
Loading summary
DJ Envy
You're listening to an iHeart podcast.
Charlamagne Tha God
Taking control of your career is empowering. Just don't tell my boss I said that. Building a career isn't just about a job. It's about creating a path that impacts our community and future generations. Whether you're starting out or making big moves, State Farm is here to support you with resources to help protect what you're working hard to achieve. They've got your back every step of the way. Because like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Find out more@stateforum.com hey friend, I know.
Just Hilarious
How it feels waking up exhausted after multiple trips to the bathroom and feeling embarrassed by sudden leaks. I used to be constantly on edge searching for a restroom whenever I was out. Then I I discovered better women. I was skeptical at first, but two months in, everything changed. I experienced improved bladder control, no more heart stopping moments when I laugh or sneeze, less urge to go deeper, and more restful sleep. I finally felt like myself again, confident and in control. Better woman is natural, effective and trusted by Women for over 25 years. Ready to take back your control? Head over to bebetternow.com to order your supply today. That's bebetternow.com these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Use as directed. Individual results may vary.
Trey Cheney
In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI fueled nightmare.
J.D. Williams
Someone was post posting photos.
Hassan Johnson
It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart podcasts Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope about the rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Michael K. Williams
I'm Michael Kasson, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's in this episode, I'm joined by Angeli Su, CEO of Tubi. We dive into the competitive world of streaming.
Trey Cheney
What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There are so many stories out there and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen.
Michael K. Williams
Listen to Good company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Charlamagne Tha God
Wake that ass up early in the morning.
Angeli Su
The Breakfast Club.
DJ Envy
Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the building.
Idris Elba
Yes, indeed.
DJ Envy
We got the cast of the Wire. Well, some of them, yes. I'm gonna say their stage names. You say their real names.
J.D. Williams
All right, we got Poop Tray. Oh, Trey Cheney, I gotta say. Okay, Trey Cheney, J.D. williams, Hassan Johnson. Oh, you wanted me to get that one because you wanted me to mess it up. He was saying. And Wayne. But it's on one, right?
Angeli Su
And one.
DJ Envy
Welcome, fellas.
Charlamagne Tha God
How y' all feeling?
Hassan Johnson
Amazing, bro.
Idris Elba
23 years.
Charlamagne Tha God
The more than number.
Hassan Johnson
The Jordan years.
Idris Elba
Lord have mercy. What does that mean to y' all when y' all hear that?
Charlamagne Tha God
It's crazy to me because I always tell people, see this, the first time in a minute, we've been together and doing an interview. But I always say when I get interviewed, I don't care what none of y' all say. We didn't know what we was doing.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
Shooting that motherfucker. All we was trying to see was whose call time was the next morning so we could go out and get something to drink, hang out for the night.
DJ Envy
I was on a continuance from Oz, so I knew we had something special.
Charlamagne Tha God
Okay, I had picked that up.
DJ Envy
I had picked that up. It was the first time, like, I'm looking at people that's coming up that I was watching they work the same way they was watching my work when I did Oz. Everybody was already kind of famous already, you know what I'm saying? But when we got here, that made us. And I saw. I saw that work coming down.
Hassan Johnson
The thing with me, nobody don't know. The Wire was my first job as an actor, so that was my first time I had ever auditioned for a role, first job. So just being around these guys, I'm like, yo, I remember asking JD A whole bunch of questions, bro. What is. What is a trailer? You know? What are you telling me to do, like, rehearsal? I'm like, all right. But, you know, like I said, man, to be here 23 years later and still just getting to it, you know, everybody healthy living and breathing, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it's just.
DJ Envy
I'm glad people find it new every day. Somebody find the show every day. So it don't really.
Charlamagne Tha God
It show more popular now, some years later than it was when it was on tv.
Angeli Su
Well, let's talk about.
Idris Elba
None of y' all knew it was gonna be a cultural staple.
Angeli Su
I definitely.
Charlamagne Tha God
Never tell me that I.
DJ Envy
Asked me, I ain't know that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Hell, Baltimore, you damn right.
J.D. Williams
It's definitely a cultural statement.
Angeli Su
When you moving around anywhere in the world, though, they know you. You know what I mean? Like, somebody might just stop and say, man, run them lines real quick.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know what I mean?
Angeli Su
They throw you. They quote your lines. So it's like. Yeah, you know, but it's like the study part of it. Like, when I first came on set, Trey tell you, we was right there. We was in interest, Trilla, and we was running lines, and Trish was like, what else you been on? I was like, this is my first time out, right? He was like, your first time out? Where I say first time on the block? So we were shooting in the funeral home in Baltimore, like, broad daylight Funeral home. And we was there. A lot of people don't know the 12 hours. 12 hours. Hard days, right?
DJ Envy
Turn around.
Angeli Su
Yeah, turn around. So we out there, we busting it, and we ran the lines. We were out there, it was raining. We take breaks for lunch. It was just a family, and we still a family to the day.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, man.
DJ Envy
Now, I wanna start from the beginning of the Wire. So when y' all got the call to do the Wire, break that down. When y' all first read the script, and how did y' all know that y' all wanted to do it?
Hassan Johnson
So they. I initially auditioned for We Bey.
Charlamagne Tha God
See, that's funny. Cause I got.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, I initially auditioned for We Bay character. And I remember going in there with Pat Moran out there in Baltimore, and she like, yo, quote this monologue. So two weeks later, I get a call. She said, we got some bad and good news. She said, the bad news is you didn't get the character as Wee bae, but you was cast for the character Poop. And I was only supposed to be in the first two episodes in the first season. And then, spoiler alert, you end up getting poop all five seasons. Last man standing. You know what I'm saying? So I was just happy, you know, getting that script. And throughout the years, throughout the seasons, it never said I was getting killed. Because that's the thing with the Wire. You never knew what was getting off. They didn't tell you before. They were just, you get the script and you read. That's like when Snoop shot at me. You know what I'm saying? They like, Poop falls to the ground. He's bleeding. I'm like, okay, this is it. And then I woke up.
Charlamagne Tha God
Take this into consideration, Trey, how you just said that. I don't know if y' all remember or not. The Y almost ain't even take off. Yeah, because we auditioned before 9 11. 9 11.
Hassan Johnson
That's right. We did.
Charlamagne Tha God
And shit was shut down for three weeks. At least I'm on Staten island, so anything to lower Manhattan. So that was Highland Tunnel, the ferry and back out. And the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge was shut. You could only come in from GW or the Lincoln Tunnel for three weeks. I was selling sneakers at the time. So I was just busting these moves back and forth, you know, over the. What you call as soon as they open up. But the thing is, the callbacks was, after they opened the city back up, Alexa Fogle off and started calling us back. I forgot all about this.
DJ Envy
That's true.
Charlamagne Tha God
I ain't think nothing. So when I went in, I auditioned for d' Angelo.
Hassan Johnson
Oh, wow. Shout out to Larry Jilliard, man. That's our brother.
Angeli Su
See down there, it was open. Cause Baltimore was open when we was turned out. So actually, when I auditioned, I auditioned for Marlo Stanfield, Jamie Hector. I auditioned for Marlo, and then when I got the call, they called me back. I was actually coming back from Houston with Steve Francis, and I got the call. Pat was like, hey, baby, you out?
Charlamagne Tha God
Everybody got good news. I got good news.
Angeli Su
And she gave. She was like, you just landed Slim Charles on hbo. And that was it.
Charlamagne Tha God
Not character one. Slim Charles.
Angeli Su
Slim Charles.
Charlamagne Tha God
Alexa told me, character one, that ain't it.
DJ Envy
She told me. She told me I was gonna be Bodhi. Like, I said I wanted to audition for d' Angelo because I was like, I just came from playing a tough guy for all these years. Y' all gonna make me worse than I was already. And then she was like, no, this your part. Read this part. Just go and do your job. I went in, came out, and they built on the character so much that I didn't know where it was gonna go.
Hassan Johnson
But I'm glad we don't, because in.
Charlamagne Tha God
My audition, I think David Simon leaned over the clock and said. He leaned over the clock and said, we bay. And I was so hot because I was tearing my up.
Angeli Su
I was in the zone.
Charlamagne Tha God
I caught myself like, yo, hold on, relax. But you know, when you in the room, that's your moment.
DJ Envy
Take it.
Charlamagne Tha God
You can go off in there. You go off as long as it's taking. Also, they threw me off, but I caught it. But that's what they were saying.
Hassan Johnson
Like, that's what it is.
DJ Envy
You're that guy.
