- Hey, I'm Shameik Moore,
and I'm In Studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
(Jazzy Beat)
- Now, you play Raekwon in Wu-Tang: An American Saga,
a new show coming to Hulu
that tells the real life story of the Wu-Tang Clan.
So, first, can you tell us just a little bit
about your character and his role in the story?
- Raekwon, well, actually my character, his name is
Sha Rayder right now.
We're not really the,
we're not who we know Wu-Tang to be yet.
We're scratching the surface where
we're starting the story, you know?
So anything that I do is all about cream, money.
Cash rules.
Like, you know, it's one the slogans for Wu-Tang.
And so if getting money means I have to do this,
that's what I'm going to do to get my money.
And while I'm a great rapper, a great lyricist,
while, the streets respect me and all that,
music ain't paying me.
I'm not getting no cream off that.
I gotta get my cream which means
I gotta do what I gotta do.
- What research did you do to
prepare to take on this role?
- The only thing I did was meet Raekwon
and spend time with him.
Get comfortable just hitting him up, like yo
I'm going to set today this is the scene
can we you know, can we chop it up
for a few minutes when I get there
I get there at this time.
And he was like, yeah I can chop it up here
or, nah hit you at this time.
You know whatever it was
and just take in what he's saying about
everything, yeah well you know it happened
like this and I know they can't really
get into all that but this is what it really
is, so you could put all that up in your
energy with all that.
And I would just be like, okay yeah I got you.
He'd be like, nah Sha you can't be talking to me like
that you got to talk to me like this, know what I mean.
He was talking to me in his New York accent
but I was never comfortable talking back in
the New York accent to him.
Because he's like,
You know say nah you gotta put the you gotta
put the mm-mm on it when you really like something
and I was like, aight.
- Well it sounds like you're kind of at this point
where you're taking everything to the next
level where Dope was a breakthrough role for you
and then obviously at Spider Verse
but, this is now being part of Wu-Tang and the show
that many people think is going to be a huge breakout
hit something that would be a wards contender
you know, it's kind of all taking it to this
next really big level.
- So Dope came out and then people love that
but then The Get Down came out you know, if you
saw it you know people liked it and those
are drastically different roles.
Some would say The Get Down was better than Dope
some say Dope was still the best project I've done
but after The Get Down came Sipderman, Spiderman
did four hundred million.
- Won an Oscar.
- Won an Oscar, the golden globes.
Arguably spider man would be the most
successful project I have and it was animated right.
I will say each time is getting better
and what I will say right now
I'm three for three.
Is four for four.
From what I've seen, like, each time it's gotten
better, Wu-Tang September fourth.
- Yeah you were talking about Rizza.
Obviously Rizza is a co-creator of the show.
What has it been like working with him
and helping him tell his own story?
- Well I met Rizza while filming a movie
we have coming out this year as well actually
called Cut Throat City.
It was like a nephew-uncle relationship there
it's not like big bro little bro it's not that.
It's like, uncle and nephew.
There's multiple projects that, you know
on the table is like, yo we're going to do this
eventually, we kind of have our own little game plan
Of movies and projects to just build.
But Wu-Tang came along, and he was like, yo Sha
I got this popping off.
I want you up in this kid.
Like, who in the Wu would you want to be
and I at the time
My knowledge of the Wu wasn't
You know, what it is now.
So I went to a couple homies and I was like
who do you rock with in Wu the most?
Well one of my closest friends
and his name is G-easy, was like, yo you need to be ODB.
I told Rizza ODB just because he told me ODB.
And then Rizza was like,
- I don't know about that.
- Yeah, he was just like, nah kid.
And I went back, I was like, well who?
He came to me, and was like, do you want to play this?
- Do you feel like the cast as a whole
feels pressure to do the story, and the characters
justice for the Wu-Tang clan because they're
so involved with the show but also for the group's fans?
- I felt pressured
I can speak for myself.
I can list all the Wu-Tang members now.
...
Rizza is my connection to Wu Tang for real, but I
wasn't really talking a Rizza everyday
about Wu-Tang, it was Raekwon, you know.
I was focused on what I needed to be doing
so, the pressure on me was that
I didn't have to audition like everybody else but
I don't want my character, I never wanted it to
be The Get Down.
Shaolin Fantastic, and what he was to The Get Down
I didn't want to be, you know that was a concern
on paper for me and my team it was like, how
does this differ?
But it is a totally different story, it's a
different time, the approach is different, is gritty
all the way through.
The Get Down had a fantastical energy
and there is like you know break dancing
and all this, you know.
