Jharrel Jerome Opens Up On 'When They See Us' Role, Emmy Nomination & Spits A Freestyle!

while New York and on the new odd 97 app Ebro in the morning ebrill in the morning large styles Rosenberg give it up for jorelle's wrong when they see us going for the Bronx yes sir so um well you got prepared for when they see us did you know the story um I knew to an extent I knew it growing up in a way where my mom would mention it here and there almost like a story among other stories like a lesson you know don't be out too late don't run with the wrong group people like to officers and while it's certain things like that but in terms of the actual plight that these men went through I had no idea about until a ver brought it up to me she actually posted it on Instagram she had this screenshot of the article back from 1989 so I researched it right away and I just saw that these cats were from Harlem and from the Bronx area and so the second I saw that I read into it saw the documentary and that's when I started to get involved right before I auditioned for it so did you specifically audition for the role of quarry yeah I actually auditioned for a young quarry so it wasn't it wasn't both in mind for me I just went out for the younger part but it's funny because I had this beard on my face so with this beard on my face I'm like 26 to people and if I shave on my 14 I'm 21 so I'm kind of dead in the middle right that's a problem when I shave I'm like 12 yeah okay all right now you're a grown man everybody on now but you are the only character who played both young and old so um the the late episodes really focus on Corey's character right like it becomes a story sort of about Corey and I found the second to last episode was just brutal to watch you know the the the your portrayal is so painful of someone who just goes through it over and over and over again how did you prepare for that like you know how dark a place did you kind of have to go to to go there extremely dark it was definitely it's definitely the hardest experience I had to go through mentally emotionally tapping into that sort of mind frame for a long time we were also shooting in real prisons you know real real cells and so it felt really we had there were prisoners right upstairs like we in order to go to set we had to take off our about our shoes we had you know given our ideas all of that so it kind of puts you in that mindset when you keep going back to these jails on day after day and then I knew Corey personally I got to know him through the whole process and he became a big brother to me and an inspiration to me so it became very personal but yeah it was it was a lot of dark places it was a lot of taking my work home and not being able to shake it off and as an actor it's our job to to create these false characters you know to make this false world for you to for you to fall for and for you to believe that I can relate to it but this this is not a false character you know right this is the UM the solitary confinement was the hardest yeah those were days alone you know I was doing days from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 p.m. then the next day we start at 4:00 go to 4:00 it was just a lot of 12 13 hour days where I was by myself the whole time so I really felt it really felt like I was in solitary but it was just three months in his shoes you know as opposed to 14 years of what he went through and what the other men went through but it was rough there was it yeah what are some of the conversations if you could share any that you've had with Corey personally with regard to a trying to understand what he went through and it's interesting because we didn't talk much about the bad parts we didn't talk a lot about the the real struggle he went through I got to tap into those deeper moments just through the words of the script because Ava Ava the words of that script is what Ava got directly from those men so I trusted that process and I trusted that the pain was there my my struggle was figuring out who he was outside of jail you know who he was as just in New York it's just the Harlem dude was he the smooth type was he the cool type was he the quiet shy guy so that was the journey of getting to know him that's what I was trying to figure out by knowing him and just by getting to know him this dude is so much energy man like he's he he'll come up to him but that Queen was soap Queen and kiss you and give you so much love and you would not think he went through what he went through so if he's like that now I can't imagine what he was like before the government tried to strip that from him the guys weren't very present yes um one thing that I thought was dope how Ava was very sharing on her social media of the production team of everyone was working really hard behind the scenes right right so she gave us a really dope glimpse but I saw that the guys were there a lot as the movie was shot yeah a lot more than I thought they would be just I thought it'd be a little more sensitive but they were very proud of what we were doing and they were very part of the work so they were there to support and push us through it those guys are the best man it's insane we got on the program yeah several woods maybe six years ago hmm maybe something like that before a lot of this got going but um you know our station being a local New York radio station our sister station WBLS was on the front lines of keeping this story going recipes to Bob