Phylicia Rashad Talks Respect, The Rhythm Of Acting, Chadwick Boseman's Brilliance. Recorded 2025. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Earl, in the morning. The breakfast club. Yes, it's the world's the most dangerous morning. I want to show the Breakfast Club. Shalameen to God, Jess hilarious. DJ Envy's not in, but Lauren LaRosa is filling in for him. And we got royalty in the building, man. We have a woman who has represented, you know, black people,

especially black women, correctly forever. Ms. Felicia Rashad is here. How are you, Queen? I am good. Good to see you. Thank you. I'm a little star-struck, too. I'm a star-struck.

I mean, keep staring at you, but I cannot believe I'm sitting here across from you. Right. And like, it's, ooh. We've been watching you on TV You always carry yourself in such a regal manner But then when you walk in the room You feel it even more So it's like, whoa

I was telling them All right, mama walking in the room Scraten up, okay, clean up Make sure everything tidy, all right? And I know you have this effect Everywhere you go, are you used to people who are acting like this? Oh, you all are, what can I just say?

We are as a people respectful to each other yes yes man yes we are but not the others we are as a people we're respectful absolutely absolutely and you're here for

I mean we're going to talk to you about a lot of stuff but you're making your Broadway directorial debut in purpose yes how did that feel well it was wonderful it's not the first time I've directed this is the first time I'm directing in a Broadway theater but this play and this past

that's a real gift I hope you'll come and see yeah I hope you'll come to see Brandon Jacobs Jenkins is the playwright he received the Tony Award last year for his play appropriate and this

particular production originates in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theater and the Steppenwolf has its own ethos, its own legacy for theater as it was formed by active. So it's ensemble work, and that's the best work. Absolutely.

Ensemble work. But then that spirit, I watched it move through the cast into everybody. The designers, the production office and staff, the theater staff. It's everybody. It's one. We call it collective. intention. When I think about the thing that you and your sister have done, Ms. Debbie Allen, I just wonder, what did y'all dream of when y'all was kids?

When y'all was just two little girls growing up, like, what did y'all play about? What did y'all think about? What did y'all imagine? We grew up in Houston, Texas. Our father, Dr. Andrew A. Allen, is a dentist. our mother, Vivian Ayers, the poet. We grew up with a poet.

We grew up with a visionary, and it was about freedom. It was about, pardon me, it was about realizing your full potential as a human being. Can you imagine things like this, teaching dual children like this? She would teach us things like, she'd have aphorisms, and she'd give them to us.

us to say, the universe bears no ill to me. I bear no ill to it. And we repeat that. The universe bears no ill to me. I bear no ill to it. We just go around, the universe bears no ill to be. When you teach a child like this, when you teach a child, be true, be beautiful, be free, she would say things like this to us. And she'd say things like thinking requires thought. thinking requires thought we know he would say it but these seeds were planted by the time

I was 11 years old Debbie Debbie was nine years old and she said to my mother I did dance class and you're not doing a thing about it and nine

and you're not doing a thing about it wow well you know legal segregation at that time my mother took the railing off the side of the stairs going upstairs she took the handrail

and had it attached to a wall in what was supposed to be in the dining room and she hired this teacher who had come from the New York City Ballet, a Caucasian man, to come and teach Debbie in the house. Her ballet classes were there. This is how we grew. We grew like this, and he gave Deborah a book about ballet with photographs of all the famous dances.

And we would look at that book all day, every day. My mother would take us to exhibitions, to lectures, things we couldn't understand. understand. She knew we couldn't understand it. She told us later, I knew you wouldn't understand what was being said, but you were present. And the seeds were being planted. When we were growing up, she didn't want us scarred by the ignorance of racism. And it was all around us. It was legal at that time. But as little, little children, if there was somewhere we wanted to go. And we were restricted. She'd explain it like this. She'd say, oh, well, that's a private club for members only. And we're not members of that club. And then she'd do something else. She'd invite

all our friends into the living room. She'd teach us music. She'd teach us to tumble. She'd teach us things like this. She teaches choral speech. And that's how we grew. And at that time, music education, this is very interesting in a time of legal segregation. Music education was free and in the school. And the schools had instruments that students could use. I studied viola.

Debbie played the bass violin, if you can believe it. The littlest thing in the school, They had to sit her up on a stool. I had to sit that child up on a stool. And her little fingers, her little hands, couldn't. You know, a bass player usually had big hands. Yeah. You should have seen Debbie up there.