Angeli Su
But you got to get in character, though. Cause, like, I. That was my first, like, audition. So when I read for Marlo, they was like, you know, come in. You don't care about nothing. Hoodie. So I threw my hoodie on. I went in there and read for it. And I was like, no. You know, it was like, what's your name? I said, marlo. He said, what's your name? I said, marlo. She said, what's your. I said, what's your part?
Charlamagne Tha God
He had the part.
Angeli Su
Don't you understand me?
Charlamagne Tha God
And Marlo, I thought you was auditioning for Roots.
Angeli Su
I said, my bad. Cause that was my first audition. So she said, no, that was great. That was also. I read again. And then I came out and I was like, so what I supposed to do now? She like, no, we gonna give you a call. So I. I didn't really know. That's why I said, we ain't really.
Charlamagne Tha God
Know who it was.
Angeli Su
J.D. you already knew. She was already in the play.
Charlamagne Tha God
J.D.
Angeli Su
I didn't really know. That was my first.
Charlamagne Tha God
I was taking serious when y' all.
DJ Envy
First did it because I used to see y' all in the club every night with me.
Charlamagne Tha God
I know.
DJ Envy
I was surprised that they even made it to.
Charlamagne Tha God
That's his proximity.
DJ Envy
That's proximity, though.
Charlamagne Tha God
Every night. And they twisted.
Angeli Su
Twisted.
DJ Envy
Come on now, man. I used to sit right next to you and just behave.
Charlamagne Tha God
That's what I'm saying. Chill. We was getting arrested on the weekend. Bailing out, Imitating life. For real. I think I was the first one. I got arrested in D.C. i popped off D.C. at Club Dream in Dream. Oh, my God was in there. What was it?
DJ Envy
They played for the football team.
Charlamagne Tha God
They played for the radio.
DJ Envy
College. He was college dude.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was some young.
DJ Envy
And it was him, me, him, Idris, Dominic, Doy. I popped on rad. Never changed.
Charlamagne Tha God
They.
DJ Envy
And that's when Fredro stepped to the side on us.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, he ain't jumping.
Idris Elba
Y' all got into a fight?
DJ Envy
Yeah, And Dream Club dreaming like, Fred was with us.
Angeli Su
But.
Charlamagne Tha God
That'S my bro. He gonna go, you ain't had to hit him.
Hassan Johnson
Fred family know.
Angeli Su
Get in trouble. And, like, George and Dave and them is like the. The. The big. The uncles. They kind of bury you out. I got know when I was on the show, I got locked up for a gun. They had me in legal tabs and everything. They came to court for me and everything. They came to court, and I was like, this here for me. And they was like, no, no, it's good. You got you.
Charlamagne Tha God
What kind of show is this way.
DJ Envy
That we should have? Because we didn't get in trouble the right way. You know what I'm saying?
Charlamagne Tha God
We was quiet. We was quiet.
DJ Envy
We had respect for each other. We didn't. We wasn't just completely messing up. If we would have got. Had some type of scandal or something like that, it would have caught on.
Charlamagne Tha God
Like the second season bailed me out like twice like this in the lobby at the precincts.
Hassan Johnson
Yo, you know what's so. You know what's so crazy?
Charlamagne Tha God
Let's go home.
Hassan Johnson
You know what's so crazy? Social media wasn't what it is now, though.
J.D. Williams
Absolutely not.
Hassan Johnson
All of the stories and things getting locked up in different situations like that. It wasn't video like when y' all was in the club rumbling. Just think now.
Charlamagne Tha God
This is what I would never understand.
Idris Elba
This is what I never understand about Hollywood. Everything they say doesn't work always works and works in historic ways. Not only was the Wyatt name the greatest TV show of the 21st century, majority black cast. And you telling me that that was. That was like a lot of Yalls first time even acting, and they didn't.
J.D. Williams
Know what they was doing.
Angeli Su
That was crazy because it was like we was the largest African American cast in the city.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm about to say 30 principal role. Everybody had a. Everybody had a main character. It's crazy how you keep up with that.
Idris Elba
So how does Hollywood convince people that black shit don't work?
Charlamagne Tha God
I don't know, because behind the whole. But behind closed doors, you get them exacts respectfully and tell you, yo, ha. Y' all the ones we get all our from y' all. I mean, we the blueprint y' all story. Y' all keep letting us do it. I said, now, how the gatekeeper telling me, how did this one work? That's a Rubik's cube.
DJ Envy
Another thing, Hollywood, most of the time, they only want one at a time. One or two people at a time.
Hassan Johnson
That's real.
DJ Envy
So they're gonna squeeze you in and squeeze you out. If you figure out how to make your own niche, then that's it. But most of the time, they're not gonna grind it out.
Angeli Su
Stay on fire. You stay on fire, man, I. It'll blow your mind. I read for so many roles. Yeah, man, my head be spinning. They be like, what you doing? I'm reading, kid. I'm reading. I just read for this. I just read for four episodes on FBI. I don't know if I'll get it. Read for this. Ran for that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Sharpening the blade.
DJ Envy
They can't have a good TV show without Somebody from the Wire on it. No show out right now without somebody.
Hassan Johnson
Me and J.D. did six seasons on Saints and Sinners. Bounce TV Hulu, Me and J.D. okay? BMF season two and season three. Me and J.D. you know what I'm saying? So, like, us being like the dynamic duo that started on the Wire together was Homeboys on the Wire. Now it's, I think, Saints and Sinners, though we was. We was at odds, right?
DJ Envy
Yeah, we was enemies.
Hassan Johnson
Like that.
J.D. Williams
You know how much of the script was improv, though? How much did y' all improv? Did y' all go off script? Cause it. None of it seemed like.
Charlamagne Tha God
Not a lot. See, really, we didn't have improv. That's how ill it was. It was all on the paper.
Angeli Su
Yeah, they don't let you do like, you might just say one word. Hun J.
DJ Envy
That's ad lib.
Angeli Su
Yeah, the ad lib. But they want that. They say cut. Hey, you need your line. Yeah, run them his line. I always said, I don't want nobody to say, throw me my line facts. So I just closed the door. I cut everything off and study. But yeah, the ad libbing, they don't really go for it.
Charlamagne Tha God
Like, respectfully, I did not say. Or the ad lib or improv. That Knicks line in season one, when d' Angelo come back and I said, he said, what you doing? I. I said, I'm watching the Knicks. They draft up, right? That's exactly what Wee Bay said. I was like, I wonder how they let me in the Garden after that. Yeah, but David wrote that.
Hassan Johnson
I ain't say that.
DJ Envy
David let me get away. He would let me get away with a lot of stuff. But I would test it out first, right? Like, I would use it on one take, and then if they don't like it, they just say, don't do that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, they do it.
DJ Envy
But then most of the time they say, say that again or do that. A lot of times I used to like. And that was because also with the dynamic that my group, my crew had, right, we had this fill up kind of space, you know what I'm saying? We got Andre Royal, Bubs over here acting up. Then we got us having this communication. Then we got the young boys. So it was always something in there.
Hassan Johnson
But.
DJ Envy
But most of the time, like you said, especially because we had to figure out that be more dialect a lot of times. How was that?
Charlamagne Tha God
That was hard.
Hassan Johnson
We ain't doing it, I'm saying, so.
Angeli Su
It'S kind of hard for us. It's hard for Like New Yorkers to get the accent. But see, I'm from D.C. so it's like the Chew the Doug. You know, you can get into it, you know what I mean?
J.D. Williams
Like a damn dj.
Angeli Su
Baltimore will pull your neck out if they know you faking it. You can't drag it too long with it. You just gotta do it like. See, like, even with New York, like when I did the Deuce. Yeah. I had to learn dialogue, you know what I mean? We shot that. We shot that in Brooklyn and then we went to Silver cup in the Queens. So I shot that whole show, right? We was back there, we did it. And it's just like you gotta sit outside in New York to smell the air, to know what a New Yorker go through, to feel it. You gotta get into that character method. So it's like, bam. It's right here. We here. What's next?
DJ Envy
I ain't wanna get stuck with that accent.
Idris Elba
I think that depends on the era of New York.
Angeli Su
You gotta turn it on and off.
Idris Elba
Like super New York.
Angeli Su
Yeah. Snoop with Felicia, she as years ago. She got that. She got that Baltimore dot that is in her.
J.D. Williams
Oh, no, that's Snoop.
DJ Envy
If we don't talk like that, y' all would have never understood nothing.
Angeli Su
And then, like, Snoopy used to be like this. Like this, bro. Come here. Say it like this.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, nice.
Angeli Su
Not like that. And I'll be like that. All right.
