Tyler Perry on his legacy, failures that he's proud of and more | Love & Respect with Killer Mike

tonight on love and respect part two of my conversation with tyler perry one thing my father gave to me is the man had the most stupid work ethic i've ever seen in my life rain sleet snows hurricanes lightning he was going even though we don't speak he gets a check every month he i bought the house and he's taken care of because he i'm giving him exactly what he gave me financially we were never hungry and the lights were never off right so i give him that coming from that place watching his work ethic i definitely have that because i don't know what kind of man i would have been had i seen a man that didn't work more with tyler perry coming up right now your movies present a lot of times problems that we've all faced and do you use your art as a form of example or as a form of therapy for poor work class people may not get to a therapist but after you watch the tyler perry movie and you get to the end you see cicely tyson at the end of it you see the whole family coming together you see maya angelou you start to say you know what we should have a family union we've been separating the family too long we need to get there there's a true story that's happened to me and my sister's like we need to get the family together so do you do that purple sales obviously you do it purposefully but do you understand the healing properties that your movies have you know in the beginning for sure like the first 10 movies i think were about my mother subconsciously just about what she had went through and wanting black women to know you're worthy you don't have to deal with you don't have to put up with it it's okay and and yeah i i intentionally wanted to be that first because especially the stage plays man for me the the only reason to sit there to do to do as well as i've done and just to go out on tour is financially it wasn't a win big win you know what it was was i get to sit with the people and talk and it's just it's those last 10 15 minutes of the play that are my favorite when medea can sit there and talk about anything and the audience is pin quiet because that's the therapy moment for me that's the moment where i'm planting the seeds that's the moment where i see the shift change man because i would watch people come in and couples be apart from each other like this and come in with attitudes not holding hands guys sometimes from the dressing room i look out at them walk into their cars when they're coming in or walking when they're leaving yeah and the difference is amazing just the laughter and the joy that i'm hearing outside the window that's what it's all about just me and shayna when we argue about being late yeah yeah and then and then she creep to the side and have a prayer with me before we do this yeah and then we're not arguing no more and i leave just just thankful i have a wife yep even if she take a little longer sometimes that's right don't tell us no it won't be on tv you you are from a city of in rap we call it hustlers and you know in in in other places they call them entrepreneurs they call them grinders but people who i've seen come from your city as big as master p and baby and slim as modestly big but still very big as people like my personal friends currency and bigfrida you guys have an amazing work ethic and have made this city better but that work ethic could you talk about developing that work ethic coming from new orleans you had to you had to hustle to survive right you had to if you're going if you're going to make it there you had to so i think that mentality of boss that mentality of leader that mentality of getting it done making it happen truly comes from from the very uh culture of the city right yeah it's not always lazy bonton relay you know let the good times roll it is work and get it done and one thing my father gave to me is the man had the most stupid work ethic i've ever seen in my life rain sleep hurricanes lightning he was going a sun up to sundown we and what i can say about him is and this i give him even though we don't speak he gets a check every month he i bought a house and he's taken care of because he i'm giving him exactly what he gave me financially we were never hungry and the lights were never off right so i give him that and and i feel good about that because no matter what he did he still made sure i had food on the table right so coming from that place watching his work ethic i definitely have that because i don't know what kind of man i would have been had i seen a man that didn't work that was laying home on the couch all the time you know so yeah it's amazing that you can understand the pathology and forgive it's amazing that you can take the work ethic and the good from it's amazing that you can keep the family name and make sure that lineage says you are truly a biblical like character and and and i just i i refuse to let this show going without don't catch me on friday night saul saw before his power that's the truth i did a lot of sin and killed a lot of christians that's right before he helped save the world but i just have to acknowledge that because so many times in our acknowledgement and praise of who you know i feel god is a black woman but what comes to a black woman is just as holy black men deserve that we deserve an example like you and even in not talking and still honoring your father um like the scripture says honor our father and mother lots of ways to honor that's a very honorable thing so just thank you for saying that because i know a lot of brothers are out there riddled with guilt because they walked away from their responsibilities and didn't do what they did when keeping food in the refrigerator and and a roof over one's head and you are an example of what a black man can be um fighting through the odds forgiving others forgiving oneself and pushing you um thank you you make this economy better you and the former america same reid brokered the deal correct to be here yes um you understand that being in atlanta adding to this common makes for a stronger economy what brought you to that conclusion was it just common sense like the old folks say it's just common sense was it a dare with you and could seem to say we're going to dare to do something different we're going to try and what um what could other people learn from the move you made listen i was out i called cassim to say i'm leaving i'm i'm moving to douglasville i bought some property out there i was going to build the stages i leave the city i was going to leave the city i wanted because only the only reason because i wanted land a lot of space yes and i couldn't find land in the city he said well have you thought of fort mcpherson and i've never heard of this place so he's like just come take a look i drove around and i was like okay i get it this is bigger than me i got to take this take this on so so that's how that's how that happened but in the in in the understanding of all of it man what i was really simply just trying to do