She never missed a beat and she never played a sour note. She played that thing like she had created it herself. This is how we grew. We grew up in, um, surrounded by, a community that cared for its children and I mean we were safe yeah

we were safe we felt safe we didn't I didn't feel fear as a child our mother was a great example of that too one night somebody tried to break in the house and my mother was awake

and she heard the clamor she went out the back door and walked her way around to where this man was trying to come through the window. And she stood right there, and she said, you could get arrested for that, you know? Scared to me, Jesus. He dropped everything and ran.

We grew up to be fearless, but not to be stupid. Expound on that. Feelers, but not stupid. Well, I mean, look, if you see a rattlesnake in front of you, come on. That's right. That's right.

Don't be stupid. That's right. If you see a car coming your way, don't be stupid. Absolutely. I love that. I love the story you just told because as you were talking about it. I'm like, man, how do you teach freedom the black kids in a country that wasn't providing you that freedom at the time?

I'll tell you how. I'll tell you how. A poet. A visionary. you have to look inside and you have to teach young people to look inside there's nothing but freedom there so much distraction today

right one thing and then another to make anybody not just African-American children but anybody feels separate from its creation, separate from the one who created everything that is, separate from one's own self. In the midst of magicity, nature, in the midst of presence, distraction.

Take attention to that. you're going to be stealing your quotes for the rest of the month every day on the show we do positive note and Charlemagne is over there writing down everything in his mind

Mr. Mishar he is going to be quoting you for the rest of the mom I know it yeah so you don't you know we knew history you teach history but you don't identify with the middle passage as who you are

that's not who you are that's not who anyone is that is what happened but people survive that because of who we are as human beings right now

I'm just saying it right now we need all the people all the people yeah that sense of community you're talking about growing up in Houston you need that you need to be able to teach kids freedom

you need to be able to instill security and safety in kids and that can only come from us it comes from home and in teaching you know it's shared with others you know children are not born into this world fearful no human being

is born into this world fearful or filled with hate nobody's born like that you have to learn that stuff you know there's a song from the Broadway show you have to be carefully taught carefully taught

well you can be carefully taught the right way too what was your mother's upbringing like because she seems like she was so still and so sure of herself, and I'm sure she had, you know, experienced a lot. My mother grew up in Chester, South Carolina. Hey, I'm from South Carolina.

What part? I was born in Charleston, raised in a small town called Mok's Corn. Oh, you the people. Yep. Okay. Ichie Guller. You the people. Okay, so it was a small mill town, right?

Her father was a blacksmith. One of his brothers were the mortician, and the other brother was. barber and these businesses had been owned by her grandfather it was an agricultural community right but there was a school there that had been founded by the Presbyter there was such a number of such schools that had been founded by the Presbytery for the descendants of freed African people throughout the South this school was Brainerd Institute And in this school, there was this classical education

administered by black people. My mother was always interested in music. Oh, she was quite a pianist. She described herself to me once as saying she was a little girl swinging, high on the swing, looking up at the sky and dreaming, big, dream. that's how she did her mother passed away

when she was when my mother was nine she lost her mother and she said as she sat at her mother's funeral and listened to the things that people were saying she decided none of them were intelligent enough to tell her

anything to do she would chart her on course at nine at nine at nine and she did and she did it was not an easy life

but there was this spirit in her living in her burning in her that carried her through her first publication is Bice of Dawn's this is collection of poems

her second publication Hawk if you read Hawk you will understand how I grew. This is an inner journey. This is an allegory of freedom which parallels flight through space without a vehicle. It was published 11 weeks before the launch of Sutnick 1. What did you learn from your father?

Because you said he was a dentist. Oh, my father. My father was born on the back porch of a farm. in Lovdale, Louisiana. He was one of nine children. His father worked on the railroad. He was a fireman on the South Pacific Railroad, and his mother, you know, his house was right.

