Three weeks ago, I told my friend I was interviewing Malcolm-Jamal Warner in support of his newly released album, Love and Other Social Issues.  The first words to fly out of his mouth were, "You're interviewing Theo?!"

It's been 26 years since The Cosby Show first aired. Twenty-six years! Since then, the U.S. has elected four different presidents, we've experienced a communications revolution with  i-phones and internet and still, Malcolm-Jamal Warner remains a teenager living at home with his fictional family in Brooklyn, shooting hoops with his best friend, Cockroach? Hogwash.  

Malcolm-Jamal Warner exists in the now and is constantly evolving as an actor, writer, poet, and musician. Proof of this evolution can be heard in his band, Malcolm-Jamal Warner's Miles Long's debut album entitled Love and Other Social Issues.

Recently, I had a chance to connect with Malcolm to ask a few questions, and despite a busy schedule and many moves to make, he was more than happy to answer: 

StopBeingFamous:  So, What made you cut off your dreadlocks?

Malcolm-Jamal Warner:  My ten and a half year journey was done. When I committed to letting my hair loc I said I'd do ten years and after ten and a half I was ready. My manager and agents told me that locs would limit me getting roles, which may or may have not been true, but I have three television series, four independent films, and a major studio film with them so my locs are well-documented. Everyone I knew who had cut theirs all stressed to me not to cut them until I was absolutely ready so as not to regret doing so. I took their advice and have no regrets at all.

SBF: What is a day in the life of Malcolm Jamal-Warner like?

M:  My days vary, man. It really depends on what's going on. As an actor, I'm always auditioning. Like every musician, I'm always trying to find time to practice. I'm not yet very good at structuring my days the way I'd like to. There's always so much to do and there never seems to be enough time in the day, so I find myself juggling a lot. So there it is; the one constant in damn near every day of my life is that I'm juggling!


SBF:  If you had to have one song, playing softly in your head for the rest of your life, what would it be?

M:  Aww damn, just one? That's a hard one, dawg. There are too many great songs out there. If there had to be just one, I'd say Miles Davis's "So What." Miles Long's "Soundcheck: What It Sound Like?" (track 14 on my album) is a pretty close second. Why couldn't you have asked for my top ten, or at least five?

SBF:  Are you a health nut?

M:  Not a health nut, but I'm very aware of what happens when I don't watch what I eat and don't work out. "The Tuskegee Airmen" and "Fool's Gold" are perfect examples,ha! I love to eat and drink and as I've gotten older, I can most definitely see how my metabolism has slowed down so as a result, I am very conscious of what I put into my body. I do go through cycles though. I know the top of my range so I know when to pull it back, however, I'm noticing how much longer it takes to bring the body back to where I prefer.


SBF:  Who is your biggest music critic?

M:  My mother is probably my biggest music critic. I'm pretty hard and judgmental, but she can be pretty critical, which I'm not mad at. You always need somebody on your team who's really looking hard, even if you don't agree.  It is important to have another perspective  coming at you with genuine love.

SBF: At what point in your acting career did you know you wanted to be a musician?

M:  Man, the musician thing really came as a surprise to me. I honestly started playing bass as a hobby. I was 26 and doing "Malcolm & Eddie" for UPN, which was stressing me the f*ck out! By nature of having spent so much time under Mr. Cosby's wing, where he created an environment that was about combating stereotypical images of black people and then going over to work for UPN, where their entire marketing strategy was capitalizing on those very stereotypes, I was forced to fight everyday and take a stand to uphold as much of Mr. Cosby's philosophy as I could. So the first season in I knew I needed a hobby. Acting and directing started out as a hobby and then became careers; I was directing and producing as well on "Malcolm & Eddie," so I wanted a hobby that had nothing to do with my careers. I figured if I picked up an instrument I would never become a recording artist. I mean, come on, how typical and corny is it for actors to break into music? But immediately I realized that practicing scales to a metronome was not going to hold my attention so I started a band essentially to make me practice. I found myself surrounded by incredible musicians who inherently made me respect being a musician on a whole different level. I got bitten by the bug. I was already entrenched in the underground poetry scene here in L.A. so when I realized I could write the kind of music I wanted to hear AND spit over MY OWN shit, it was a wrap! And what I L-L-Love is that shock value when folks find out that my music actually IS good.


SBF:  Are you a chef?

M:  I'm not a chef, but I can cook. I live by myself so I have to hold it down; can't eat out every night. Because I try to eat clean, I cook clean. Generally chicken, fish and turkey. My brother, though, is the real chef-he went to culinary school. My moms has never been to cooking school, but her cooking is school in itself. Before "Cosby" she would get up at 4 am and make cookies, cakes, fried pies, bbq chicken sandwiches, fried chicken sandwiches, chicken gizzards, collard green quiche and put them in a few baskets and walk up and down Crenshaw Blvd. selling them at lunch time to the doctor's offices, hair salons and all the businesses where folks couldn't really go out for lunch. She was a hit. People still remember her from her food way back then.


