All of the hosts will be back for the first time, you’ll be able to see me, Rocsi, Tigger Julissa and AJ and Free all sitting on the couch together. It’s our first time being in the same room together. We had in-depth conversations and talks, we had a lot of stuff that we had to get off our chest, a lot of emotions. That conversation will be aired on October 5th and then all of us will be doing the big anniversary show on the 6th. We got some blasts from the past?some big guests coming, some live performances and some of your favorite 106 and Park moments so it will be a big important show.
What are some of your favorite 106 moments?
Janet Jackson. Period. Any time she came on the show. Freestyling with Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx was always one of my favorite actors. He came on the show and just started freestyling and we kicked off an hour-long session so he’s real fun. And Barack Obama. Being able to interview the president right before he got elected was truly an honor.
What about when Samuel L. Jackson was on there learning the Superman dance?
Yeah, and the dougie. That’s the thing with 106. We’re able to get some of the biggest Hollywood actors, some of the biggest actors some of the biggest musicians in the world, politicians as well, and take them out of their element. We had Samuel L. Jackson doing the Soulja Boy. We had Tom Cruise doing the motorcycle dance. That’s what 106 & Park is.
Thinking back to when you first got the gig, what were your expectations for the show? Have you met them or exceeded them?
When we came in, I came fresh out of college. I was broke, it was pretty much my first job and I was broke and sleeping on my brother’s floor. For me, my expectations were just to start building a career and for the show, we just wanted to stay on the air. In the beginning, people thought we was gonna get fired, people didn’t know we would last, they didn’t know the show was gonna maintain its longevity, they didn’t know what was gonna happen with the show so for us we just wanted to stay on so when we look back at that?and that was five years ago, and the show has the highest ratings ever and now we’re in international territory. We’re in Japan, were in London, were in South Africa and we have a radio show now with 106, so now that the show is where it is now we’re just humbled by the whole thing. We had no idea it would happen like this.
In addition to TV you’ve also done some humanitarian work in Haiti. What sparked it?
I got to the point in my life where I felt like I really needed to give back. I feel like God kept blessing me and I really needed to give back. We’ve been twice, now. We call it The Haiti Project because it’s an on going project and now we’re putting it together. We want to do a documentary about the year after to talk about the progress where the country is and to shed some light so that those that have forgotten about it can get reenergized and re-motivated. My personal project out there is, we’re rebuilding a school. So many schools got devastated during the earthquake and we want to go back and rebuild the school for some of the orphans and some of the kids that aren’t able to go. The problems in Haiti are so wide spread. You’re dealing with government corruption on the highest level. You’re dealing with an infrastructure that needs billions of dollars to get back to where it needs to be.
You have all of these countries, including America, that have pledged to give money but still haven’t paid. We pledged over a billion dollars and we still haven’t paid because it’s being held up in congress. Countries like France, countries like Germany?that have pledged all this money?they still haven’t paid. So they’re still going through that. The Haitian people are living in these tents. Women are getting raped. Disease is rampant. I can go on and on about Haiti’s problems. I think when you look at Haiti, especially from a civilian’s standpoint, from an outsider’s standpoint, you can only focus on one thing and at least try to do it good, so I visited a community that I’m really passionate about and met some people that I’m really connected to and passionate about and we’re gonna build a school in that community and hopefully some other people will step up and help rebuild a hospital, help refurbish some houses.
With us, we’re just taking it one day at a time. We’re not trying to get any kind of credit or award. We’re just trying to bring light to the situation. One we want to help the people out there in Haiti and try to do as much good work where we can and to inspire the youth in America who will see, wow TJs on TV but he’s still out there in Haiti so let me give food to a homeless guy in my neighborhood, let me register some people to vote let me read to an elderly woman in my neighborhood. So that’s what we want to do we want to inspire here and we want to do what we can out there.
What other projects are you working on?
I got another movie coming out on Thanksgiving Day. It’s called Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera. It’s an amazing film. I saw almost 75% of it. That’s a big budget and it’s gonna be a theatrical release. In addition to that we have, 106 TV, 106 radio. I’m the new spokesperson for Coogie footwear. I’m have my own footwear branch off of Coogi footwear that’s doing extremely well so we’ll be doing a tour this fall with that. And I’m writing a book right now. So many people have been caught up cheating like Tiger Woods and Jesse James. I’m doing a book called Why Men Cheat and it’s on the male perspective on why we cheat. I got caught cheating so it will be my personal testimony as well, so hopefully it will cause some conversation and inspire some people in the right way and help women understand why men are the dogs that we are [laughs]. That book will be coming out in the spring so I’ve been working on that.. And I have a production company. We shot a pilot that we’re waiting to get picked up and we’re actively seeking pitches.
Let me guess, reality TV?
One is a reality TV show and the other is a scripted sketch comedy show, and I’ve been doing a lot of producing for BET as well.
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