My grandfather put great emphasis on education, and he made sure that all of his children went to college. Imagine it. Especially in that time. Imagine it. so my father was a very kind and generous man he was what was called a man's man men loved him and trusted him he was always the treasurer of the dental association because they said if takes care of the money we're in good shape he was organized he was very clean

he loved music he loved theater he loved the arts he came to see any and everything we did whatever it was he was very supportive he was he was so handsome he was so handsome and he was so good he did things that people didn't know he did

he was like that and in his office he dealt with people's pain and anxiety every day and they came to him and trusted him and when they couldn't pay he'd work out a payment plan for them that was convenient for them they didn't have to go anywhere and incur interest rates he would work that out when my father passed away at his viewing the line stretched out of the mortuary all the way down the street all the way around the block and when the last person came he said he looked at it and he said you don't understand you don't understand That's my dentist. And that motorcade, as I remember,

that motorcade on the way to the cemetery stretched as far as the eye. He was so beloved. Thank you, Jeff. So. That's why I asked, just because, you know, when you look, like I said, You know, we look at Felicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, two strong queens. Somebody had to raise them. Somebody had to instill that in them.

And as a father, raising four beautiful black girls, you know, I'm just always thinking about, you know, what should me and my wife be instilling in them all the time just so they grow up to be strong black women. When you love them. My mom says all the time. When you love them, that's all. You know, my father, if I can remember one great construction,

my father gave two great instructions. He said. and I was a little girl he said never let anybody run over you I was five years old he told me never let anyone run over you and then later on in life he said always know the balance of your bank account

and keep your own money yeah what can you tell us about without spoiling it the Broadway but what can you tell us about the story of purpose without giving it all the way

I know you don't want to oh this is wonderful family family drama and there's humor in it a young man is recalling a visit to his home

and on this night of nights so much happens in one night and so much is revealed in one night and some things are resolved it's that's all I'm going to tell you

except to tell you that cast Harry Lennox okay Latanya Richardson Jackson Mm-hmm Glenn Glenn

Dana Alana Arenas and John Michael Hill is the most incredible ensemble that I've ever witnessed each one is a master

each one and the inimitable Carrie Young who was Lutie Bell in Pearly Victoria's last season that's our care people come at the end of the play and have various reactions

one woman said ooh that scene at the dining room table that was my family's Thanksgiving for the past five years ago relatable right and she was not an African-American woman people see themselves and that's when we know

we are really doing our best work when you see yourself I was going to say speaking of doing your best work I think for a lot of us and watching you on television the iconic role of Claire Huxable and just what that image of having a mom that was just so graceful and so like everything that you were in that show

do you like in real life is there ever pressure or was there at the time for you to like upkeep like a certain like I don't know like an image or like just anything that people try to know like so not in your house but like in real life like in Hollywood and other roles you were taking and like you know what I mean like did you ever feel like because I think for us like you are like the perfect like image of like a black woman like so I always wondered if you felt that pressure no light is not heavy carry light, sheer light, light is not really. Even in interviews, I understand what you're saying. Even in interviews back then, you would still have the same deposition, the same grace when, you know, outside of that role, I'm going to tell you the one that sticks with me. when you told Sandra's boyfriend

Elvin. That is iconic. And then when Vanessa wanted to go to Baltimore where I'm from, the seat of wretched. Oh my God. When I tell you, those are my two, like, key episodes, right? Well, yeah, because I'm from Baltimore. And I don't snuck out

the house and, you know, I don't done all that. You ain't knocked Vanessa out. I got knocked out a few times. Well, she almost did, but Clifford. held her back well yes right that's it that's it also i also want to bring up the movie beekeeper oh my god how is that working with jason statham oh he's he's such a good person yeah oh yeah okay so generous so kind amazing to a fault you know um that was a great experience that was a great movie because it also like talks to what's going on

these days like it is so um i know y'all two probably didn't see it so the beekeeper is a movie about um an older woman who is robbed of her um her retirement funds everything clear her bank accounts fraud a lot of fraud she took a phone call from this company that acted as if they were trying to like help her with some type of banking information and and and she like kind of fell for it and um ended up now and beekeeper did is this the question i always have Did the woman kill herself, or did... She killed herself not because she lost her money. It was other people's money she lost.

Okay. And do you know that maybe six months after that filming, I read of such a thing in the newspaper? Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Only this was a man. And he was so embarrassed. He killed him since that is all right.

Yeah. But the greater problem here, is access. Yes. Yeah. So much access to people. Is all of that necessary? Is it good?

No. No, it's not. No, man. No, it's not. And as we see it moving towards more, you think about that. Yeah. How do you, how do you now a day's, like,

because I mean, you obviously pick and choose what you want to do, what your roles, like I watched you in Dierre from, And I, like, the one scene we were all in the car, and you were talking about the temptation. Oh, yeah. She slept with the temptations? Yeah, all of them, she said.