Slade and the whole open line team yeah um who was a part of being the media people that was like something's wrong here this is foul this is a right um there's a cover-up something's taking place it needs to be investigated and easier I mean they stayed with it for many many years man - um so many powerful outlets that were talking about no they did do it they're calling Hamas was calling him a wolf pack and stuff there was no way anybody like that could have spoken louder than CNN what it's a it's a die I mean you're from the Bronx so you know as many black and brown people that are in this city you would think that there would be a louder voice and a more political dominance and financial influence absolutely but you know if you've grown up around here you learn that you know very few of the elites that run the state and the city control the money and they control the media and the black stations and the stations that speak for the community that is you know a majority of the population they're not carrying as much power as we would like you know we try you know and it just you know it's um it's one of those stories that I think will haunt us forever and I hope it and in some way I hope it haunts us forever so we don't forget that this system allowed this to happen to individuals well then the irony I don't know it's irony but like the fact that now the President of the United States was was such an important person for painting these guys as being guilty in the you know in the public eye in New York at the time right and like it might be the first real evidence of his racism that we have on record came then you know what else I find fascinating about it because like I was really taken aback by and like I thought I knew the story I'd interviewed the guys I really thought I had an understanding of it but your guys portrayal of it was so heart-wrenching you know like particularly that like I said your episode where he's having the fantasies about if things had just gone differently you know and if he if he hadn't said yes to go and like you see he relives that over and over again the moment where he decides and then having the fantasies about being out with the girl and like it's just it was it was so gut-wrenching and it made me realize how bugged it is that was 1980 that was summer 89 that's the summer that Spike Lee released do the right thing at the same moment where he's spikes making this commentary about race in New York and America it was happening at that exact moment I just find that like well that just shows you how real it was in the city and that it wasn't this is was really happening and once again black folks are telling you this is the dynamic in the city they're making songs about it people aren't in a political or financial position to actually make the change that we know we need to see in society even right now as much as people are like you know um the mass shootings and you know the immigration issues and who the president actually is and what he's talking about right where are all the powerful people or where is the change that everyone seems to think is the right thing and it's not happening you should I'm saying and that just goes to show you a how difficult it is to get things done and be how corrupt some of our institutions and individuals are they don't actually give a [ __ ] because whose fault is it and at some point it's not our own fault just about people not giving a [ __ ] and yeah that's why I'm big on art that's why I'm big on art being medicine just for whether it's music whether it's dancing where there's acting when they see us that type of show I feel like that's the kind of work that gets you up finally it sucks that it has to be on your TV while you're chilling on the couch that really gets you up but have you seen any of the other documentaries about Central Park Vaughn yeah I see no more those came out before this but it took get what's the lady Linda first yes yeah and another lady Columbia how do their jobs like there were actual factual documentaries with facts create a whole time yeah for your whole time for years and people ignored them I think what it is is the show humanize these men you know like the the Ken Burns documentary to me it's a Wikipedia page you know it's the central facts of what happened all right young black Latino boys they got punished and they did this it was all false you know it was just facts the show showed their family it showed the painting it show who they were and then you get to see how young they are my favorite thing about the casting of the show is that these were boys they casted a young boy's ass on say black and Ethan they're all really young usually you'll see a movie where they're playing young but it's old actors or whatever you know so but you see the young faces in this show and that's what humanizes them it makes him feel like oh this was real it wasn't a myth it wasn't some story that the media made you also see the effects of the family yes niecy Nash was incredible like everyone was incredible but just to see the effects on the mothers and and and the shame that came to the family and how they were even being um they were basically in jail also because they couldn't get work they couldn't get anything right and they had no idea what to do they were hopeless you know yeah and then you start to feel as a parent if you have a kid damn that could be my kid right and it turns into a personal story now for you