DJ Envy
How was filming out there?
Angeli Su
It was fun.
Charlamagne Tha God
No, that was fun.
DJ Envy
Shout out to.
Angeli Su
Man. Look, they got the food coming out. Meth was getting his head braided outside. They open you up, but when you messing that money up, they'll let you know. Man, y' all got going to block, yo.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, it was a couple set too.
Angeli Su
Yeah, like really. And they was like, really serious.
Charlamagne Tha God
We went to shut down for a little 10 minutes. But yeah, David and them wasn't packing up, though. They weren't shooting. What about.
Idris Elba
Sound like it was a rain. A little quick rainstorm.
Hassan Johnson
What about the rats? All about food.
Angeli Su
Hold on, let me say this one time, the rats.
Charlamagne Tha God
The rats would come out.
Hassan Johnson
They eat all our food up.
Angeli Su
Look, we were shooting a scene. It was like maybe five below out and be more.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Angeli Su
And we took a break. It was me, banger, Felicia, a couple of other people. And they ordered pizza. Yeah, bro, they had like 10 pieces on the thing.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was like the pizza cold delivered to the.
Angeli Su
Jumped up on the table and knocked the pizza. Now everybody broke. Then they just came up. We was jumped on the jump. Knocked the whole boxes off. And then Everybody just bumped big joints first. Big Ben, he jumped up and knocked everything down.
Charlamagne Tha God
Big scene with the. With the shootout when I shot Mike. Know where he shoot me? Yeah, there's a rat running across the. In the background. Cause I got scared to death in.
Angeli Su
The episode like this. And be more looking like he.
Charlamagne Tha God
Like dog puppies.
DJ Envy
No, that's true.
Charlamagne Tha God
Crazy.
Angeli Su
Damn.
DJ Envy
Did y' all. Did y' all say. Did y' all recognize the greatness in Idris back then? Did y' all see where it could go or something like that?
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
Because Idris was funny. I met him. What's the hotel on St. Paul, right downtown.
DJ Envy
Tree treat, double tree, Tremont.
Charlamagne Tha God
The first. The night before we filmed. All right, so boom. It was the Grant and the Foreman fight, right? Grant informing for might have been Holy Field and Grant fight that night. I met Idris in the lobby. We was gonna walk down to the harbor to the Hyatt and watch it down there.
Angeli Su
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was talking regular with a. With a regular accent this whole time. And got on the phone with his daughter mother and I stopped. We walking down the block. He just started talking that. That chatting started that London and I stopped.
Hassan Johnson
You like walking.
Charlamagne Tha God
And he finally looked back. Like, what? I was like, where you from? You over here acting like you from.
Angeli Su
The Bronx or something.
Charlamagne Tha God
He was practicing on us.
DJ Envy
But you.
Charlamagne Tha God
So I knew it right there. Like, yeah, he. He wanted a one thing.
DJ Envy
It was a scene where we did with me and him sitting in the car. It's the scene where character does this with his. With my waist. And we was sitting in that car for a couple of hours and we was just talking. And I remember us getting to the point. I was like, yo. Cause he wanted to have this magazine in the car that I ain't gonna get too deep about it. They told him not to have it because of who was on it, right? So he was like, I'm going after this. Anyway, anyway, we gonna leave that alone. So anyway, we in the car and I'm like, you know, when you leave.
Charlamagne Tha God
Here, you gonna be that guy.
DJ Envy
Like, he like, well, I think a couple of us gonna do it. I'm like, yeah, but like, you kind of like right under Denzel looking, like. Looking like you about to go to him.
Hassan Johnson
Denzel looking.
DJ Envy
And he said, we'll see. But it was crazy because when it was time for his character to, you know, to happen, he didn't want that.
Charlamagne Tha God
He did.
DJ Envy
He was mad as hell.
Angeli Su
Cuz we was film. We filmed that whole morning, yo, right? Remember we filmed that whole Morning came in the tr. They was like. It was like a cloud. Like a cloud over.
Hassan Johnson
He was. He was mad.
J.D. Williams
Stringer got killed off.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
DJ Envy
So he had no idea. He just found out that.
Angeli Su
The end.
Charlamagne Tha God
Cuz, look, we used to film. They do the tandems now. So they do these blocks where you can shoot two and three episodes in a week. We really shot the two week episode. So we started on a Monday, and we wrapped the next week Thursday. And then it was a rehearsal Friday, and back at it on Monday 13 times.
DJ Envy
If they going to change something, they change it within that.
Charlamagne Tha God
But the thing is, look, when we wrapped on an episode, your new scripts in your trailer. The new script right in your trailer right there. Already everybody started catching on to doing this.
Hassan Johnson
Yep.
Charlamagne Tha God
Somebody always was like this tough, bro. You know, whoever getting killed off that.
Angeli Su
Way, they ain't opening that door.
Hassan Johnson
When you had the off microphone be.
Charlamagne Tha God
Like, oh, that's what you all. We taking you out tonight. Drinks on up.
J.D. Williams
Had to die, yo. Especially how D D. I thought he was going to get. Get away with it, though.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
J.D. Williams
You know what I'm saying?
Charlamagne Tha God
Refresh my memory.
DJ Envy
Who killed brother?
Angeli Su
You say who put the hit on str?
Charlamagne Tha God
That wasn't d' Angelo, mother. That was.
DJ Envy
That was no sister. Brother Mo was going back to get the revenge for Stringer setting him up. And Omar joined in. He was supposed to pee on him.
Angeli Su
I wasn't gonna bring that part up. I didn't bring that part up.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm just saying.
DJ Envy
I'm just saying.
Idris Elba
So how did Idris treat y' all afterwards? Did he ever. Did he, like, distance himself from y'.
Charlamagne Tha God
All after he's gone?
Angeli Su
He was crazy.
Charlamagne Tha God
You still could reach him, though.
Angeli Su
Yeah, everybody's always reachable, bro. We a family. That's real. It's just like the plate just get kind of thick and you gotta work. Like, we always talk, you know what I mean? We talk, we talk. You know what I mean?
Hassan Johnson
Like, yeah, Idris did the intro for my document, Undeniable, the Trey Chaney Story, which all of us are a part of. And reaching out to him, it wasn't hard to, you know, reach out to him. We always started together.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know, he might be across the.
Hassan Johnson
Pod, but him doing that, you know what I'm saying? It really was a good look for me.
DJ Envy
Michael B. Jordan was a young kid at the time.
Angeli Su
Yeah, man.
Hassan Johnson
Baby boy.
DJ Envy
I was working with him and seeing his success.
Hassan Johnson
Well, for me, I mean, me, him, and JD Always was together on set. Even my separate scenes that I had with Michael B. Jordan. It was, you know, he was special. You know what I'm saying? You knew.
DJ Envy
You seen that early.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
I used to ride in the trailer with him. And I ain't had too many scenes with him, but I used to kick it with his mother.
DJ Envy
Oh, yeah.
Hassan Johnson
I love how family oriented he was.
Charlamagne Tha God
Michael, baby bro, Mom, Duke, I love you. I don't know where you at. She the one got him together.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, Moms was. Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
And it was.
DJ Envy
It was good money because he said he had a lot of big brothers to watch out for him. And what he was doing, like, the way me and him, like, he used to come. Come out with me all the time. She used to let him come out with me. I took him to Vegas. We went to Magic, you know, all the little places.
J.D. Williams
Miami, One of the younger ones.
Hassan Johnson
Right, Miami.
DJ Envy
And so we was always around, but we all got together, and he came up with the right mindset. And so he was, like, set up pretty good from going.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, he was.
DJ Envy
But when we did this, when we did the scene we took, we all.
J.D. Williams
Had to kill him.
DJ Envy
He thought he wasn't gonna never work again.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, he says that.
DJ Envy
He says that, bro.
Hassan Johnson
I was. Said he was never gonna stop. I ain't think I was gonna work again.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, he just said ability that he felt at that time to heat a man right now is crazy, right? Yeah. Because he was messed up behind that.
Idris Elba
He was only on one season, right?
Hassan Johnson
He did one season.
J.D. Williams
Yeah.
Hassan Johnson
We smoked him in episode 12, right?
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, yeah.
Hassan Johnson
Towards the end.
Charlamagne Tha God
That was the first season.
DJ Envy
Yeah. And we sat up. He sat up. He started crying. We hugged him up.
Charlamagne Tha God
Right.
DJ Envy
We said, look, man, at the. After this episode go off, they gonna be looking for your name in the credits. And nobody never gonna forget you. They always gonna be looking for you. Boom.