I'm gonna tell you right now, I felt bad watching it. I'm like, I don't think I was supposed to hear her say stuff like that. I thought that was a character. Yes, but it's... You know what's so funny though? The first time I saw the clips, they didn't tell me it was from a TV show. Yeah, he thought, what the police show? Yeah.

He thought that you were up here and like, what? You were up here, like, really reflecting on your life. I said, damn, she slept. Claire Huxble slept with all the temptations. No, no, no. That was the character, darling. That was a character. As actors, we play these roles.

When you choose a character like that, where it's like, it's a lot different than how we've seen you, or how I've seen you anyway, and different things that you've done, what's you're thinking behind. Is it because you want to, you want people to see you in the different lights, or is it just, I just want to do it? Did you see what she was doing? Yes. That's why I chose the character. of what she was doing. People got all caught up in funny stuff. Yeah.

What was that woman doing? She was rescuing people. She was rescuing people. She was living with the deepest hurt that a mother can have that she lost her child because she was not paying attention. And in her heart, she felt that her child was alive somewhere. And this is years later. Right.

But just in a moment of being too tired and too annoyed and too distracted and wanting to do something else, she turned away. And in that instant, her child was taken from her. And so she said about Satan. I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltson. My new podcast, What Happened in Nashville, tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse, and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed. We have some breaking news to tell you about.

Tennessee's attorney general is suing a Nashville doctor. In April 2024, a fertility clinic in Nashville shut down overnight and trapped behind locked doors were more than a thousand frozen embryos. I was terrified. Out of all of our journey, that was the worst moment ever. At that point, it didn't occur to me what fight was going to come to follow. But this story isn't just about a few families' futures. It's about whether the promise of modern fertility care can be trusted at all.

It doesn't matter how much I fight. Doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this. It doesn't matter how much justice we get. None of it's going to get me pregnant. Listen to what happened in Nashville on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Radi de Vluca, and I am the host of a really good cry podcast. This week, I am joined by Anna Runkle, also known as the crappy childhood fairy, a creator, teacher, and guide helping people heal from the lasting emotional wounds of unsafe or chaotic childhoods.

We talk about how the things we went through when we were younger can still show up in our adult lives, in our relationships, our reactions, even in the way we feel in our own bodies. And Anna opens up about her own story, what helped her notice the patterns she was stuck in, and how she slowly started teaching her body that it is safe now. So when I got attacked, it was very random. Four guys jumped out of a car and just started beating me and my friend. And they broke my jaw on my teeth. I was unconscious.

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Welcome to Decoding, Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pointer, chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Adria Health Institute in New York City. On this show, I'll be talking to top researchers and top clinicians asking them your burning questions and bringing that information about women's health and midlife directly to you. A hundred percent of women go through menopause. It can be such a struggle for our quality of life, but even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it. The types of symptoms that people talk about is forgetting everything. I never used to forget things. They're concerned that, one, they have dementia, and the other one is, do I have

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So come be reasonable or shady with us each and every Monday. I was going through a walk in my neighborhood. out of the blue, I see this huge sign next to somebody's house. The sign says, my neighbor is a Karen. Oh, no way. I died laughing. I'm like, I have to know. You are lying.

You, my guess, y'all. They had some time on their hands. Listen to reasonably shady from the Black Effect Podcast Network. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, host of the hit podcast Family Secrets. We were in the car, like a Rolling Stone came on, and he said, there's a line in there about your mother. And I said, what?

What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have. I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had happened. These are just a few of the moving and important stories I'll be holding space for on my upcoming 13th season of Family Secrets. Whether you've been on this journey with me from season one or just joining the Family Secrets family, we're so happy to have you with us. I'll dive deep into the incredible power of secrets, the ones that shape our identities, test our relationships, and ultimately reveal who we truly are. Listen to Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The moments that shape us often begin with a simple question. What do I want my life to look like now? I'm Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford. And on therapy for black girls, we create space for honest conversations about identity, relationships, mental health, and the choices that help us grow. As cybersecurity expert, Camille Stewart Gloucester reminds us, We are in a divisive time where our comments are weaponized against us. And so what we find is a lot of black women are standing up and speaking out because they feel the brunt of the pain. Each week, we explore the tools and insights that help you move with purpose.