well now everybody realizes that the police can lie to you and you know don't don't say anything until you have a lawyer present you know that's just a big fact that's something that people don't know and people we feel scared we feel under pressure yeah it's it's kids and then you see big men in badges but even the parents were confused if you watch the show the mom is just as naive as the kid and it's just as clueless you know they're both just scared and they don't know what to do it's like all right let me let me just do this to get my kid home but then I realize and they're signing a paper that's putting them in prison Jarell Jerome this also I mean you've done work before this but you know now Emmy nomination for lead actor yeah in a limited series you're going up against my Harsanyi Co del Toro damn I know I was I was in New York I was in a restaurant with my manager my mom was on the way but it's funny cuz yeah my mom's like she she was at work and she was like ah you know I know you'll get nominated but I'm not sure so I'm gonna stay here at work and then just for some reason like we I caught her before like now you got to come see me I've it you know this has to happen so she was on the way and I was just at a restaurant with me and my manager and um we uh we were watching it live on the on the screen cuz it was on the phone and so I was just watching in the first category that they were talking about was the limited series thing so I was like freaking out holding on to the table then they were saying the names one by one so they were like Moorish lolly they say my name to the fifth one it's all right all these names are going by and I'm like like I'm sinking in my chair lower like this is not good and then they said my name and I went blank I want like I don't even know all I know is my my manager looked like she was about to like pass out everyone around us was freaking out like what's happening this table was going crazy because she was on the floor I was I don't even know what I did I told you I blanked out cuz that is the win you don't need to actually what it was that's that's all it was like yeah that's it it doesn't have to be a win or anything it's just the Emmy nomination and just to think that that's even doable for me for where I'm from for my age I just felt like this is fake how is this happening but I just feel blessed and I just held onto that moment I saw my mom and we hugged each other so tight we're crying I mean you had to think you did how old are you when you didn't moonlight I was 18 and you had were you surprised by how well received moonlight was yeah that was another crazy moment that's why this moment was like what the hell this is another crazy moment but that moonlight hold that those years were crazy because I did it I was in school like I went and left school for 12 days and came back to my college campus and Wow in my dorm room for the rest of the year waiting for something that happened in a year later I'm like that's nominated for eight Oscars all these Golden Globes and I'm still in my dorm room just getting like every good school I was a technical college upstate New York I was doing BFA acting and so I was just getting calls from my manager who was sending me tapes like it was all small work stay focused finish school and see what lands and hits and so imagine like having a test tomorrow but you got caught is like yeah the movie using just got eight Oscar nomination that's how I was living for a while and so that whole that whole stuff was it was insane just finding all of that out and then I booked mister Mercedes it's a TV series that I was on for three seasons that took me out of school so since then I've been out of school you are now lined up I'm reading here Idris Elba and you yeah so you let it yourself of being a movie where you are yeah we shot it we just finished last Friday it's called concrete Cowboys but you don't know what is coming out uh it's trying to go to Sundance in January so if it goes to Sundance to January I'd say like next summer so sooo that's pretty soon soon yeah yeah it's uh what role do you play in the film so it's cool just a quick breakdown if I could it's about a kid coming from Detroit back to Philly to live with his father who he hasn't seen his whole life his mom's like you need to get away from trouble go to Philly with your father and so his father is the owner of this ranch and Philly and this is based off true story so in North Philly right now I don't know if you guys know about the urban cowboy culture yeah yeah yeah they have in Brooklyn dance with Cowboys that's right in Compton they have it all these different all these different hoods and stuff so in Philly there's the problem and Phillies that gentrification is akin amounts all these investors coming in and putting condos on top of these wrenches and so there's one wrench left in Philly so the movies just about their play and about their struggle to stay up so anyway it's about this kid who goes to live with his father who is the owner of the ranch and I play the kids cousin who is heavy in the street life who's who's dealing drugs to get out of it but the cool like there's just a good bag I don't know how much I can say honestly but look I play I play Caleb's cousin in it and he has this he's going through the struggle of do I live with my father focus on these horses or do I go into the you know street life and I think you've never seen a film where you're