J.D. Williams
And didn't he do hardball? He did.
Hassan Johnson
That's why I had.
Idris Elba
Do you think the Wire could be made today in, like, the same raw way? I would have to be sensitive to death.
Charlamagne Tha God
Nah. Cause it wasn't in hd. But, you know, literally speaking, raw.
Angeli Su
But.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yo, but yeah, that too.
DJ Envy
Another city, maybe.
Charlamagne Tha God
Not the white.
DJ Envy
Not Baltimore again. I think it would have to be a whole nother city.
J.D. Williams
I don't even think they'd let them be like they was. Nah.
Hassan Johnson
Like how we were.
Angeli Su
It was too original.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was too authentic.
Angeli Su
It was too authentic like that.
Charlamagne Tha God
And where you start, that sounds like.
DJ Envy
A human resource problem.
Angeli Su
It's more like, you can't get no city like Chime City. Like, it's just beautiful. Like the people, everything about Baltimore, how we shot it. Yeah, the family, it was just a family. It's too organic, man.
J.D. Williams
And what about the extras?
DJ Envy
Like, oh, Those are all 100%.
J.D. Williams
Did y' all cast the crackheads or they just was dead?
Angeli Su
They knew everything about Baltimore. To cuss the alleys. Like, you can go, like, one of you know the scene when I killed the guy in the alley. Like, you had to, like, clean the alley like, 10 times. I ain't gonna say no name, but one person ain't want to fall. One person ain't want to fall in the alley, bro.
Hassan Johnson
Hey.
Angeli Su
Bro, you got the phone in the alley, bro.
Hassan Johnson
But it was.
DJ Envy
It was the movement.
Angeli Su
Hey, bro, I say we falling outies all the time. We got glass in our hands on that baby. So it's like, that's the difference between us growing up and we from the hood. And then you get on the hood show. It's like. It's not hard.
Hassan Johnson
It's not hard at all.
Angeli Su
You know what I mean? So it just was a blessing because the show saved my life.
Charlamagne Tha God
But I don't care. Nobody say Nino Brown is one of the top five gangster characters ever to play. And that wasn't easy. Easy. That's over. I don't care what nobody say. Like, as much as they think it's easy for us to pull out. Cause we from the inner city or this that I got you. No, it's not.
Hassan Johnson
I don't shoot people.
Angeli Su
Why?
Charlamagne Tha God
Is that supposed to be regular? You know what I'm saying? No, that's not easy.
Idris Elba
Like, there's been growing up in the hood and actually being a criminal.
DJ Envy
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
It's a total difference. I don't know about clacking, filling clips up and all that.
DJ Envy
They always talk about spin offs and reboot to the wire. What's your opinion on that? Spin offs and reboots or.
Charlamagne Tha God
But that's when you had said something else. Charlamagne. Where would you start? Envy. Where would you pick it up at? Michael K. Not here. Which I'm sure would be a real sinner. Rest in peace. Michael K. Right. That's who you would definitely have to have, right?
DJ Envy
Spin off. Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
Lance gone. There's so many people, right.
Hassan Johnson
A lot of our brothers.
Charlamagne Tha God
Even if you try to pick up off where it left off with. With Mac, right. With Tristan.
Hassan Johnson
Right.
Charlamagne Tha God
When he killed Snoop, he was supposed.
DJ Envy
To be like, you could follow him or you could follow Marlo wherever he gonna hide out, right?
Angeli Su
Yeah. Cause Marlo got out. I bought the connect at the end from Marlon jail. But it was crazy because the whole pod was when Prop Joe. Yeah. You know, when Meth. Yeah, when he did that. And I killed Meth, killed Cheese. Everything was flipping around because we had to co op. We was sitting in. It was all us at first. Bodhi. All that's spinning off, people just going out.
Hassan Johnson
Even my character. The character arc from Going from the street. Yeah. I end up working at Foot Locker.
Angeli Su
So you never know.
Hassan Johnson
Foot Locker. So it's like the cutting character could.
Idris Elba
Come back, take somebody and move to another city.
DJ Envy
Yeah, come to New Brick City. That'll be a fire one.
Angeli Su
I'm saying, hey, I had to be crazy.
Charlamagne Tha God
Come to dc. I had all come to DC in.
Angeli Su
They got two or three.
Charlamagne Tha God
Omar was in New York. And then they never even showed that again. Never.
DJ Envy
Yeah, he did come up, but then he came back. Remember?
Angeli Su
They.
Charlamagne Tha God
They stayed.
Angeli Su
They.
Charlamagne Tha God
They told him to leave, remember?
DJ Envy
And then he came back. He came back for something. I forgot why. But he came back to get somebody.
J.D. Williams
I just don't think it'll be able to be written. Cause, you see, I asked y' all, was any of it improv? It was, like, real dialogue. I'm from Baltimore. Like, n talk like that, 100%. My whole life growing up, I literally thought all of y' all were from Baltimore. Just growing up. I thought it was. So I knew Idris Elba wasn't. Cause it was a couple scenes, right? When that nigga get mad and he.
Charlamagne Tha God
Get hot, it come out.
DJ Envy
I mean, Todd used to tell him that. I used to be like, you ain't fooling me.
Angeli Su
Hey, Ash, see that part? You might be telling that part when he tried get me to kill Clay Davis.
Hassan Johnson
A little bit. Yeah, man.
DJ Envy
Now, I gotta ask, this meme right here.
Hassan Johnson
Do you hate this meme?
DJ Envy
Do you hate this meme?
Charlamagne Tha God
I did used to hate it, right? Because nobody understood it. Nobody under. I knew where it was.
Hassan Johnson
You knew what it was.
Charlamagne Tha God
Nobody understood it.
Michael Kasson
Have you ever looked around at your crew and thought, man, these are my people? The ones who turn the smallest moments into memories you'll be talking about for years. The folks who show up when you need them and make your life so much better. Well, you can make those moments even sweeter, because Sherrit Coke is back. And this time, it's all about celebrating friendships, whether you're hanging out and watching the game or just chopping it up. There's a Coke for everyone, from bestie and bro to classic names like David and Sarah. These special cans and bottles are made for your whole squad. So grab one, crack it open and toast to the people who make life worth celebrating. But don't wait. They won't be around forever. So grab one for everybody, pop the top and keep the good vibes flowing. Next time you're making memories, don't miss your chance to share a Coke with all your favorite people.
Just Hilarious
Hey friend, I know how it feels waking up exhausted after multiple trips to the bathroom and feeling embarrassed by sudden leaks. I used to be constantly on edge searching for a restroom whenever I was out. Then I discovered better women. I was skeptical at first, but two months in, everything changed. I experienced improved bladder control, no more heart stopping moments when I laugh or sneeze, less urge to go deeper, and more restful sleep. I finally felt like myself again, confident and in control. Better Woman is natural, effective and trusted by Women for over 25 years. Ready to take back your control? Head over to bebetternow.com to order your supply today. That's be betternow.com these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Users directed. Individual results may vary.
Trey Cheney
Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shankar. I host a podcast called A Slight Change of Plans. I started this show because unexpected change.
Charlamagne Tha God
Comes for all of us and there's.
Trey Cheney
No set playbook for how to deal with it. I have all of this psychological baggage that I'm carrying with me and the last thing I want to do is to pass that on to my daughter. So I have to figure this out. This is this puzzle of my trauma. I have to figure it out and I have to figure it out now. Join me this season when I talk.
Charlamagne Tha God
To Amanda Knox about her choice to.
Trey Cheney
Reconnect with the prosecutor who helped put her behind bars. This is not about him. This is about me and what I am capable of giving. And I know that I am capable of being kind to this man and by God I am going to do it and no one can stop me.
Just Hilarious
Listen to A Slight Change of plans.
Trey Cheney
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or.
Charlamagne Tha God
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Trey Cheney
Giving yourself that agency to not just be one thing, right? I don't have to be the perception that is crafted or the version of me that everyone is kind of projecting onto me. I am having my human experience and it is faceted. It's so faceted and it's fascinating. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Deeply well is a sanctuary for your healing. I'm Debbie Brown, healer, wellbeing expert, teacher and fellow seeker and each week we explore what it means to become whole through soul expanding conversations and practices. Why focus on tiny joys? Well, because they remind us of what is it means to be human. They anchor us in the present moment. And they create ripples of gratitude that nourish our spirit. Tiny joys are acts of self love. To hear this and more ways to prioritize your peace. Listen to deeply well from the Black Effect podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts at.
Michael Kasson
And T. Connecting changes everything.
