August 04, 2003 @ 10:24 am

Nick Cannon - All Grown Up

by: Tiffany McGee

After the incredible success of 20th Century Fox's Drumline, Nick Cannon proved he isn't stopping anytime soon. The Nickelodeon-favorite is scheduled to drop his debut album later this summer - his song "Feelin' Freaky" featuring B2K and produced by R. Kelly is blowing up - and Cannon is ready to rock the clubs and grace the big sc

Were you expecting the success that came with Drumline? I knew it was a great film. I knew everybody worked hard on it and I knew if people gave it a chance, they would really like it. And it was cool because everybody did give it a chance. Do you think you gained a lot of credibility with that movie, coming off your Nickelodeon roots? I hope so. I know people respect the hard work that I put into it. Now you're performing as part of the Scream III Tour...what has that experience been like? It's crazy. I love rocking that crowd of 15,000 screaming fans - you can never go wrong with that. I can't complain at all. It has just been a great experience to be out there with the fans and just wilin' out . It's the first time I've actually been out there and people are actually coming to see me do music. I've hosted Nickelodeon tours and performed a little bit on those with Mya and 98 Degrees and stuff, but this is the first time they're coming to see me. We all just wild out. It's great. What's the chemistry like between you, B2K and IMX? We've known each other for a long, long time. We actually used to live on the same street, so it's all love. We joke around all the time. We play this game called Bad Habits. If you cuss or say something like that, we get to beat you up. Me, Omarion, and some of the dancers work out every day. What are the fans like? Are you all getting a lot of love? We get attacked. We got chased down in Vegas and someone got trampled and got hurt, so that was crazy. We got attacked in Sacramento because I was out taking pictures with people and the security thought they had it under control. They ended up having to carry me away. I lost my hat and one of the security guard's lost their shoe. We got straight attacked. I had to crawl onto the elevator. Every night there's something different. At one of our shows, I think it was in Vegas, a girl jumped on stage and grabbed onto me. It's crazy, but I like it. I love it! You used to be part of a rap group called Da Bom Squad. And for this album you hooked up with some big producers. What was it like working with the Neptunes and R.Kelly, and being able to return to music? I just knew I had to get me a hit song, so I went to the people that make the hit records. It's always a pleasure working with legends and people in the game who everybody else wants to work with. I always dreamt about working with those cats. I worked with P. Diddy too - and that's one of the guys that I looked up to. So to work with that caliber of people is just a blessing. Do you write your own rhymes? Definitely. You have to write your own rhymes. The majority of your fans are pretty young since you were on Nickelodeon. Do you take your fans into consideration when you're writing? Yeah, I do. I have to. You'll never hear me just straight out cuss or say any four-letter words, but I'm still going to be 22 and talk about what 22-year-olds talk about. I censor myself to a certain extent because I know that there are young people listening and I try to portray a positive image because I do believe I am a role model. I want to take that responsibility on, but I'm going to be a 22-year-old role model who loves hip hop. I'm still going to be me and do me. I have an explanation for every move that I make. I'm pretty sure everybody's not gonna be happy about everything I do, but I'm definitely still conscious of my audience and the kids who are paying attention to me. Some of my lyrics are risque, but they're not offensive. How much do you think your audience, given that they're so young, limits your rhyming abilities? Are you worried about branching out and breaking away from your Nickelodeon image? I don't think it limits me. It allows me to be even more creative. It's easy to just rap about guns and drugs. But if I have to be creative and think outside of the box - like how can I get the clubs rocking? How can I have people respect me, but not talking about what everybody else is talking about - It just makes me have to be a little bit more creative. LL did it, Will Smith did it. I want to definitely keep my younger fans, but I want to grow. I don't want to branch out and leave them. I definitely want to keep my younger audience but I don't want to be pigeon holdd into doing all young stuff. And that's kind of how stuff like Drumline and even my music transcends just being a funny, goofy little kid. You've said before that Will Smith has been really instrumental in your career. What's your relationship like with him? He's like a big brother to me. And if I were to follow in anybody's footsteps in the game, it would be him. He has shown me the way. He paved the perfect path. He has given me all the advice in the world. A lot of people don't know, but he bought me my first drum machine. He's the person that got me into hip hop for real. He put me through hip hop camp! I was with him the whole time while he