dealing with cowboys horses and so and it's also I really feel confident in the directors work I think is gonna be a beautiful piece listen just make sure after you leave here from now on when people introduce you they say the emmy-nominated you know at all times I don't care if I don't care if it's family oh girls here no no the Emma not Darrell is here I'm gonna make sure the airports do it to ya Emmy nominated actor George rose right if they're calling you like you you got the passenger Emmy nominated Charles borough the man how many looks Emmy nominee so wait your front of Bronx you rap to it means to hone my hip-hop it's where hip-hop started vxo I mean are you nice nicer you like singing rapping like where were you out with this you I'm nice nice I'm lyrical ukrs one with this you are not sort of jay-z influence I grew up very I mean I was rapping first that's what a lot of people don't know I was doing the Freestyle in the park freestyling on the park bench like throwing me words and I try to spin off the word and rhyme off the word I was doing a lot of that so you want you want to be like on with smack White's at you want to be on URL you want to battle rap no I want to just um I came from that like I came from that idea and that love and that passion but I know I want to make very focused music I just want to make a conscious music have you seen on Broadway I have seen Hamilton did you do that are you a broadway type when sidewards and that's where it came from yeah it all started combined in high school for me so before it was like I'm just wrapping but it wasn't like I want to be a rapper it was just a hobby I had it was freestyling it was how it was a way to get out drivers yeah exactly that's exactly what it was and then I got to high school and that's when I started acting I went to LaGuardia the performing arts school so when I started acting I started seeing these similarities between acting and music freestyling improv playing characters playing in different Cadence's in your flow you know so they started to go hand in hand and then moonlight started to happen might happen that's when I realized that a platform was about to start for me and if I could have this platform to turn my music from a hobby into into a real passion and to work then i'ma try well I got bad news for you no one has ever transitioned from being an actor to a rapper that's all started early I feel like I'm still young and the acting career but you are right and it's definitely risk that's over I'm joking I'll talk about Drake he did it well so there's saw yeah great there's number one there's a lot of rappers turn actors way more calm way more but had a number one guy in the game who is a damn good rapper star doesn't start as enough so you already have recorded a bunch of stuff yeah but people will sleep on you as an actor you know Catholics like the sounds will say no stop acting you know he's bringing it back a lot more now but he stops for a while yeah sure I want to keep it going now I don't want it I don't want to let one overpower the other I don't know if that makes sense I don't know if anybody no no I don't you're saying cuz if you thought of too much as an actor no one will take you seriously rapidly just want to be an artist for like someone who's doing art Jenna yeah and in today's day I think is more possible there's no limit to it so artists we're doing all you know rappers are doing way more than rap now I know all this stuff so go for it man and I'm trying no I'll be the one hate on you porch with the same I understand what it's like waking up to know you about to be in front of Ebro you know you from New York know where the hate comes from is just making sure you just respect room making sure you authentic are here so are we getting an album what was happening is it's um it's all in the works exactly what I want to do I want to do it right that's all I know but I have a lot of just tracks recorded done and I feel real good about them and they saw hot they sunk or some Acapulco on the way out y'all give it up for Joey Nobi Nobi Acapulco be off the dome see you got miss Rios prime time man all right oh look it's the rapper who turner actor you probably think it's the trick to go faster up on this ladder you bastard son got it backwards my passion took me to write first I ain't got no degree but apparently I'm a master I think I didn't do the backwards started with high stature now ladies sliding air like more than a bad about it establish a valid pattern so I can validate all this chatter I'm mad at more than Adam my adolescence is shattered wait I gotta catch my breath I caught the seat to catch the F like I can't pass my test I'm never at my best they call me great I'd be like wait I'm Way too young to be that way but promise you you see the day it's not too far away the autumn Oz and marmalade I can't get a car in a city because they know damn parking space the world to teach you how to love that's what the car to say I got my work lined up just like a barber's blade clean

Channel: HOT 97

Views: 285,047

Keywords: hot97, hip hop, New York, NY, US, United States, HOT97.com, #hot97, breakfast, club, power, 105, EITM, Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us, Netflix, Korey Wise, Central Park 5, Moonlight, Exonerated 5, Ava DuVernay, Ebro in the Morning, Freestyle, EITM2019

Id: kmH1znZqUwI

Length: 22min 2sec (1322 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 06 2019