Charlamagne Tha God
But then it started catching on, especially with the younger kids. I was like, oh, hold on, I gotta get my uncle on with the shorty. I gotta educate them.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
To wear that focus, they'll be like, oh, that's you from the meme. But they don't know where it's from.
DJ Envy
Right.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know what I mean? I'll be like, oh, well, this is the dopest show in the world. Not cause I was on it, but because it's dope.
Hassan Johnson
And then, you know, they go, check it out.
Charlamagne Tha God
So it made it timeless. The mean just made everything timeless.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
It don't get old. It don't get old.
DJ Envy
It don't get old.
Charlamagne Tha God
It don't. I can't front.
Idris Elba
I wanted to ask y' all, since y' all mentioned them, how did. How did the loss of Michael K. Williams impact y' all?
Hassan Johnson
Man, it was tough.
Charlamagne Tha God
I was mad.
Angeli Su
Hey, it.
DJ Envy
It.
Angeli Su
Remember when I was on the balcony in la? So I was. They was talk. We was on the phone, FaceTime talking. J.D. trey, Mike. And I had just talked to Mike two day before that. Cuz he was like. Some people was looking for me for a role. He was like, bro, we down here. You gotta get down here. Yeah, get out of that city. Come down. I was like, wow. Then he wanted. He called me, bought another piece that they was trying to get me to work on with my band, Backyard dc. So after that I talked to Trey and we was talking and then I had just talked to him and Snoop.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Angeli Su
Then it hit. But that joint crushed me.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, it crushed me, man. Because I always say, though, bro, Michael Kirk Williams, he.
Charlamagne Tha God
He wasn't doing.
Hassan Johnson
Michael K. Williams wasn't an industry person. He was. He was more so like, bro, how's your mom, dad, your wife, your kids? Like, he was that with him, man. And talking to him ways before that he passed, it was just hard.
Charlamagne Tha God
You understand what I'm saying?
Idris Elba
Charlotte, why you say they slimed him? What you mean?
Charlamagne Tha God
Well, like the people that served him.
Angeli Su
Oh, got you, Got you.
Charlamagne Tha God
They slimed him because they knew what they was doing. They knew who Mike was, was. And it was all out of bounds. And anybody with a heart. That's why when they did catch up, caught up with them, I didn't feel bad at all. Throw them under the jail. I know hustlers got to feed their family, but y' all slime my bro.
Hassan Johnson
They got him, bro.
Charlamagne Tha God
Y' all that how thirsty. Because it was covet, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right?
Michael K. Williams
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
So. So. So any other. Under any other circumstances, Mike wouldn't have put himself on the front line like that. Like a real one, too, right?
DJ Envy
Oh, he. He in the streets.
Charlamagne Tha God
Look, he outside.
DJ Envy
I'm from Newark, East Orange, Irvington, all of Essex County. Right. And for the. I don't know why, but for the last, like, three years that he was around me, we was always kind of always together in the same area, you know, so even when my daughter. My daughter was born, after we had finished the show, my daughter was born, for some reason, he only lived a couple of blocks away from me in East Orange. And I'm like.
Charlamagne Tha God
I mean, he was on a block.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
On a number. Was outside.
DJ Envy
We can't say it on there.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, yeah.
Hassan Johnson
But anyway.
Charlamagne Tha God
But I walked over there with my.
DJ Envy
Daughter, you know, first time person I'm showing my daughter and everything. And. And then going up from then all the way up till now, like, we would cross paths on shows. We did a couple more shows together. We would just be in the same neighborhoods, family, friends.
Hassan Johnson
That's what it was.
DJ Envy
It was just something. I don't know why we ended up being around each other so much when that happened. So when it did happen, and he had a special type of service in East Orange where we were, and it was like, you know, that stuff don't feel real to you at first. You know, you like, damn, how you do all of this?
Angeli Su
I know.
DJ Envy
And then now it's just pictures of you.
Angeli Su
You do all of this, right?
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, we hear now.
Angeli Su
Cause he like that. He was that hands on. He'll FaceTime you like, man, pick up that phone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, and it was just like, you know, you used to seeing that and hearing that, but you don't got it no more. That joint, it hit you, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah. Cause Mike will check for you. Like my story that I'll never for get with Mike. And I think this. When I was staying at the Clarion, though, up there by the monument on Charles.
DJ Envy
Charleston. Yeah, Charleston.
Charlamagne Tha God
So. So every Sunday, Mike go to Church?
Hassan Johnson
Yep.
Charlamagne Tha God
He ain't come knock on my door to go to church, but at the church, he come knock on my door every Sunday. And we walk up to the lake, to the market, to the. To the. To the. The what?
Angeli Su
I'm trying to say.
Charlamagne Tha God
No. Lexington.
J.D. Williams
Lexington Market.
Charlamagne Tha God
I don't know what you talking about. We walk up there and gonna get that lump crab cake breakfast.
DJ Envy
Shout out French fries, the cold SL.
Charlamagne Tha God
With the crackers, and the must to be $13. The two biggest lump crab cakes in your face for $13 every Sunday. I'm like, mike, I got you. You got me next week. I got you this week, right? Every Sunday. Like police, though. You ready? Yeah, like, I'm coming. You just came from praising the Lord.
Hassan Johnson
When he seen us in Atlanta. When he seen us in Atlanta. Like, a couple of weeks before he passed. We were out there shooting saints and sinners. And I'm in the grocery store. I get to tap on my shoulder. Trey, come on, let's get in the car. That was the first thing he said. Just out of nowhere. I'm like, mike, what you doing? He's like, I'm filming something out here. I think he was doing happen. Leonard out there got in the car with him. It ended up turning into a whole, like, party. Like, we went in the jungle. He was cooking. He like, call JD Tasha Smith. Shout out to Tasha Smith. Yeah, just kicking it, man.
DJ Envy
Why was his balcony across the street from my balcony from where we. I know I'm staying at the 12, and he's standing across the street, so it's like we could kind of see each other.
J.D. Williams
Yeah, Guardian angel. For real.
Charlamagne Tha God
That's what was going on.
Idris Elba
He took your groceries back to his house, and y' all cook.
Hassan Johnson
No, no, no. No.
Charlamagne Tha God
Way.
DJ Envy
Hold on.
Hassan Johnson
I was in the grocery store in Publix. We was just stand. I was staying at the 12 people standing across the street at another hotel. So he was in there with somebody. They were grabbing food. I was grabbing food. He like, bro, come to come to my place. Tell JD to pull up.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm.
Hassan Johnson
I'mma be over here cooking. Y' all. Just pull up. So I took my groceries back to my. And then I went across the street.
Idris Elba
Rest in peace to Michael King. I want to ask y' all, how hard was it to break out of your Wire characters when it came time to audition for other roles?
Hassan Johnson
Man, I'mma tell y' all, man, I didn't. The wire ended in 2008. I didn't work again, what they would consider mainstream into 2015. When I booked Saints and Sinners, which was a six season show. A job, I guess, but being, you know, what they call typecast or whatever. All right, I'm going in the rooms with the casting directors, with the directors, producers, but with me, not like booking certain jobs or whatever. I just started creating my own, you know what I'm saying? So when I started Cheney Vision Entertainment, my company, I'm partnering up with cats, like food with the camera, shout out to my brother. I'm producing my own films, Hidden Lies, Loving Larsie. I'm partnering up with people like Anthony Clark, Dana Freeman, and we just doing a whole bunch of like my own independent projects, which is really, you know, what got me to the place of booking what they consider mainstream. We own this city, BMF. Cause I stood on the streets of Washington D.C. from 2010 to 2015, selling all the my independent films out the trunk of my car. That was something that most celebrities wouldn't dare do, you know, so it's people walking up like, man, you poo from the Wire. What you doing out here? I'm like, bro, the Wire was the Wire. And I learned, and I learned a lot. But if we go and sit up here and consider myself a working actor. Yeah, yeah, I'm out here. Yeah, I'm out here taking it back to the street. I'm pumping my own website, cheneyway.com. and then that led to my man George Pierre, who was casting for Saints and Sinners.
DJ Envy
Shout out.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, shout out. George Pierre, man, passed me for Saints and Sinners, the Keycha Cole biopic. Bmf. Like, that's, that's our brother out there in Atlanta. But he called me one day like, yo, I heard what you're doing in the streets, man. Like you, you pumping your own merch and your own movies out the trunk of your car. And I'm like, yeah, man. I mean, but this is the way that I'm getting it. And I was like creating like really developing my fan base because people seeing like a celebrity out on the street, just getting to it, you know, it just helped me in so many ways. And now it did.