and what i tell everybody is if you're starting a business or working for someone else ownership will dictate everything what what decision you make how you make it so my main focus was ownership and i tell you if ownership is the root of the tree everything else where the the with the trunk and the branches and all the other stuff in the leaves that change and fall it all came from that so so what i'm experiencing is is living from the decisions of making sure that i owned every play every movie every everything ever to every television show so that i could be in a position where i could help change an economy so that was that was my purpose here it's just ownership so it all intersects you look at maynard well i'll go to whitemare first william hartsfield gave delta 50-year contract so delta could be here becomes a hub first black mayor says 29 of contracting and business with the city has to be planned you start to build out a black enclave on the west side as early as 1948. all that leads to an opportunity for a owner to call a mayor both black men both around the same age as say hey man i'm finna leave and go to douglasville because they got that he said no no no i can't let you do that i let the braves go but i ain't in time this is around that same time okay praising his life you know this might be the time to just make that call to see what happens he said no no we're not letting that happen so and keeps you in the city by having by making sure that you get fort mac and for people who don't understand when you hear outcast rap about east point college park this is what they're rapping about this is this is literally in the city so children get to drive by on a highway name for arthur lankford who's a former state representative a black man and you get off that highway on the tyler perry studios as an exit and then you get to come here this is the type of inspiration that my imagination used to dream about reading ebony and reading jet how did reading ebony and jet affect you in terms of your dreams and how did you overcome doubts because with pain with anguish and with failure comes doubt yeah how did you become walking black history and overcoming those doubts in black history okay that's what you are i appreciate that and american history thank you seven years of the show failing every year i put it up it wouldn't work every year i put it up it wouldn't work until i got to here to atlanta went to the 14th street playhouse then went to the fox and went to the tabernacle and it all started to work right oh yeah that was yeah man i came here was going to do at the 14th street playhouse i had saved all my money rented it thought people would show up i was downstairs in the basement it's the scad uh playhouse now but down in the basement 200 seated 30 people showed up lost everything i had then went to um every year a promoter one of these yankees from twisted promoted yeah man i got some money i'm gonna put you up over here you know as i do the show with them didn't make any money once a year and then uh then we got a chance to do the house of blues but that time at that time i was done i was completely done i wasn't gonna go through it anymore i wasn't gonna suffer anymore i'd had it and i did that one last show that show sold out it was march in 1998 freezing and there were people around the corner trying to get in the place wow and then i went to the fox sold out 4 500 seats there so but all you talk about fairies all of those moments leading up to it we're making the choice of do i keep this job that's paying me like my mother said 300 something dollars a week and getting some benefits or do i leave to go pursue my dreams so every time i left i felt like am i making the right decision what a moment if this doesn't work and they never worked i thought i was failing every time until i realized that every one of those moments was building me for where i am now so they were all character building they were all preparing me to be able to run this you know i'm so glad i didn't get it all at once i'm glad i struggled and went back and forth and had to figure things out because man i'd probably be a mess right now you had to learn to be frugal yeah had to learn to be responsible smart taxes yeah absolutely things that black black folks we did taxes like wait a minute you mean i can't go to h r block this year and i made a hundred million dollars no you cannot go to 1800 not this year not this year yeah you um you have overcome your doubts beautifully and you've inspired others um people that have even worked in your trajectory now are still around the industry helping other people it's amazing to me the spirit of giving that you have at your 2021 um gene herschel acceptance speech you said this stand in the middle meet people at their humanity refuse to hate i want to say that again yeah stand in the middle it means you're not extreme on each side meet people at their humanity so even if i disagree with you i'm going to find the place you're human at right and we're going to have a conversation or we're going to do some building there and refuse to hate right that's what i'm still working on i got a couple people i hate i'm trying to try to know right refuse hey what does the term love and respect mean to you basically all of those things that you said because when you love someone you would do all of those things you will you may not understand you may not agree you may but you can meet in the middle to have conversation and that's also the respecting of people right respecting the very humanity that we all share to see someone and be able to put yourself in their shoes that's love and respect absolutely whoever they are be it uh the afghans who are trying to find homes or get out of the country at one point or are mexican or haitian immigrants trying to get in but just take a moment and put yourself in their shoes does that mean that every rule goes out of the window no but what it does mean is that you have the capacity and the empathy to be a human enough to be able to understand to show them the love and the respect they deserve absolutely yeah that's amazing that's that that definitely is one i um i've told this story before and i tell it a lot and i'll say it again my grandmother was a sharecropper young um worked for a white family that was poor themselves not very nice to the boys or girls found a letter years later of that woman thanking my grandmother for helping her when the kids had essentially moved north and abandoned her flipped out on my crazy radical you know you read one radical book as a kid you black empowerment why would you help those white folks she literally looks at me and says they didn't know any better yeah and i didn't understand how deep of a comment that was because you the pathology again you know what you're taught right you know and those weren't negro children no yeah those weren't children those were labor yeah and that has informed me to this day how to be empathetic to people so my media you know thank thankfully taught me that young