Whether you're navigating something new or returning to yourself. If you're ready for thoughtful guidance and grounded support, this is the place for you. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the IHeart Radio app. podcast or wherever you get your podcast. I hope one day somebody would say it for someone. So I choose people because I choose a character because of what people do. Yeah. I want to go back to something just that she bought up the Elvin scene, right?

Because that was a role. Well, when you schooled Elvin on, I guess, the marital, the marital role, how much input did you have on that scene and what were you trying to convey? When you saw it on paper, what did you say to yourself? oh I know what I can do in this scene to convey a larger method Oh I didn't say anything I just said the scene

I just said the lines Oh so it was just as it was there Oh wow It was there but it was the way you deliver it You know So You was like battle rapping What?

She was working on any way It was so good I thought it was in prime You know it was This is a part of your training As an actor Language And how you use it

You know And there's rhythm And there's pace and so much is conveyed in that way if you said it another way it wouldn't be as effective you're trying to say it

like you were singing the lazy river no it wouldn't work it wouldn't hit like black mama no it wouldn't what would in writers rooms like though because it felt like a black experience would any black writers

white right I mean what were those writers rooms like that? No combination okay the thing was to write a human story to write about human behavior, the truth of human behavior. That's what makes comedy and theater real,

the truth of human behavior. You don't have to make something up if you're writing about something is real. You can take a different perspective on it, and your skills as a writer, you know, show up in your language or your, you know, those things that writers do yeah

yeah what do you do to channel uh roles like your role and fall from grace like well you're the villain what do you do to channel those roles everybody's a human being right yeah

she's just a nasty human man she's just nasty this is a person who is sick her whole perspective is warped you've got to be sick to mistreat another person i'm sorry you cannot be sane and do hurtful things to people you just the same person won't do you agree 100% yeah 100% that's why one of the four agreements is you know um don't don't take offense to things

don't take things personal because what you do what somebody does to you is not a reflection to you is something that's going on internally with them it's hard that, you know, put yourself in that position, but you really got to know that. Yeah, sometimes you want to just clutch somebody. Shake them real good. My daddy used to say, you'll stop taking everything personal

once you realize that it's a bunch of people out here on cocaine. Whoa. It's kind of true. What he's saying is kind of true. It's like, you know, people out here doing all types of stuff that you have no idea about. Where was your father from? Monk's Corner, South Carolina.

All my family from South Carolina. Mama, daddy, everybody. Don't you just love it? Oh, it's the best. Because, you know, it's like, If you ever been to the International African American Museum, oh, you were there, I'm a bugging. Yes, you were there for the grand opening.

I didn't get to meet you. I wanted to meet y'all on the other side. But, yeah, it's right there on the port where, like, I think 50% of all enslaved Africans came through. Yeah. So that's, like, home for a lot of us. Yeah, and don't know. That's right.

And don't know. Another thing I wanted to ask you about when you ran down on Vanessa, who or what were you channeling in that moment? Because I'm sure you and your sister snuck out the house A couple of times and mama had to get on you You never snuck out I didn't have to sneak

Yeah I didn't have to sneak Okay Yeah it was good I didn't have to But it was good not to have to do that Yeah You know

Sometimes it might have to stay A little too long Right But we didn't have to sneak It was It was fun It was you know You're an actor

And You understand Human behavior You understand You understand feelings. It's the way you develop yourself. This is the craft. This is what we do.

And I guess if you do it in a certain way, people think it's you. Yes. That's why they can't see you playing a role like in a fall from grace. They're like, what? Ms. Rashad is a villain? No. She was. Right.

Exactly. We have to detach the actress from the character. Oh, yeah. You know, and as an artist, you don't want to sing the same song or play the same tune. Yeah. Whatever. That's right. You don't want to paint the same picture forever.

You've got a paint box. You want to use those paints and do a different scene. Because we have range. Well, yeah. And you want to express humanity in whatever you do. At least I do. You know, you can't. Okay.

I was going to say your time at Howard. I'm a HBCU grad I went to Delaware State. Have you ever heard of it? Yes. Wow. Get them together, please, thank you. Exactly, right. But the freedom that you were talking about earlier,

I remember, like, I was raised in a household where my mom was very much like that. But going to an HBCU, I remember that being the first time where I was like, okay, the world, like, really needs me. And it was because of, like, teachers and counselors and stuff that kind of had the same spirit that you have. I wonder, like, for you, what was, like, one of your favorite things about walking on campus every day with those students as a dean? As the dean, walking on campus, everywhere I looked, I was reminded of my time there as a student. And I was reminded of my friends. And I was reminded of the things that we did in the time in which we were living with students.

