Speaker 1: Dripping like Michael Phelps a lot of lines.
Speaker 2: The track is called Drip.
Speaker 1: The voice behind it, the creator behind it, the artist
Speaker 1: behind it is actor musician Michael V.
Speaker 2: Epps aka Mikey. I think that dropped it in twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen something like that.
Speaker 1: It's called Drip, and I'm pleased to have Michael VPPs
Speaker 1: on this program, primarily to talk about the end of
Speaker 1: the highly acclaimed series The Shy, where he played Jake Taylor.
Speaker 1: We'll get to his music and what's next for him
Speaker 1: in a moment, but before I get to the conversation
Speaker 1: with Michael V. Epps, here is some sound from the finale.
Speaker 2: Of The Shy.
Speaker 3: So you're looking at apartments my building going up on
Speaker 3: the red Do you want to move here with me?
Speaker 3: Don't play with me? Look, that's a big step, I know.
Speaker 3: Are you ready for that? I think so? You better
Speaker 3: be sure. Let's just true. Would that make us official?
Speaker 3: What you mean by official?
Speaker 4: I mean no cheating?
Speaker 2: M sure.
Speaker 3: You don't sound sure.
Speaker 4: I can't promise I'd be perfect, but I'm down true.
Speaker 3: Me too.
Speaker 1: That clip is both poignant and funny to me in
Speaker 1: a variety of ways.
Speaker 2: Michael, you's get to have you on how are you, sir?
Speaker 4: Good?
Speaker 2: How are you man?
Speaker 1: If I can plain that being in great, I'm doing
Speaker 1: well and thanks for thanks for giving us a little
Speaker 1: time here.
Speaker 2: So when you hear that clip, what what do you hear?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear, I hear a young.
Speaker 4: Man that knows what he wants and and it sounds
Speaker 4: like he's trying to.
Speaker 3: Compromise with his lady. Young man trying to get his
Speaker 3: life together at a young age. That's what I hear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned a couple of times already, The Shy,
Speaker 1: this acclaimed series, has finally come to an end. So
Speaker 1: the obvious question for you is what do you make
Speaker 1: of the series now that it's concluded? Uh, the impact
Speaker 1: that it has had and will have in the future.
Speaker 1: Every every one of us, you know, uh builds careers
Speaker 1: based upon you know, laying one brick at a time.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk about how you build your career moving
Speaker 1: forward given the brick you've laid, called The Shy. But
Speaker 1: it's talk to me about the series and the way
Speaker 1: you see its impact.
Speaker 4: I see it's impac is a big one the culture,
Speaker 4: and not just for the culture, but also the youth.
Speaker 4: You know, on The Shy is one of those shows
Speaker 4: that once when it comes on, you're you gathering around
Speaker 4: your front room and the living room with your family
Speaker 4: to come watch it. You know, this is some people
Speaker 4: would like to call uh think, I forget the name
Speaker 4: for it, but it would be like their relaxing show.
Speaker 4: They're unwind the time. You know, this is be their
Speaker 4: their getaway. And I would like to have the Shot
Speaker 4: in the category as those household shows such as Martin's
Speaker 4: The The I guess you can the Powers, the Empires
Speaker 4: and you feel me all those shows And when people
Speaker 4: watching now We're in the future, I just want.
Speaker 1: Them to.
Speaker 4: See a story being told of a community that's misunderstood
Speaker 4: and misinterpreted, and when they watch the shot, want them
Speaker 4: to see more of the truth and what can be
Speaker 4: and what can happen the stories and outcome as they
Speaker 4: can come from these communities.
Speaker 1: When you say that you think the show The Shy,
Speaker 1: the series was a big win for the culture. Unpacked
Speaker 1: that for mere big win for the culture in what waves.
Speaker 4: In ways And I guess you could say stereotypes because
Speaker 4: I feel like the shot really debunks a lot of those,
Speaker 4: especially the city itself. You feel me when you hear Chicago,
Speaker 4: or when you look at Chicago from the outside looking
Speaker 4: in somebody who's never been there or don't know too
Speaker 4: much about it, or are you see as violence or
Speaker 4: that's what the media portrays to you. But if you
Speaker 4: actually been in Chicago, you're from Chicago, you know Chicago.
Speaker 3: And we had a complete opposite of that.
Speaker 4: Chicago is a beautiful, loving, fun city, you know, and
Speaker 4: you don't know that until you come there. And that's
Speaker 4: one of my favorite things about the shot. I feel
Speaker 4: like that's what the shot captures the most about it. Then, Yeah,
Speaker 4: we have a lot of critics who say things like
Speaker 4: I feel like we missed the street essence of the shot,
Speaker 4: you know, but everybody knows, Like that's kind of that's
Speaker 4: the history of Chicago too. What a lot of people
Speaker 4: don't know. It's like the human ezed side of it.
Speaker 4: And I feel like that's what the show shows, and
Speaker 4: I feel like that's the impact that it has is
Speaker 4: giving you.