and more people learning that we create more tyler perry's that's an absolutely amazing um answer to why and what love and respect meaning i appreciate it the tyler perry foundation is love and respect on steroids i've heard stories of mr perry during times of disaster calling the local walmarts or grocery stores how many people are in there now we got about 300 folks in here this is mr tyler perry everybody's stuff is on me you have found creative and innovative ways to help people in times of need where other people were trying to figure it out you were putting together a 30-page handbook when everybody was trying to figure out how to get trucks there you were calling buying out stores is that informed by being poor and on your ass yourself and what makes you continue to do that work when other people are just turning to a government saying why aren't you helping like well absolutely when we talk about being able to put yourself in somebody else's shoes i've been there there's a woman i wish to god i could find her probably every bunch of women gonna say it was me at this point but i remember being in winn-dixie there was something called a big sixty sixty cookies and they were like seventy nine eighty cents if i recall and that was my meal for the week and i didn't have i knew i had changed and i knew i didn't have enough i'm standing there in the line there's a line of people on beaver highway line of people behind me and i'm trying to find the money and she uh says go ahead baby i'll get it and she just had the most compassion in her eyes i could barely look at her that those kind of moments they they always sit with me when i when i see people struggling and suffering you know when i go into my kitchen and i i open the drawer and i take out a fork man that's a huge moment for me because as a kid when i open that drawer the rats would run up my arm so i clearly understand and have never forgotten what that feels like and i probably to say this which may not sound so great but i probably probably at this level of success because of where i came from i was running so damned hard to get away from it so when i see somebody in need somebody in the walmart or somebody struggling and somebody gets got kids stuff for layaway all you know all at these walmarts and things okay what can i do here in these moments like thanksgiving around and during the pandemic we we fed 5 000 people man the whole cars were lined up forever and i i got a call saying you should come take a drive i drove around man like every street was blocked and i was just like the need is so great i can't do it alone but what this is what i can do and if everybody would just do what they can do you know if it's even it's one slice of bread it's enough yeah who's your council who does tyler get to lean on and juggling these things who's the person that or who are the people yeah i call td jakes a lot spiritually for spiritual advice and and he gives me a lot that i need to just you know understand life god faith moving on moving through this and oprah man oprah is like for me i'll say hey you know this and this and this is going on she's like oh i went through that in 83 here's what you do this and this is this you know so so having people like that that i could reach out to who's who are older who walked ahead of me that is really really helpful and you know cecily tyson who you know died in january was a huge mentor to me somebody i loved dearly and just to have that level of wisdom yeah crazy and i sat with her and sidney poitier and bernie casey at my house many years ago and just listened there's a famous poem by one of the men again who i consider a hero but was not kind and um was not encouraging of zoro and it's what happens to a dream deferred by lanes there's actually a shrivel up like raisins fade away but you are a dream confirmed and i'd like to ask you what dreams remain after this confirmation what what dreams still push mr perry like you are a dream confirmed you're not a dream deferred you're not a sad story you're not a almost could've you're not an unsung you are a dominator you are a leader you are a visionary what happens to your dream confirmed next um that wow the dream confirmed that's that's a whole come on activity now yeah yeah that's that's awesome that was strong that like that whole thing answer him yeah for for me looking at all of this i i um at this point right now everything is about my son whatever he wants to do you know if he wants to come and be in the business i just want him to be an incredible man right that's my dream now just being incredible man because i feel like i've done almost everything that i'm supposed to do i know there's still a lot more levels to to the game for me but i've done almost everything i was supposed to do so now it's very much about okay who's next because i'm constantly looking i think it was cicely tyson in the movie going are you the one are you the one because she was looking through all these black children trying to find out who's the next one yeah who i'm looking for those kids who are who are special and different and unique and have been ostracized and criticized have gone through some hell and really wanted to come up and say hey okay we have this kinship here we are let me show you what i've learned let's take this and run because man i called all of these kids men in their 30s this one who's nominated for this and this one was just did this one this one i'm saying hey come sit down let's talk don't don't even get phone calls back i kid you not and jay-z and i were talking about this he said man i get it and i was like what is it he said i don't know if they think we want something for them what we're trying to do is pass on the knowledge so that you will not end up being in a situation where you're waiting for somebody to give you a job when you're 45 and 50 and the career is not so hot so my whole thing right now is passing it on i'm going to thank you for the pride that black people get i want to thank you for the economic um boom that you brought to this city for not just black people i'd like to thank you for working with kasim and making sure that a former confederate for it is now a place because confederacy was built upon the predication of these people of beasts and deserve to work for us yeah owning this fort is significant in a way that shouting at flags is not providing jobs for people who are often descendants of the confederacy and defendants of sla descendants of slavery is a noble and just thing to do i think you're an amazing man i look forward to growing a friendship and a mentorship relationship with you i hope and i really appreciate you for coming on love and respect today thank you mr pierre absolutely brother anything for you man i appreciate you love your questions [Music] thank you [Music] [Music]

Channel: REVOLT

Views: 81,166

Keywords: REVOLT, TV, music, rap, r&b, hip hop, Tyler Perry, Actor, Part 2

Id: 7ZcabGYCLp8

Length: 20min 2sec (1202 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 02 2021