It was an important. Dr. King was assassinated in my sophomore year. Wow. Yeah. I watched these things happen. So much unfolded on that campus. I remember when Muhammad Ali came and spoke on the steps of Frederick Douglass All. And I remember him standing there and said,

Look at me. Can't you see that I'm free? and you could oh there were great people there were great um the instructors when I tell you about

instructors I had at Howard University you know yeah they feel they pour in like you never forget that like they pour into you in a different way and they're so well developed they are deep they are deep

so there was a time you know I'll just reference it back to my father's area of dentistry there was a time when African Americans were trained could be trained at Harvard but they wouldn't hire them to teach so these people who were trained in these great quote great institutions went to HBCUs to teach

you were receiving that education there that discipline those demands they were serious about it they were so serious about it there was there was an instructor at Howard down the medical school dr. Montague J. Cobb they talked about this man he was legended my father's friend said oh no you don't understand if we failed the test he would say meet me in the lab tonight and it all show up and left, and when they were going around doing what they were supposed to be doing,

he would pull out his viola and play as he walked up and down the aisle. And my father's friend said, you wanted him to play that viola because that meant that he was pleased with what you were doing. Wow. I mean, we came through in a time

that we should remember. I feel like that's a level of village. I don't know if we have anymore. Well, we can have it if we want it. And we can expand it. expand it to include our Hispanic family. We can expand it to include our Asian family. We can expand it to include our Caucasian family. We can expand it because we need all the people. That's a line from August Wilson's play, Jim of the Ocean, Aunt Esther. On Esther says, I'm going to show you what happened when all the people call on God. in the one voice

God got beautiful splendors and God got room for everybody were you when you decided not to return back to Howard did you feel like you didn't return

because your work was done there or was it just like a personal decision because like business reasons like I just feel like people like you was like we need you on campuses every day but I know it's probably it's a lot to do all at once but like what was that like for you

that decision not to go back Well, I will always be connected. I will always be connected to Howard University. As a matter of fact, next week, I will be in Washington, D.C. For the one-night-only reading of Chadwick A. Bozeman's Deep Azure. He wrote that, right? He wrote that. So he was one of my students early, early on.

Wow. When Al Freeman Jr. invited me to come and teach for a semester. so we were in the studio doing the show Monday through Thursday and Friday morning I'd get up and fly down and I'd teach and he was one of my students Calecci Susan Calecci Watson was one of the students Camilla Fores one of the students he was fearless he was brave South Carolina

Anderson and he was also very respectful it's why I say as a people we are a respect for people. We are. Naturally. So, anyway, he kept in contact with me. And after he had graduated,

one day I received this call. I'm sending you something, Ms. Rashad. He could always call me. He's sending you something. Even after he had attained fame and notoriety, he still called me, his relationship. Always. So he said, okay.

And what he sent was a copy of this script that he had written. Hip-hop theater. Hip-hop theater was born on the campus of Howard University, and he was one of the progenitor. He was one of the innovators. It's, how can I say, hip-hop language and rhythm

through the voice and experience of a classical twin-dact. it is grand that's like the essence of the HBCU like when you're saying it's like okay that's what it's like when you go to like

the cab or like you and the parties or you it's literally like everybody is so like astute but like you it's a vibe like you can't describe it you gotta just be there and it's real

it's real and people are taking their education seriously but now with this AI business I don't know the children try not to write there on papers to try to do this. What do they call it?

This chat thing. Chat GPT. And I'm, who, excuse me for stammering, but it puts me at a loss for words. Like, darling, don't you understand why you're here? Now, if you wanted to do that, you could stay home. You should stay home because you're taking up room that somebody else could be occupying who really wants to do the work. Yeah, who really wants to develop.

What about your intellect, baby? Do you have no care or thought for your intellect for expanding that? What about that? What about your worldview, darling? Do you not care for that? Oh, okay, you're going to give that to the chat too. Let's see where you land. Let's see where you end up.