J.D. Williams
And your work, like I've seen that even before you hit BMF and we own the city. It's a lot of your projects on Tubi. I've watched them.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, I appreciate that.
J.D. Williams
Definitely. So you definitely was out here still?
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, I just produced this joint called Hidden Lies. Like I said, you know, I executive produced it, I starred in it. I casted my brother, J.D. williams, Clifton Power.
DJ Envy
It was fun. It's just me Cliff acting up again.
Hassan Johnson
We just having fun with that one. Like I said, undeniable. The Trey Chaney story is out right now on my YouTube channel. Trey Chaney One YouTube channel. I've been putting out a lot of different projects, and like I said, these brothers are. Are just involved in everything I'm doing. It feel amazing to call them and say, bro, man, let's go. Get to it. Like the wild reunion party. Union party, you said. What happened?
Charlamagne Tha God
How long it been?
DJ Envy
28 years.
Charlamagne Tha God
How many years is 28 years?
Hassan Johnson
Okay.
Charlamagne Tha God
Oh, yeah. I can't. Yeah, we 23 plus together.
Hassan Johnson
We 23 plus together.
Charlamagne Tha God
It's just like the answer. Like how you say, how do you break out for other roles?
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
It ain't even so much breaking out. More so than. That's what they want.
DJ Envy
Yeah, that's.
Charlamagne Tha God
They want the weed or boldy when you come in the room. Right?
J.D. Williams
They definitely do. Because this is. It's something that going viral of. That's gone viral of you. I do not know where. Something you can tell me so I can go watch it. You're like, I don't how you know what's best for my family.
DJ Envy
What is that?
Charlamagne Tha God
Kevin. Kevin. ISO. Dude, listen. Yeah. That was on fl. Showtime.
J.D. Williams
Okay.
Charlamagne Tha God
For two seasons. They weren't ready for us. They weren't ready. No, no, no. It was a blessing. Shout out, Showtime now. But we didn't make it to that third. To the contract yet.
J.D. Williams
Okay.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know what I'm saying?
DJ Envy
That's good.
Angeli Su
You got.
Charlamagne Tha God
It would have been like, if we do this. Not even that. Not even that.
DJ Envy
I mean, where the show. Where the story was going.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah. That would have changed the spectrum. Like, you know what I mean? Like the. Like the. The criteria for. For cable tv. You know what I mean? Because it's not. It was on Showtime. It ain't Netflix. It ain't Hulu. It was none of that. And they just let me go. They let. They let me go. This is class. It was like.
J.D. Williams
That was like.
Angeli Su
Yeah, it is.
J.D. Williams
I swear. I was watching. That was hilarious.
Charlamagne Tha God
You don't have to. To cuss it.
DJ Envy
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
One of the tours of Rice and I really go, what the. You know about my. I remember doing that in one take and wouldn't have thought that would go viral. See.
DJ Envy
Right.
Angeli Su
Yeah, exactly.
Idris Elba
What you going.
Angeli Su
It's them pieces, man. Like, right after that, I was on Treme.
Charlamagne Tha God
That was a crazy.
Angeli Su
I had to learn that. I had to learn, like, the Parish, the accent of New Orleans.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
Angeli Su
You know what I'm saying, so I had to do that and then come right back up. I was on the Deuce for hbo.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
Angeli Su
I shot Pedro Pascal from Game of Thrones. We shot Prospect in Seattle. I did that. I've been working, but it's like I had to learn to close the door and study.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, man.
Angeli Su
When I watched J.D. all these guys, like, they know what they doing. You gotta be able to say. The director say, I like anwon's work. I'll bring them back again. So I. They called me back out there and I shot Taste. And then they shot the other parts in China, came back, and we shot the ones. And I was. I played the chef because they liked it, what I did in the Deuce. So I be getting my little joints, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
That was a period. Treme was too treme. Was it a period piece?
Angeli Su
Yeah, I had. I had.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was a throwback, right?
Angeli Su
Yeah, it was a throwback.
Charlamagne Tha God
All right. That's a good look.
Angeli Su
That was a good look. It was on the musicians in. In New Orleans.
Charlamagne Tha God
It was old to the music. Like, she played homage to the music.
Angeli Su
So it was like, you get them, you get them roles, and then you. Then you don't get them roles, then you pay cold.
Charlamagne Tha God
Man.
Angeli Su
Trey used to be on the joint like this, man. I'm telling you, bro, they ain't pick. And then I get in there, they say, anwar, we loved you, but, baby, you're so tall. Even like Boardwalk Empire. Y. So I, I, I auditioned for D. Perley. So when Michael K. Found out that, he said, bro, I'm pissed off. Why you ain't call me? I said, I wanted to get in the surprise.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
Angeli Su
So the guy that got the role, he murdered the role, the guy. And I. I gave him a hood for the premiere. I said, bro, you killed that joint. He was like, man, when I heard you was going, I said I wasn't gonna get it. I said, bro, you are done, Percy, you gotta give business people props, cuz. Like, yeah, that habit, they don't get.
Charlamagne Tha God
Somebody that got a role went out for him.
Angeli Su
Yeah, he burned that role. So it's like, I read for stuff all the time. Like, and I know my brothers know we audition daily. You know what I mean? I just had some stuff. My Asian shout out to Ms. Ali Robeson, RNA management right here in Brooklyn. You know what I mean? So it's like, she sent me stuff, like, and you just gotta keep ripping it.
Hassan Johnson
Envy. It's a role that I need to manifest. Listen to this. Thirteen years in the projects, my mentality Is what kid, you talk a good one, but you don't want it.
Idris Elba
Oh, you've been crazy.
Hassan Johnson
Sometimes I wonder.
DJ Envy
What he want.
Angeli Su
That's.
DJ Envy
That's his.
Idris Elba
But it wasn't what you and JD gonna do Havoc and Project?
Hassan Johnson
Well, no kicking. Havoc gave me his blessing. Me and Havoc been talking for two and a half years and you know the press is running with it. TMZ and Rolling Stone. Like right now, bro. Like, we've been talking and my thing is this like just studying everything, like. Cause the project would have to be about what made them speak like this. Even if we all got an idea of why they. They recorded these records or why they were speaking like that, it got it. It has to be the backstory, the mindset of why these 19 year old brothers were. Were doing this.
Idris Elba
Have you read Prodigy? My Infamous Life?
Hassan Johnson
No, I'm. I'm graduating.
Idris Elba
That shit should be a movie.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, it should.
DJ Envy
I got a chance to have lunch with lunch and dinner with Prodigy a couple of times.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah. And I was in a whole bunch. And I was in a whole bunch of Prodigy videos.
DJ Envy
I know how Prodigy is. And I got a chance to kick it with him even. He was a good dude. Real good dude. A lot of respect on him. If that comes around, that comes around.
Hassan Johnson
That's what it takes. And like I said, man, I'm well prepared. Like, I'm well prepared. The beard will get shaved off. I'm already shaved down. I'm in the gym at 5:45am every morning. I'm out by 7.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm eating real chicken, Cobb salads, bacon.
Hassan Johnson
Like I'm crazy. I'm well prepar prepare. And Havoc knows this. You know, we've been having conversations and like I said, man, it's just. And, and I seen my brother J.D. williams is prodigy. And. And when I got from the beginning.
DJ Envy
You got to start it from. Hit it from the back. How it change.
Idris Elba
That's a song.
Charlamagne Tha God
Y' all.
Michael K. Williams
Looked at you.
Idris Elba
That's a song.
DJ Envy
Song from the Back is Mob's first song that went commercial with it. You have to go through the whole thing and have like how the d son language came.
Hassan Johnson
We just the conversations behind the scenes. It's like, all right, you know, whenever it come into fruition. But I'm. I'm going to bring this into fruition, man.
Idris Elba
That's why you got to read My Infamous Life.
Charlamagne Tha God
Tells you that's the move.
DJ Envy
Yes, that's Prodigy. More the more Prodigy, you know, I.
Charlamagne Tha God
Mean, it is, but you can't tell.
Idris Elba
That he don't tell his story without having.
Charlamagne Tha God
Of course.
Hassan Johnson
Yeah.
DJ Envy
You got to go through the whole thing in production, cuz. I still think Shook Ones is the best production.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yo, Bad.
Angeli Su
That's that.
Charlamagne Tha God
That snare that hot.
DJ Envy
Like that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Queen Bridge, right? It opened up with Queens Bridge. They in the SOB going over Queensbridge, and we don't play summer.
DJ Envy
That was summer.
