I needed no help with Boys in the Hood. All right. I needed no help.

You were teaching him. Right.

I'm showing him how to do it. While in the movie, I'm showing him how to do it.

It's crazy because, I mean, for me I was coming straight from like Shakespeare on Broadway to this, so I was like, this is going to be it.

He's not even joking. He's not just saying that like literally. Yeah, it was like It was kind of like a life change, you know.

Straight out of the Young Hollywood studio, I am with the stars of Straight Outta Compton, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, you guys like how I did that, right? That was smooth.

You just slid it in, right?

Yup, like silk, like a professional.

You guys were charged with no small task. Bring to life one of the most important stories in rap history. Cruising down the street in my six-fo. That was dope, ain't it? You're listening to Compton's very own Ice Cube, Easy-E, and Dr. Dre. I gotta tell you, you are witnessing history. Corey, you're playing Dre, who was also a producer on this movie. Right. I mean, where do you even begin to research for these roles?

That's a great question. It's funny now that the movie's done and everything is is, you know, coming out and people are watching it and loving it. Um, kind of looking back on like this time last year, we were asking that same question. But F. Gary Gray, you know, he's our director. He was our mentor. He was our guide through this whole film and he had our backs from day one. And uh, I just remember Cube and Dre, you know, they came on and they were like, "Listen, man, y'all y'all y'all got this." You know, you got to carry the torch and and they gave us everything we needed to get it done.

Yeah, and that that that got pretty gritty. You know, because my man here had to learn how to DJ, I had to drop a New Orleans accent, we had to learn how to move like these people. We had to redo the album.

Yeah.

We had to weight train. We had to box. I'm like, why are we boxing at 4:00 in the morning before we go to set for 20 hours?

Right. So would you be boxing and then you'd ask Dre, you'd be like, "Did you really like, did you do this?"

Yeah. You know, he pretty fit anyway, so you know he

Right. Right. I mean that's a lot of pressure to portray these people. So you talked about learning the album, so, did you go in kinda already knowing these iconic songs by N. W. A. or did you kinda have to to break it down?

I needed no help with Boys in the Hood. All right, okay. I needed no help.

So you were teaching him. Right.

I'm showing him how to do it. While in the movie, I'm showing him how to do it. Right. Yeah, but it was it was actually a lot of preparation to get that right, man. My man Harvey Mason, he's He's he's a perfectionist with this music. You know, and he helped us through it all, but it was it was grueling. It was it really was. It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in that studio. So by the time we were finished, we were like the real N. W. A. Like, "Nah." You know what I mean? Like, it was it was for real. It was all good. Right. Right. It was it was some gold, you know, that a lot of people just stepped up and make sure they sowed the right things into our lives, you know. Yeah. It's been good. That's it.

I'm curious about some of the conversations you had to get into character. Like, what were those conversations with Dre like? I mean, was it like, "So, uh, hey, boss, so we're playing a younger version of you, uh, you get this right?" Like, it was

It's crazy because, I mean, for me I was coming straight from like Shakespeare on Broadway to this. So I was like, this is going to be it.

He's not even joking. He's not just saying that. Like, literally. Yeah, it was like it was kind of like a life change, you know.

And uh, Dre, I remember the first time we had dinner, Gary was sitting there and there was some friends there and everything and he pulls out his iPhone on the other side of the table and he's like passing it around and everybody's like, "Oh, oh." And I'm sitting there like, "Why am I not in on this? Why am I not in on this? What's going on?" And he turns the phone around and it's my audition tape. I'm like, my audition tape is on Dr. Dre's iPhone and he's proud of it. And that was like a moment where it just cemented and then for me he just kind of said, I don't want you to It was it just stayed clear in my mind throughout the whole process. I'm not looking for an impersonation or a mimic or whatever. I just want you to capture the essence of what we represented during that time and and carry that through. He was on set every single day, you know. Every single day.

That's got to be super intimidating too. You're like, uh, yeah. Um, and you had conversations uh with Easy-E's son. Absolutely. And and how did those go especially because Easy is passed and and we go through a lot of important things that happened in his life in the movie. Right.