Speaker 3: The truth is that's what a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, shows common shows go. You know that better than
Speaker 1: most because you're in the business obviously, so they come
Speaker 1: and they go. It's not often the case, not always
Speaker 1: the case that the show gets two, three, four, five, six,
Speaker 1: seven plus seasons, the Shy ran what seven or eight seasons?
Speaker 1: That's a good long run. Yeah, eight seasons, that's a
Speaker 1: good long run. To what do you attribute its longevity
Speaker 1: that it got eight seasons out of it's city? I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I said, to what do you attribute the fact that
Speaker 1: this show, unlike some shows that get one season, sometimes
Speaker 1: half a season, sometimes they get canceled with at the
Speaker 1: first couple of episodes, this show ran for eight long
Speaker 1: seasons to what do you attribute the fact that the
Speaker 1: show was able to have legs that long?
Speaker 4: Again, just I got to give it to the authenticity
Speaker 4: of it, for I really feel like that really plays
Speaker 4: and made a part in it that and not only that,
Speaker 4: but as the show go on and progresses.
Speaker 3: Another thing we did was we listened to the people.
Speaker 3: We listen to the fans.
Speaker 4: We integrated their suggestions into the show and certain things
Speaker 4: like It's one moment I.
Speaker 3: Could recall on set was on.
Speaker 4: I believe it was my I believe it was trig
Speaker 4: and it was a certain type of wardrobe they want
Speaker 4: to put them on, and we was gonna say it
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, they'd be already on black Twitter talking
Speaker 4: about us.
Speaker 3: We got to change with out of that.
Speaker 4: So it's like, it's the small things like that that
Speaker 4: make a show amazing and people love it, you know.
Speaker 1: You know it's funny you say that. Now we're just
Speaker 1: talking about Barack Obama. Uh, and you probably only recall
Speaker 1: this story and it's tan suit that he wore back
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, all the drama that came because of
Speaker 1: the wardrobe choice that he made that particular day. So
Speaker 1: you're right, all these intangibles make a difference in the
Speaker 1: way a show is seen, the show is received, and
Speaker 1: how it leans into the authentic story it is trying
Speaker 1: to tell. We've come to the end after eight seasons
Speaker 1: of The Shy.
Speaker 2: Michael V.
Speaker 1: Epps aka Mikey played Jake Taylor on the program. A
Speaker 1: bit more about that and his music when we come
Speaker 1: forward here on Tavis Smile was probably an actor a musician.
Speaker 2: Michael V.
Speaker 1: Epps aka Mikey played Jake Taylor on the highly acclaimed
Speaker 1: series The Shy, which just ended after an eight year run.
Speaker 1: So it's a blessing to get a good long run
Speaker 1: on any series these days. But once that series is over,
Speaker 1: you got to figure out what the next step is.
Speaker 1: How do you build on the foundation that that particular
Speaker 1: series laid for you.
Speaker 2: So, Michael, what happens next for you? Acting?
Speaker 1: We get to the music here in a second, but
Speaker 1: acting wise, how do you build on this opportunity to
Speaker 1: be on the shy.
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 4: You know, of course, as an acting you never know
Speaker 4: when your next job is, so you just keeping working
Speaker 4: and keeping yourself relevant. But aside from that, the pedestal
Speaker 4: that the show has put me on and the big
Speaker 4: fan base support that it's gave is giving me. One
Speaker 4: I'm grateful, and two I'm I'm just gonna keep I'm
Speaker 4: just gonna continue to feed them with things that they
Speaker 4: that they love and that they continue to follow me
Speaker 4: and mind me for until my next dick break come,
Speaker 4: or I get another audition and or somebody hits me
Speaker 4: up like hey, come do this movie?
Speaker 3: Dumping this movie?
Speaker 4: So until then, probably just be putting out stuff like well, actually,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna start getting behind the camera, so probably start
Speaker 4: putting out on my own auditions for that or casting
Speaker 4: calls for that, you know, And I got other stuff
Speaker 4: and I'm working on behind the scenes aside from the
Speaker 4: music and actor tell.
Speaker 2: Me what, tell me what, what's What's what's intriguing you
Speaker 2: about being behind.
Speaker 3: The camera.
Speaker 4: Just the fact being able to tell my own story,
Speaker 4: you know, Like it's as I got into music, and
Speaker 4: I just like acting is one thing, but what I
Speaker 4: discovered with music is like music is it's your own art.
Speaker 4: It's your own everything from the beat selection to your lyrics,
Speaker 4: to your livery to everything is yours is your own art.
Speaker 4: And having that feeling, I just kind of I felt
Speaker 4: like I wonder what that'll be on the actor side,
Speaker 4: behind the camera, you know, and just being on set
Speaker 4: working with different directors and just listen to the instructions
Speaker 4: that they giveing me, like.
Speaker 3: It kind of inspired me, like.