So, purpose, the play. One of the things that said in this play by the Patriot, he said he feels he feels that he has lost a communion with God he said ancestors were in such close communion with God

and his creation they knew how to do things and how to take care of things he says and I think that I have I think that we all have lost that he says well maybe it's old age I don't know but he says he's very interested in the things we used to do back home down in the country fishing and hunting and beekeeping and growing

you know I was shocked shocked to know that there are children who don't understand that french fries come from potatoes that are grown in the ground Those wasn't the children at Howard, was it? No. Okay, great. But I'm shocked.

But I'm shocked to know. I'm shocked to know from two pediatricians in two different cities, right? They have books, you know, in their waiting rooms for the young children. Young children come in and pick up a book and try to scan it. Because their parents aren't giving them books. They're giving them these little things. Tablet. These things.

Yeah It's like Mm-mm Mm-mm So here we go back to parenting You'll leave that in the hands of somebody else That's right And think it's going to come out right

I don't think so The dramatic pause I don't know if this is a dramatic pause That's why I'd be stopping That's why I'd be just like I don't know And I don't never know when it's time to ask another question Did you always speaking a dramatic pause

Or you called it a dramatic pause He sure is called Sometimes it's dramatic, Paul, but then sometimes you really are done. So I'm just trying to figure it out. She's taking our time to speak. Yes, yes. We're in conversation. That's right.

That's right. That's right. I had a question about the deep azure. So the proceeds from the One Night Only are going back to the College of Fine Arts at Howard. To the Chadwick. Bowman. Yeah, Chair. Yes.

Would, like, today, if Chadwick could see kind of like, you know, how the final product has come along and everybody that's involved. like what would his sentiments be like how happy would he be to see all of this coming to fruition from that first phone call that you guys had about it I'll tell you his wife and his producing partner who's his best friend in college they're very happy and I'm happy because it's happening and it's happening with a great cast of actors I don't know if you have a list I can look it up I don't know if he had the list you want to look it up Yeah. I got it. Oh, you should look at it. It's.

Isaiah Johnson. Yes. Amber Iman, who plays azure. Greg Alvarez-Reed plays tone. Joshua Boone plays Roshad. Yeah. Lauren Banks, the street knowledge good. Yeah. I'm going to mess this one up.

Adasola. Ascalummi. She said what? What you said? Adashila. Okay. Adda. I knew I was going to messole.

I'm sorry. Adeshila is the street knowledge evil. Jess Washington is stage directions. These are all professionals. Yes. And God, we're so honored. We're so honored. And our honorary host committee.

I mean, you know who's on that? I can look it up. Look it up and see. I mean, these are people supporting this. So the honorary host committee, Ryan Coogler is the honorary chair. Wow. Common, Susan Kalichi, Watson, Don Cheadle,

Tanesi Coates. Tana Hassee Coates. Camilla Forbes, Reginald-Huddlin, Kenny Leone, and Terrell Alvin McCraney. That's like the lack of vengeance. Yes. That's a whole number

universe right there. It's all to support his legacy. Yeah, to support his legacy. Chadwick was, he was really amazing. Chadwick was an actor, yes. Chadwick was a writer. Chadwick was a director.

Chadwick was a scholar. He studied many things, the etymology of words. Oh, he was deep into that, into names and the means of it. He studied, the Bible, not to Bible thump, but to understand its origins, really, and deep of meaning. And then, he combined all of that with, you know, I hate to say it like this, but I'll say it like this,

with African cosmology. Why do I hate to say it like that? Because Africa's a huge continent, and it is not a monolithic proposition. Right. But there is a certain ethos that runs through all. He was really. Very. He was really. There was nobody else to play back. Black Panther, but Chad for him.

See how big we got him on the door. Oh, yeah. And, you know, what he really cared about, he called me one day, and this was after graduation. He was living in New York, and he was so excited. and he wanted me to know what he was doing

and to come and see and I was thinking okay now let's see what premiere is this. What film is this? What play is this? It was none of that. He was working with young people in the Schaumburg Library and he was so

excited about that. Wow. Yeah, that's what he was. You know, you came up in an era of Ms. Rashad where dignity and grace were everything. Do you ever look at how wild Hollywood is now and you just think to yourself,

boy, y'all got it easy. Y'all wouldn't have got away with that might be. No, I don't even have a look at Hollywood. I could look at the way young ladies dressed. You know I shouldn't have some other pants. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, I'm talking about, I'm talking about, you know, you want my coat?