Well, Lil E he he really really helped me bring into perspective how much Easy touched the world, but at the same time how he still handled his business at home. You know, and that's that's key when you're a public figure. You know what I mean? It's it's key to to do the right things and have morals about yourself. You know, and and good things for for people to to see, but at the same time he comes from a very tough place and to make those two meet in the middle is, you know, is a task. Right. Yeah, so he he helped out. Yeah.

You also got to work with Paul Giamatti.

Oh, man, the homie.

Not like it's a mixed bag in the movie, but I mean he's intense. Did did was he a good mentor for you guys on set?

Uh, absolutely. Paul, he was me and him really low-key had a Jerry Heller Easy-E relationship. Because he was like he was sometimes like bring.

Is he your manager now? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, but he was like bring me in and out and like like put it in my trailer and be like, let it out in my trailer. Exactly. You put it out there now, Paul. Sorry. But um,

You just outed him. That is

Hey, you know, he's he's my guy though. You know, he was really like uh like our Tom Brady in the locker room. That's right. You know, and and yeah, he we just learned a lot from him. He's a great guy. Yeah, he's great. And the thing about Paul, he really humanized Jerry Heller because you see how much Jerry actually cared about the group and cared about Easy and cared about it. But at the same time there were some things that needed to be worked out. And uh, you know, Cube had the the know-how and the smarts to at that young age was the youngest, you know, to to get out of there and and change his life, you know. And so did and then after that, Dre and then yeah, you know and then so

Nice. Well, since you guys portrayed some rap icons in the movie, uh, I wanted to test your rap knowledge with a little game. This I I'm so excited about this. It's called Okay, it's called Rapper, Politician, or Supervillain. So I'm gonna give you the real names of some individuals and you have to tell me whether it's a rapper, the real name of a rapper, a politician, or a supervillain. Okay, so cool.

This sounds awesome.

Okay, oh it will be awesome. Somebody keep score, please.

Oh, cool, cool.

Are we you guys are gonna play against each other?

Oh, we're playing against each other? You're going down. Bro. Prepare to lose.

I am I am the I am the Alex Trebek in this situation. Okay? Just call me Audrie Trebek. Okay. First one. Was he my buzzer? Darren Cross. So rapper, politician, or supervillain?

Supervillain.

He's he's definitely a a politician.

Supervillain. Politician of the supervillain world, you know. Don't try

No, no, he just schooled you. He's like.

Oh no, fight though for me, man.

And there's only five, so there's gonna be probably a definite winner here. Okay, all right. So Jason is on the leaderboard right now. Okay, Christopher Bridges. Rapper, politician, or supervillain?

Christopher Bridges. I want to say rapper.

Oh, we got yeah. Rapper, Ludacris.

Nice. Shout out to Luda. He came and checked the movie out too.

Nice. Okay, so so far Jason's still leading. No more dabs. Right. Aubrey Graham.

Rapper.

Yeah. Oh, you know. Shout out to the homie. We heard the track.

Okay, okay, okay. So yes. That's easy. Drake. Okay, that was kind of a softball. Okay, I like this one. Trey Radel.

Supervillain.

Mm-hm. I'm going rapper on that one too.

Okay, what about you?

Supervillain.

Oh, I win.

Politician. Former member of the U. S. House of Representatives. Okay, last one, you guys.

Oh, that was back in 19. You gotta spell his whole name, my man. You know what I mean?

Okay, last one. Jason, I believe you are still in the lead. I think this one should be like worth three points, right? Like to catch up or something.

Yes, yeah, sure.

Okay. Who's keeping score again? Dr. Dre. Andre Young. Okay, all right. Oswald Cobblepot. I'm sorry, Aussie, but uh.

Oswald Cobblepot. That's a supervillain.

Definitely a supervillain.

It is a supervillain.

The Penguin from Batman. I do believe Jason is the winner. I do believe my brother. I do believe. You guys, thank you so much for dropping by. Please come back anytime.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you. You guys are awesome. Love it. Love it. Love it.