Charlamagne Tha God
Summer, New York. That just was wreaked in the summer. And some violent shit about to happen.
DJ Envy
So, look, we gonna call down some funding for that. Anybody out there listening?
Hassan Johnson
Y' all already know. Let's make it happen tomorrow.
DJ Envy
And the family, we would love me. I'm just. They all know. I just stay as busy as I can. I'm back and forth here, Georgia. Back and forth to here. I just finished up, like you said. We just finished doing this season of bmf. It's gonna be crazy as hell, I tell you.
J.D. Williams
Not bad.
Hassan Johnson
We don't know.
Charlamagne Tha God
I don't know.
DJ Envy
Yeah, honestly, I mean, look, the whole thing, that whole debacle or whatever that was, that was great promotion, like. And so all I know is, like, whether Fif did it on his own or they all did it together, that was a good running to take advantage.
J.D. Williams
Meech really looks sad every day. I don't think that was failed.
DJ Envy
And this might be it, but everything had already did this. It's gonna be fire. I'm making some projects just like you said, and also trying to get into this space that y' all into. Not this much, but, you know, so it's just staying busy.
Hassan Johnson
But I feel like I want to shout about cannabis 10x because they, you know, for the 23 year anniversary of the Y, they presented me with. They said, trey, you in the service business, you be promoting real hard. So this cannabis 10x kind of 10x line with my man Vin, Jason and Holly over there, they like, yo, you need your own strains. We need lighters, you need merch. So. So I want to shout them out because, like, we're talking about doing more tours, you know, like wire reunion tours and. And really just bringing the cast members together to do these meet and greet panels, to talk, have discussions about what it felt like, you know, leading up to booking a wire after the wire in between what the cast members are doing. So, man, can it to next, man. Those. Those my peoples over there, you know? So right now, we just. We putting it together, you know.
J.D. Williams
Is that a phone from the Wire that you got, Bodhi?
Charlamagne Tha God
Hey, yo, let me see. Why do you have that?
Angeli Su
Why do you have to.
Charlamagne Tha God
He Peaked it, though.
J.D. Williams
The same phone that you had when you was on the couch outside.
DJ Envy
I'm authentic.
Charlamagne Tha God
That's a noa.
DJ Envy
It's a burner.
J.D. Williams
This a burner for real.
DJ Envy
Galaxy is over there in my. My back. But I'm saying that's my jam right there. Yeah, that's my little jam right there. Nobody got it. And I know people freak out when they see it. I be like, like, what?
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
J.D. Williams
One last question. So look on that. I forgot what season it was, but remember when. I think it was the mayor, one of them congressmen, right? It was like. Cause y' all wouldn't stop selling drugs or whatever. So he had a block designated Hampsterdam, right? Now, when that was shot, were they all people that y' all casted or y' all just. Were they real crackers? Was that like a real thing?
DJ Envy
No, they was real crackhead.
Hassan Johnson
They was extras.
DJ Envy
They was extras. But all those people lived there, there?
Hassan Johnson
Yeah, they did.
J.D. Williams
Oh, that block wasn't abandoned.
Charlamagne Tha God
No, no, they did live.
DJ Envy
So, like, it was like, only two people living in, like, the whole. That whole block. So it was kind of empty, but.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
Angeli Su
But you know, that was the truth. Yes. Yes, that was true. That you really can go right there. That's why I say Baltimore.
Charlamagne Tha God
The bank.
Angeli Su
Yep.
Charlamagne Tha God
You don't get locked up.
J.D. Williams
You don't get, you know, nothing.
Charlamagne Tha God
You just gotta stay there.
Angeli Su
A lot of money. It's a lot of money in Charm City.
J.D. Williams
Don't go out there. Vicinity. You don't, and you good.
Angeli Su
It's a lot of money in ch.
J.D. Williams
It was controlled chaos, literally. Control crime, real rap.
Idris Elba
My last question. What do people still misunderstand about the Wire even after all these years?
Angeli Su
Best television show ever.
DJ Envy
Oh, no, that is. That is not a black show. That's what I like.
Hassan Johnson
You know what? That's real.
DJ Envy
That's what I think. People. It's an American show. It's about America. It just so happened we telling the stories of mostly black people, but it got layers. It's about how the street affects the police. The police affect the politicians, the politicians affect the street.
Hassan Johnson
Education.
DJ Envy
So that's what it's about.
Hassan Johnson
People and education.
Angeli Su
Corner shows coming in. Everything that show taught you, everything the Wires taught you, everything about what you need to know about life.
Hassan Johnson
And like I keep saying, it's the blueprint to all the other shows that you see. And that's why you see cast members from the Wires sprinkled in all the other shows.
Charlamagne Tha God
And in retrospect, the people appreciate it. Cause I get People all the time. Like on Cameo, when I do my little shout outs, I'm watching. I'm watching the show with my husband. He. I'm. He being patient with me. But I don't like all this stuff with the politics and. And I gotta hit him with a. And I gotta hit him with a soliloquy like, no, listen, you gotta stay p. Be. Be patient with him. Because the writing comes full circle. Like, I was mad I didn't watch season two at first.
Hassan Johnson
First.
Charlamagne Tha God
Right. I was like everybody else, like what the docs like. And then if I would do it over, I would have. I would have traded season two for season three. I would have bought Marlow in earlier and the Greeks in them later. As far as the storytelling concerned, I feel you. And I definitely feel we would have got praised Charlemagne that we would have rightfully deserved at the time. Because if you think about it, we went on hiatus.
Angeli Su
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
People thought the show got canceled.
Hassan Johnson
It never got canceled. We got canceled.
Angeli Su
Got canceled.
Charlamagne Tha God
Five seasons in seven years, six years.
Angeli Su
And then they just. All the different characters start coming and the show just went crazy.
Charlamagne Tha God
But you gotta. It was something that was ahead of his time. So when m. When David and them was pinning it, they was like, no, this is the sequence. I know he probably knew it though. They not gonna like this. But you know, it'll come full circle. That was. Was my favorite. My favorite seasons is 1 and 4.
Hassan Johnson
1 and 4. 1 and 4 was the beginning. 4 was the education with the young. Shout out to Mac W.S. that's our brother.
Charlamagne Tha God
1 and 4 show you what your.
Angeli Su
Kids was doing while you was doing what you was doing or at work. You know what I mean? That's what. That's what we need. And like each. Now I got to plug my. We got a nonprofit. Hugs, not slugs. And I'm going. Have to get my brothers to come through where we go to schools and talk to the kids. A lot of kids not getting hugs. They're only getting slugs when they walk out their building. As a little kid, I was going to school tonight. They had a dead body by the trash can. Still raining on the island. Then they finally put a top on the ground and he's still there. When we came out at 3:14 with the news people and all that. So it's crazy. It'll mess with your mind. So we hugs, not slugs. And we gotta teach these kids. You know what I mean? They gotta know. You know what I mean? They ain't getting no hugs at home. They don't even know what a hug is.
J.D. Williams
And also, you ain't your brand. Right? Is that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
Angeli Su
This backyard, this is a backyard for life. We had the roost picnic the 31st. Well, June 1st, the roost picnic, and then we had the cousins festival with Pusha T in June. Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna be down there too, so. So shout out to my family.
Hassan Johnson
I want to shout out my wife, Aisha Cheney. You know, I've been married for 20 years.
DJ Envy
Okay.
Hassan Johnson
She made this jacket. She's a one of the biggest fashion designers in the world. I body when I walked in here, y' all see that y' all got the new fragrance and it's only available on chainieway.com. i do direct to consumer straight up. So you come straight to me. But my shout out to my wife, Aisha, shout out to my son, Malachi Cheney, who just finished it's freshman year strong at Savannah State University. My daughter Martina and my granddaughter, Morocco. Morocco just turned five.
J.D. Williams
This is my grandfather.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
Hassan Johnson
Yo. When I met my wife 23 years ago, I met my 8 year old daughter. Not only did I consider her, you know, I made a vow to her mother. Not only did I consider my daughter, I never consider her my stepdaughter. So I raised her from the time she was. You know, for the record, your son.
Angeli Su
Bigger than you, too. He told me. No, we was at the. The game. We was at the football game.
Hassan Johnson
Almost six feet. But I'm just proud, man. I'm. I'm proud to still be here, man, doing what we love, man, taking care of our families, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm about to say, what's the three of us as grandfathers.
Angeli Su
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
Except you. He over there.
DJ Envy
Mine just turned 17, though.
Angeli Su
Shout out my phone.
Idris Elba
That's what life is about. You want to get to that age.