The young ladies are so beautiful. They're so beautiful. And something has happened in popular culture. You know, and I don't mean to be critical. And I hope young ladies listening don't take this as personal criticism, because I don't mean it that way. But your young queens, beautiful and smart and brilliant and bright. And it really, I don't know, I'm taken aback when I see on a college campus young women dressed in strips of clothing.

I mean, male instructors don't like it. But more importantly than that, then you'd correct me if I'm wrong, sir. No man wants his woman. to be out like that right I grew up on Mephamman saying wearing three-fourths of cloth never showing your stuff off

boo you know it's like today's designers I mean there's ways you know there's there are other things and I just leave something to the imagination

it would be nice some things are for my eyes only you know and like you say there are ways of being sexy without showing so much. Oh, please. And that's really not sexy. I mean, one of the most sexy

is most beautiful pictures is you, I forgot what year was, but you got on like a basketball jersey and like some jeans, you eating some popcorn. That is an iconic picture. Is it the white jersey? Yes.

That was, yeah. That is a beautiful picture. That is like that is the epitomey of sexy. Oh, wow. It's, it's, I think it has to do with I think it has a lot to do with what they see. They're emulating what they see. See, we grew up in a time where, you know, the singers,

these ladies were dressed down. These women, they were wearing robes and gowns and do. Right? Yes, man. Well, it's a little different today. So they're really just emulating what they see. That photo was from 1987. Madison Square Garden.

Was it Harlem Globe Trial's Jersey? It was, uh, yeah. You know the picture I'm talking about? Yes, this is right? Yes. Oh, yes. You remember that? Yes, I remember.

What you was doing? I was there with Malcolm Jamal Warner. Hey. Congratulations. Oh, wow. We wanted all of us to be here before you got here. Yes. Congratulations.

Oh, my. You know, you got to give your icons, they flowers, and celebrate them while they still here. Oh, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Whoa. Got her balloons. Got flowers.

We don't never do that for nobody here. Knock out of her. So these are beautiful flowers. You've been so gracious with your time, so I've just got a couple more questions. What's a lesson you learned way too late in life

that you wish you figured out sooner and you would teach to the next generation? Now this is going to sound weird to you. after everything I've told you. The lesson that I learned later in life was that I'm enough. As a young girl growing up, you know,

and young girls go through this, you'll know. You go through a period where you feel like because, and it's because you're looking outside, yourself you compare yourself to everyone else you see and you're not enough because you don't dress like that one or you don't have hair like that one or you don't have legs like that one you can think of any number of things young girls go through this kind of thing usually happens around adolescents where you feel like

you're not enough part of that had to do with my mother being so beautiful my father being so handsome my sister being so cute my brother being so whatever and I just thought well when I was born

the Lord was doing something else she I'm serious I'm serious what age was this that you felt like that when I was so when I was young, when I was 10, 11, well, and that's a subtle thing that you'll carry with you until you look inside yourself, and you start looking inside yourself, and that

thinking vanishes and goes away because it's only when we look inside ourselves that we see what beauty really is. When did you get to that place of where we? When did I get to that place? Yeah. I think I was about

30 I want to say I was about 34, 35 years old. Wow. And now I look back at those pictures of myself and I say, why do you feel like that? Yeah, yes. The mind.

Oh, yeah. The mind. That's why it's important to teach young, people to look inside the mind the state of mind and there's too much going on right now that's so distracting for them I don't know how young people feel if they listen to news reports today they can't feel empowered because it's not meant to do that for us for anybody but it never has though they always say if it bleeds it leaves like they especially for black people Never would telling us anything to make us feel uplifted and empowered.

All of humanity is in the same boat, my friend. Nobody feels empowered by that. I was taught a very great thing. I heard a very great thing from a great being some years ago. Make yourself great by making others greater. and that's what I would teach a young person make yourself great by making others greater yes man

well thank you not just for the interview but for your career of things thank you just thank you for being you yeah it's like you know it is not every day you get to meet people that you you know you grew up on and watch and you know said to yourself man that person right there is a pillar of our community

and what we need to be as a people and then you meet them and you're just as gracious and regal in person so just thank you to your mother and your father for raising such a beautiful

strong woman and I hope I can do the same for my daughter I think you are I think when they look at you they know that they're love and they're protected that's all

absolutely absolutely make sure y'all go check out purpose is running through on Broadway through July 6th, it is Queen Felicia Rashad. Thank you for joining us.

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