SBF:  Who would win in a fight between you and Usher?

M:  Dance battle on the dance floor, he'd take it, easy. Man, when I watched him out-Michael Jackson MICHAEL JACKSON, I knew he was lethal!

SBF:  Describe what it feels like to see your face on TV and to hear your name called a million times.  I'm asking about fame.

M:  Hahaha. It's my life, man. I've been famous longer than I haven't been. That's why your website trips me out. I couldn't stop being famous if I wanted to. But honestly, fame is a job. No more, no less. Every time you step outside your front door, you're working. Now no matter how much you may love your job and how good you are at it, some days you wake up and don't feel like going to work, but you have to go anyway. Mind you, it's a great job for those who know how to handle and a great burden for those who don't.

SBF:  What keeps you humble?

M:  The reality that none of this is about me. Almost anybody on TV, in film, or with a hot record gets the same kind of attention. And if you don't have a TV show, a film, or a hot record out, see what happens to all the adoration and attention.

SBF:  On your Myspace page, there is a picture of you posing with Mos Def.  The caption below it reads, "Mos and I used to rhyme in my Cosby show dressing room."  What else used to happen in your damn dressing room? 

M:  It was actually "Here & Now," the series I had right after "Cosby." NBC pulled the show after 12 episodes, so there wasn't enough time for much else to happen in the dressing room other than freestylin'. I actually have a lot of respect for Mos as an MC-turned-actor because he was always both. He was also in "The Cosby Mysteries" on NBC as well. (Dag, Mr. Cosby has had a lot of TV shows!)


SBF:  How long does it usually take you to record a song, are you the perfectionist type?

M:  Ah man, when I'm recording vocals I'm a hardcore perfectionist. I'll lay vocals and listen to rough mixes in my car for a week or two to live with it and then I'm back in the studio re-cutting them. That's the double-edged sword of having your own studio; you can keep going over and over and over again until it's right. That's why it's important to have another set of ears to keep you from overdoing it and perfecting it to death. You can kill a song by being too critical.


SBF:  What is your favorite brand of bass?

M:  My main axes are my '64 Fender Jazz and my 5-string Sadowsky. I'm talking to the Tobias folks about a 6-string bass as well for more range.

SBF:  You were in the movie,"The List."  What is it about?

M:  Don't really know, I'm only in two scenes. Wayne Brady plays a guy who has a checklist of the qualities of his ideal woman. The movie is about what happens when he finds her.


SBF:  What made you name your album, Love and Other Social Issues?

M:  On a specific level, that's what the album is about, but on a broader level, isn't that what poems are ALWAYS about?

SBF:  What artist would you like to do a collaboration with in the future?

M:  Everybody from Ursula Rucker to Miss Hill (Lauryn). From Black Thought to KRS. From Meshell N'Degeocello to Ron Carter to Marcus Miller. From Prince to Ne-Yo. From Method Man to Jay Z. From Snoopy to Huey from The Boondocks. Folks with passion and a point of view.

SBF:  How did you get into spoken word?

M:  You know how singers all say, "Well, I've been singing since I was three"? Well, I have been writing poetry since I was...Lol! Put it this way, when I was 7-years-old, I told my mother I was either going to be a famous basketball player, a famous actor or a famous poet. I sucked at basketball! In terms of being in the trenches as a spoken word artist, I was very active in the underground spoken word movement here in L.A. starting around '93-'94 when there were only two places you could go to hear poetry. I had gotten tired of all the male-bashing poetry women were doing so I stepped up to the plate to offer a different perspective.


SBF:  Marriage, ever?

M:  I don't think I'd ever be able to afford the divorce.

SBF:  Where do you have to be mentally to get into a role?  Describe the process.

M:  That's a hard one to describe in one question. Different characters require different processes. The biggest challenge is knowing how to give up yourself and get out of the way. Different actors employ different ways to find their character. Look at Di Nero and Pacino or Lawrence Fishburne or even Jeffery Wright. There are basic character development tools, but what makes it art is what each artist does with those tools.

SBF:  Do you have any business advice for aspiring actors and musicians?

M:  Don't quit your day job. Most people get into this business to become rich and/or famous. If that is your goal, then your soul is more likely to be eaten away much quicker. This is a soul-destroying business. Ask yourself if you have enough love, passion, and desire for your craft that it will still bring you joy even if you never become famous from it or keep you at the same financial level as you are now. That is a question only you can answer for yourself. If your answer is no, then you need to find something else to do. If you answer is yes, then I say think hard and ask yourself the question again. End of interview