Charlamagne Tha God
Thank you guys for joining. Love y' all back. We love y' all back.
J.D. Williams
I love y' all so much. I watch the Wire every year like I never seen it before in my life.
Angeli Su
Don't care.
J.D. Williams
I'm still putting people on with it. It's the best show. It cannot be implicated, can't be remade. Can't none of that.
Hassan Johnson
Jess, I want to catch you.
Angeli Su
And hit last, too.
DJ Envy
I mean implicated.
J.D. Williams
That's the implication.
Hassan Johnson
I want. I want to cast you in my new movie.
J.D. Williams
Cast me some.
Charlamagne Tha God
Good answer. Good answer.
DJ Envy
And there you have it.
Charlamagne Tha God
At the Breakfast Club.
DJ Envy
Good morning.
Charlamagne Tha God
Wake that ass up early in the morning.
Angeli Su
The Breakfast Club.
Michael Kasson
The best moments happen when you're with your people, laughing, vibing, just enjoying life. Coke is making those moments even sweeter. Share a Coke is back and it's all about sharing with the whole crew. Doesn't matter if it's your bestie or bro, there's a can with their name on it. So grab one for the squad and make some memories. But hurry because these Coca Cola limited edition bottles and cans won't be here forever. Don't miss your chance to share a Coke with your favorite people.
Michael K. Williams
Men. If you're ready to reclaim your edge, listen up. I used to be held back by constant bathroom trips with multiple wake ups during my sleep and looking for restrooms whenever I was out. Then I discovered Better Man. After just two months, I started experiencing fewer trips to the bathroom, less urge to go, and I even slept through some nights. I feel a noticeable boost in my overall well being, even sexual stamina. It gives me the freedom and confidence to live life on my terms. Better man is clinically tested and trusted by thousands of men over 25 years ready to take back control. Go to be better now.com to order your supply today. That's be better now.com these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Use as directed. Individual results may vary.
Trey Cheney
In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI fueled nightmare.
J.D. Williams
Someone was posting photos.
Hassan Johnson
It was just naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart podcasts Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope about the.
Trey Cheney
Rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it.
Hassan Johnson
Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Michael K. Williams
I'm Michael Kasson, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by CEO of tubi. We dive into the competitive world of streaming.
Trey Cheney
What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There are so many stories out there and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content. The term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen.
Michael K. Williams
Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Charlamagne Tha God
Foreign.
DJ Envy
You'Re listening to an I Heart Podcast.
Title: INTERVIEW: Cast Of The Wire On 23 Year Anniversary, Michael K. Williams, Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan +More
Host: The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Charlamagne Tha God
Release Date: May 16, 2025
Podcast Provider: iHeartPodcasts
In this special 23rd-anniversary episode of The Wire, DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God, and Jess Hilarious welcome the talented cast members—Trey Cheney, J.D. Williams, Hassan Johnson, and Angeli Su—to reflect on the enduring legacy of the critically acclaimed television series. Joined by guest Idris Elba, the conversation delves deep into the experiences, challenges, and lasting impact the show has had on their lives and careers.
Charlamagne Tha God opens the discussion by emphasizing the show's profound influence, stating, "Building a career isn't just about a job. It's about creating a path that impacts our community and future generations." The cast unanimously expresses their awe at how The Wire has solidified its place as a cultural staple over the decades.
Idris Elba muses, "None of y' all knew it was gonna be a cultural staple," highlighting the unpredictable success and deep societal impact the show achieved.
The conversation transitions to the casting process, with each actor sharing their unique journey:
Hassan Johnson shares his initial audition experience:
“I initially auditioned for Wee Bae character... but I was cast as Poop Tray, intended for just two episodes. Spoiler alert, I ended up being there for all five seasons.” ([07:20])
Angeli Su recounts auditioning for significant roles:
“I auditioned for Marlo Stanfield and was eventually cast as Slim Charles. It was my first time acting, and the authenticity we brought was unmatched.” ([08:34])
DJ Envy reflects on recognizing the show's potential early on:
“I was on a continuance from Oz, so I knew we had something special.” ([04:15])
The cast narrates their on-set camaraderie and the challenges faced during production:
Charlamagne Tha God describes the informal yet disciplined atmosphere:
“We was quiet. We had respect for each other... If we had any scandal, it would have caught on.” ([12:07])
Angeli Su illustrates the demanding filming conditions:
“We were shooting in Baltimore, facing hard days, rain, rats, and ensuring authenticity in every scene.” ([16:15])
Memorable on-set anecdotes include impromptu moments like a rat scurrying across the set during a crucial shootout scene ([19:27]) and the spontaneous street encounters that strengthened their bond.
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the show's raw and authentic portrayal of Baltimore's streets:
J.D. Williams emphasizes the lack of improv, stating, “Really, we didn't have improv. That's how ill it was. It was all on the paper.” ([14:58])
Charlamagne Tha God highlights the meticulous character work:
“The writing was full circle. We were ahead of our time with storytelling and character arcs.” ([56:40])
The cast discusses how The Wire inspired subsequent TV shows, serving as a blueprint for realistic and layered storytelling in television.
Moving beyond The Wire, the cast discusses their career trajectories and the struggle against typecasting:
Hassan Johnson reveals his initiative in creating his own projects:
“I started Cheney Vision Entertainment, producing my own films like Hidden Lies and Loving Larsie. It helped me break into mainstream roles eventually.” ([43:33])
Angeli Su shares his transition to roles in other acclaimed series such as HBO's The Deuce:
“I had to learn new accents and immerse myself in different environments, which was challenging but rewarding.” ([46:36])
J.D. Williams discusses the importance of maintaining authenticity in new roles to stay true to their roots.
A poignant segment addresses the untimely passing of Michael K. Williams, a beloved cast member:
Charlamagne Tha God reflects emotionally:
“Michael wasn’t just an actor; he was family. He was there checking on us, making sure we were okay.” ([36:16])
Hassan Johnson shares personal memories, emphasizing Michael's genuine nature and the impact of his loss on the cast.
“Michael was always about family. His loss crushed us deeply.” ([36:53])
Idris Elba and other cast members express their grief and honor Michael's legacy, underscoring his pivotal role in The Wire.
The discussion shifts to the feasibility of expanding The Wire universe:
Charlamagne Tha God expresses skepticism about reboots:
“It was too authentic and original. Recreating that magic today would be nearly impossible.” ([26:04])
Idris Elba concurs, noting the unique circumstances and rawness that made the original series exceptional:
“The raw energy and authenticity of the original would be challenging to replicate in today's TV landscape.” ([26:04])
The cast agrees that while The Wire could inspire new stories, a direct spin-off would struggle to capture its essence.
Concluding the interview, the cast and host discuss why The Wire remains relevant:
DJ Envy asserts, “They have your back every step of the way. Because like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” ([00:05], reflecting resilience.)
Hassan Johnson emphasizes the show's educational value:
“Everything the Wire taught you about life, education, politics, and the streets is still applicable today.” ([55:55])
J.D. Williams declares, “We own the city. But every show out right now without somebody from The Wire on it.” ([14:24])
The timeless dialogue, complex characters, and societal insights ensure that The Wire continues to be celebrated and discovered by new audiences.
In the final moments, the cast members extend personal acknowledgments:
Hassan Johnson praises his family and partners, mentioning his wife Aisha Cheney and his children, thereby highlighting the strong familial bonds within the cast.
Angeli Su and J.D. Williams share heartfelt messages about their enduring friendships and collective journey since The Wire.
Idris Elba joins in conveying mutual respect and love among the cast, affirming the deep-rooted connections forged during their time on the show.
"Building a career isn't just about a job. It's about creating a path that impacts our community and future generations." – Charlamagne Tha God ([00:05])
"The Wire was my first job as an actor, so that was my first time I had ever auditioned for a role, first job." – Hassan Johnson ([05:05])
"We own the city." – Hassan Johnson ([14:24])
"Michael wasn't doing it for the fame; he was doing it because he was a real one." – Charlamagne Tha God ([37:58])
"The Wire wasn’t in HD, but it was literally raw." – Charlamagne Tha God ([26:04])
"People know that The Wire is the blueprint to all the other shows that you see." – Hassan Johnson ([55:55])
This episode of The Breakfast Club offers an intimate and comprehensive look into the lives and careers of The Wire cast members. Through their candid reflections and heartfelt tributes, listeners gain a deeper appreciation of the show's monumental impact on television, culture, and the actors' personal growth. The enduring legacy of The Wire is celebrated not just as a groundbreaking series but as a cornerstone that continues to influence and inspire future generations.