Speaker 4: Okay, I can do this, Like I'm specifical what I want,
Speaker 4: and I know what I want, and I know how
Speaker 4: to tell you how what I want and tell you
Speaker 4: how I want to deliver in a specific way. So
Speaker 4: just thinking about all that and sitting back, I'm like,
Speaker 4: I can I can get behind the camera, and I
Speaker 4: have some interesting story that I want to be told,
Speaker 4: Like I got a real creative mind and I've had
Speaker 4: some wild dreams and just the stuff that I've been
Speaker 4: learning relearning history and all that is definitely some things
Speaker 4: that I want to write on a paper and making
Speaker 4: my own movie or show or something.
Speaker 1: One final question about The Shine with Rap our conversation
Speaker 1: talking about your music, what is your greatest takeaway? What
Speaker 1: will you most appreciate about having played the character Jake
Speaker 1: Taylor on the Shot?
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4: Probably being able to, like I said, tell a story
Speaker 4: of of a group of people, group of kids who
Speaker 4: don't really be who's not able to speak for theirself.
Speaker 4: You know, the people who's just before they're they're met,
Speaker 4: before they're spoken to, the people who always talked about
Speaker 4: from the ones on the outside looking in, but they
Speaker 4: don't really know these people personally. You know. That's kind
Speaker 4: of like one of the biggest things or like the
Speaker 4: proudest thing that I'm happy to be to be able
Speaker 4: to be a part of from the Shot and playing Jake.
Speaker 4: So just being able to and give them that different look,
Speaker 4: like I said, you know, to debunk that that that
Speaker 4: theory or whatever you want to call it, that people
Speaker 4: pend on those people, So to give them that real
Speaker 4: inside look, to show like not all people that come
Speaker 4: from that choose that one way, that one route That's
Speaker 4: one of my favorite things about JA like you in
Speaker 4: the show, Oh season one, you see early on.
Speaker 3: All day, he knows this, this is not the way
Speaker 3: he wanted to go. I got bigger and better dreams.
Speaker 4: So being able to embody that carret there and portray
Speaker 4: that I was, I'm more than is more than a
Speaker 4: happy morning, more than grateful.
Speaker 2: All right, many moments of Michael Vipps.
Speaker 1: When we come forward here on Tavis Smiley left in
Speaker 1: this program today with a full show.
Speaker 2: It's been We're.
Speaker 1: Almost there, almost succeeded at getting this eighty pound show
Speaker 1: in this forty pounds bag. It's been quite the lift today,
Speaker 1: but we made it. I give the last word to
Speaker 1: Michael Viepps. So we talked about the shy eight seasons,
Speaker 1: a great run and not's come to a close. Michael
Speaker 1: Vipps will build on that, no question about it. But
Speaker 1: he's also, as I mentioned earlier, an artist. We started
Speaker 1: this thirty minute segment playing some of his music, a
Speaker 1: track called Drip. So in ninety seconds, Michael tell me
Speaker 1: how the music is coming on, what you're working on
Speaker 1: the music side. Michael, unmute yourself if you're muted, Okay.
Speaker 2: There you got here, now, go ahead.
Speaker 4: Go for it, Go for it, I said, the music
Speaker 4: is coming along. Well, man, I got a single that
Speaker 4: I dropped last summer. It's on our platform.
Speaker 3: You can go get it now. Look up, Mike. That's
Speaker 3: the name for now until for her the notice. Right now,
Speaker 3: I'm just working on other stuff. I got another song
Speaker 3: that I'm gonna drop is called on and On, And
Speaker 3: I just in the studio the other day I recorded
Speaker 3: some other stuff, and I just.
Speaker 4: Got songs in the vault, man, A song that I
Speaker 4: can't drop I'm gonna redo, and then just a bunch
Speaker 4: more that I'm writing, like I'm writing new songs every day.
Speaker 1: So that's that stuff in the vault as you write
Speaker 1: new tracks every day. So we will continue in the
Speaker 1: years to come to hear the music of Michael V. Epps,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure we'll see his face on the big
Speaker 1: screen of the small screen in the future. But we
Speaker 1: congratulate Michael Epps and the entire cast, Aleana Waite and
Speaker 1: her vision the entire cast the cruise a good eight year.
Speaker 2: Run for the shot.
Speaker 1: I think Michael said it best earlier that it really
Speaker 1: does or did change people's minds about the stereotypes of
Speaker 1: a place like Chicago. In that regard, it was, as
Speaker 1: Michael said, a contribution to the culture.
Speaker 2: We'll leave it there.
Speaker 1: Actor musician Michael VIPs aka Mikey played Jake Taylor on
Speaker 1: the shot, and we look forward to what his career
Speaker 1: will unfold in the months and.
Speaker 2: Years to come. Michael, good to have you on. All
Speaker 2: the best of you and enjoy the rest of your day, sir.
Speaker 3: Likewise, just like.
Speaker 1: That three hours ago and we did it. Eighty pounds show,
Speaker 1: forty pound bag. Hopefully tomorrow, Jay Feraji, don't bring me
Speaker 1: no eighteen guests tomorrow. I A'm doing it two days
Speaker 1: in a row anyway, Love y'all.
Speaker 2: I'm Tabby Smiley. Until next time, keep the faith.