was making 'Willenium.' He sent me off with Biz Markie to go carry his records for awhile. He was the first person to ever actually give my own television show too. I wrote a pilot that was kind of like the Fresh Prince but it was me in military school. It was called Loose Cannon in 1998 and he produced it for the WB. So he was the first person to get me started in music, television and he made the phone call to 20th Century Fox when they were kind of skeptical if they should give me the role in Drumline or not. He made the Big Willie phone call and said 'you should give this kid a chance - he's really talented.' I definitely want to do so many things on my own, but I don't want to be compared as the next this or the next that. I just want to be the first Nick Cannon. How did you first hook up with Will? Some of his people that work for his company saw me at a comedy club and said that we should meet. So I went up to the office and I was actually pitching a television show idea and he came in and he was like 'wow, you remind me so much of myself - we gotta work together.' And ever since then, he has taken me under his wing. We spent New Years' together out in Aspen. We do all types of stuff. We're always hanging out. He taught me how to play golf and he gave me a part in Men in Black 2. Tell me about the movie you did with Steve Harvey and Christina Milian. Is it finished? Yeah. We finished that in November. That should be out this Christmas. There's a scene in that movie that's just classic film. You just can't go wrong with it. It's crazy. It's one of those moments that you'll always remember. I can't tell you what it is, but when you see the movie, you'll know. The scenes with Steve Harvey and myself are hilarious. What's the movie about? I start out as an outsider. I play this kid that is kind of nerdy, has a big afro, unibrow, all that...but then he makes a deal with this young lady who's Christina Milian. If she pretends that she'll be his girlfriend for two weeks, he'll fix her car and all this stuff. So he gets the deal and then he gets a big head because he starts to get popular. It's really just a cool coming of age story about a young individual who's trying to find his self. What else are you working on? I'm doing a movie with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere as we speak. It's called Shall We Dance. It's about Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez teaching me how to ballroom dance. His wife also doesn't know if he's having an affair, but it's really about the love he learns of dance. It's a cool movie. I'm trying to do everything all at the same time. As soon as I finish this tour, I'm going into another movie. I'm just trying to keep it moving. So are you a J.Lo fan? I'm an extreme J.Lo fan. I'm a J.Lo fanatic! Would you ever want to work with her musically? If she wants to do it - I would do anything for her. I will mow her lawn. We don't gotta do a song, I just like being in her presence. But if I could do a song with her, that would be great. You're really busy. How do find time to do things? My vocation is my vacation. I love what I do. Every step of my day I'm really honestly working toward my career, trying to make my career better - whether its working out, preparing for a movie role, making a beat. I love what I do. Did you go to college? I did my first year while I was trying to do the show, but that didn't work out. Then I did the online university and I did that for a couple semesters and I just got bored with it. But I'm going to end up going to seminary school once I finish and get what I want to get out of this entertainment. I've always wanted to go to seminary school. I want to get a degree in theology. Where did that interest come from? I have so many ministers in my family. My father and my grandfather are ministers. My great grandmother is a minister. All my uncles and aunts have churches. My entertainment is a form of ministry. It's the gradual move. A lot of people see it as cliché or even taboo, but it's just what has always been in my spirit - to uplift people. And hopefully I can uplift them through my entertainment, but if not, eventually I have a special word that probably needs to be spoken. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years I still see myself in the entertainment industry. Hopefully I'll be a lot more behind the scenes, doing a lot of producing for my acts on my label, television, production, writing movies. In 10 years, I don't see myself doing the ministry thing until I'm about 40. Are you single? I'm as single as a slice of cheese. Are you looking for a girlfriend? I'm so focused on my career that I can't even say I'm looking for a girlfriend right now. I have friends. I think you should definitely be friends with people before you can be anything else. There's no point in playing elementary school like be my boyfriend, be my girlfriend type of thing if you're just giving yourself boundaries. But if it's somebody you feel is truly special and you want to grow and have a real relationship with them, you should be friends first. But if J.Lo broke up with Ben Affleck...? Oh I'm there! I'll be her little puppy - whatever she needs.

Article tags: Nick, Cannon, All, Grown, Up 

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