Actually fun fact, and then we get back to the
question, Shaolin Fantastic
Right.
That name was inspired by Wu-Tang.
One of the writer's, his name is Aeron
he told me, he was like, you know this the name Shaolin
really came from like you know the Wu Tang situation.
And it's crazy because The Get Down got canceled
and for me to end up on Wu-Tang, my name is Shameik.
In 36 Chambers there was like, aye yo you know Shameik
you know what I'm saying, he got bust in his head.
I was like, yo they said my name on an album.
How many people do you know name Shameik?
Okay, so in 1995 they made an album
with my name in it right.
Now, Shaolin, for all that don't know
Staten Island is where Wu-Tang is located.
Staten Island is called Shaolin in Wu-Tang slang.
So I played Shaolin, my name is Shameik
which was mentioned in an album.
Sha Rayder is my character.
It's just like
It's all
- It all feels connected.
- It is connected, somehow the universe is what it is right?
It's my next project in evolution
and I get to go deeper, not the same level.
I've got to be
A bad boy
In The Get Down which was different
than, in Dope which was
The thing about me as an actor is like, who is
he, because these are two totally different people.
But now
I'm told
The walk is not my walk.
This is this person really is alive
Shaolin Fantastic didn't exist in real life
that was my
interpretation.
But this person that exists, how he walks, how
he talks, how he laughs, how he looks when he
gets mad, how he sounds when he raps, how
he eats food, that's what I'm doing.
Which is why I was like, okay.
Okay.
And the decisions that he made in the actual story.
So the pressure is there for sure, for me, that
was the biggest thing.
That is my audition to myself, to the
world, it's just like okay.
Because this ain't Shameik, this is somebody else.
Can he make me believe that he's Raekwon.
- Well, and you even said that with Spider Verse
in your journal years before, you wrote down
I am Miles Moralis, I'm SpiderMan
and you really manifested that into the universe.
I want to know what are you manifesting now?
Even after Wu-Tang, what's the next thing for you?
- Now that seems to be a common interest
in everybody, and I think what's unique about
that
the SpiderMan, Miles Moralis thing.
No one knew, but me.
And something tells me that I probably need to
keep it that way, you know I have a lot of goals you know.
And I
Honestly haven't written them down in the journal.
Per say.
I've been writing it in my phone, I've been using
my journal for different reasons.
I'm creating like clothing brand, all that
you know I'm writing in a journal
and I need to use it more for like, this is
what I want this is what I want.
But right now it's like
I have a lot
That I want to do
And it's gonna take dedication hard work to get it done.
I'm in a position to get it done, and it is not easy.
But, everything that you see me doing, at least
to this point we'll see in a couple years
if it gets easier if my team expands, but right now
everything is Shameik.
Now, there is people that have had been
helping me, you know just like
Okay well
It's press time, so I got you know better
PR this time is that okay so and doing different
things now I'm able to go up on stage by myself
at the awards.
Different things are happening.
But the moves
Who I'm involved with, how I move, it's just
everything is very personal.
It's like my hands all over it the roles
we take in, you know, the music that's gonna
come out, you know what I mean, everything is Shameik.
Everything is Shameik.
- For those who aren't familiar with the Wu-Tang Clan
why do you think this is a great time
for the show to be on TV
and for people to find out about this inspirational story?
- Well, there's two sides to that story.
For one, I think that Rizza and Wu-Tang were
very smart because they're streaming platforms
and what-not at this point right.
Let me tell you something.
The first thing
We're gonna do after this show, is stream
36 Chambers from Wu Tang that's that's more revenue.
Okay.
These men wrote these lyrics okay, they own
the right that's their music.
It's smart okay, that's number one.
Number two, no one not in the past
They're about to find out in the future but in the present
no one knows the real behind the scenes story
you don't get it in the documentary
unless you were there you don't really know
until you watch the show.
- Why do you think the Wu-Tang Clan is such a
unique group that will probably never be duplicated.
- They just stuck to the script
they never sold out.
And they were unique especially for the time.
Entertaining
And inspiring people.
That's what WU-Tang became.
I would say that they were the most
unlikely group of people...
They were the most unlikely situation to
become a success story out of America
which is why they call it Wu-Tang an American saga.
Because it really is like you know, someone called
themselves the old dirty bastard.
You have to think about that, Ghostface Killah
Raekwon the chef, maybe when you watch the show
if you don't understand why he's called the chef
you will find out
what we cooking.
These men were having to do what they had to do.
You feel me, and they became rap legends.
- Thank you so much for talking to me
and Wu-Tang an American saga is streaming
on Hulu now so be sure to check it out.