So we both obviously, as I said before,
we grew up in South Central LA. We,
we understand the streets of LA, but we also
put ourselves in a position so our our kids don't
have to go through what we went through growing up
, so to speak. So my, my kids
go to private school, right? Like they behind
gates the whole thing and whatnot and then O'Shea,
your son obviously grew up in a different type of
shadow than you grew up in. So when you
had the opportunity to see him portray you in Straight
Outta Compton, how did that sit with you?
Did you mentor him on certain mannerisms or or teach
him how to say certain things and do certain things
? Well, he's been watching me his whole life
, yeah, so I don't really have to do
that, um. Just really telling him the situation
, how I felt. Uh, and, you
know, like I would tell him, OK,
you're about to do this scene. This is how
I felt at this time about Eazy. This is
how I felt this time about Ren. This is
how I felt about Dre. So just know them
feelings when you do the scene. So you'll know
, you know, really how to, to put
the flavor on it. I never taught him how
to act or say a line or do it this
way. He, he had it down. He
studied for two years to get ready for the role
. And uh that's how I knew he was serious
when he You know, I, I, I
, when I first asked him, he said,
yeah, like. Too quick. So I was
like, man, that it's gonna take more dedication
than that. And is he ready? And And
I didn't want to set him up for failure,
so I wanted to. Put him through the ringer
, you know, the coach's son always got it
the hardest, you know what I mean? So
yeah, so like. I, I was like
, yo, look. You gotta, you gotta
be good. You gotta earn it. I can't
give it to you. I'm not, you know
, I'm not gonna. Do anything to give you
this role. You have to earn it and it
won't be me deciding if you. If you're in
it or not, it'd be universal, uh,
it'd be Gary Gray. You got to be the
best one for the part. Uh, and he
went in there and he saw. It was 4
other. You know, Ice Cube's ready to go
. Yeah, but they don't look like you,
so that he could have just stood there and said
nothing. Look, looking like a person is not
good enough. That we're out in the first.
15 seconds if the acting is terrible. So you
still have to have a person that can do the
role, um. And so he had to,
you know, audition. He had to train,
he had to get himself ready. And, and
, and I'm, I think he's glad he's done
it because now he can go on to do other
movies and he understands the tricks of the trade,
so to speak. I just watched Den of Thieves
too the other night. I had to, you
know, I was just waiting for it to come
on streaming and whatnot so I could sit at home
and watch it with everybody sleep and he did his
thing and now.