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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:09] Robert Bannon: My name is Robert Bannon. Welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. You know, I'm from Jersey. And if you're from Jersey, then you know that Staten Island has created some of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. Shout out to, I don't know, The Wu and everybody else. You know, Shyheim was a youngster, a baby, making chart-topping albums, selling tons of records, going on to be in big movies, big events, big television shows, has a giant career and is returning to the stage. I have to say, I said it to him when he came on, Staten Island in the house. Shout out to the tri-state area. He has influenced some of the biggest rappers in the world. They have taken his style, they've taken his flow, and his sounds have credited him as such an inspiration. And he was doing it all as a baby. Shyheim, welcome to the show. You were so young.

[1:00] Shyheim: Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Shout out to The Roundtable, man. Great show. Great thing you got going on here. Yes, I was fairly young, you know, considering.

[1:15] Robert Bannon: And you came out like a bat out of hell, as they would say. You came out, you put out your first album, and then the world kind of has taken off. And it is true. A lot of people credit you for inspiring their flow. They've given you props for what you've done.

[1:29] Shyheim: Thank you. Thank you. I mean, it's an honor, you know, it's an honor to be, to inspire, right? Because we all, I've been inspired, you know. I was fortunate enough to be around some great minds. And be from a small town. See, when you come from a small town, you get to get some things that a lot of big boroughs don't have. Like, we just had our own little thing, and we was all, we just wanted to be heard. So maybe we was yelling a little bit louder than a lot of people. And I have to credit, I have to credit those even before myself and the clan, the legendary R&B group, the Force MCs, the rap group, the UMCs, King Judge, Pop the Brown Hornet, just a lot, a lot of talent from Staten Island, Mack Wiles, and, and even the new generation is, and you know, it's a little bit different nowadays, the way music is put out there. So I don't want to discredit any of the new guys, but they're doing their thing on what the platforms and what they have access to. So shout out to Staten Island.

[2:34] Robert Bannon: Shout out to Staten Island. I love to go back and look at what you did. I grew up in the 80s and 90s. And when hip hop really invaded radio waves and in the culture, I mean, did you ever think when you were 14, and you put it out, hip hop was going to be what it, I mean, is mainstream, it defines age, it defines color, it defines race, it defines language, it is a worldwide phenomenon that will never leave.

[3:04] Shyheim: Yeah, well, I, right, I've always, I'll always just like to say how grateful I am to be from that golden era, and still get away with my name, and my sanity, right? Most of the time, about time you wake up in this business often is too late. And, you know, and being the forefront, right? A lot of us in the 90s, we took the hit for a lot of things that's happening now, even, you know, even the guys from the 80s, the earlier days for it to grow into such a phenomenon, where it's used in almost everything to sell almost everything. But somehow the artists get the short end of the stick. But thanks to the internet, where you're able to have access to so much more, if you just study, so just study and just learn the business.

[4:03] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. And it is a business and you've transitioned your career from doing from being part of hip hop to doing movies and to doing like you're in the you're in the Waterfalls music video, you're in movies like The Preacher's Wife, you have all sorts of different, you're in original gangsters. And then and then you go on now to be back to the stage. So you're coming to the stage of Christy Case Crackers. We love Andrew Christie. He's a nut case. He writes the most crazy shows.

[4:31] Shyheim: Yes. And you know, the beautiful thing about Andrew, right, because it's just how you meet right connections, right? We met so I didn't even know he was who he who he is. And, and that was just so great. I didn't even know he wrote plays nothing. We was just we connected. It was some fashion stuff. He invited me out a couple times we vibed. And when they bring this to me, I was one out again, I was grateful. And it's a privilege to work with someone who has is as talented and skilled as he is, you know, um, and it's my first time on stage. Right. And I was talking to friends of mine's and I was like, yo, it's different when you got the camera and it's like, all right, action cut. You could kind of like navigate those lines.

And it's like you get a do over. But this is like, one and done, right? You have to go you have to put it in and you have to be on point. So it's kind of like mixing. For me, it's like mixing my rap and my acting together at one time. Because when I'm rhyming on stage, I'm live and I'm doing it live. So now it's doing that but with a script. So it's just like, it's just it's just so amazing to be. Um, I want to say the proper word I'm looking for to be ignorant. And to just be open. And it's like you just so free. It's like to be young again, I feel young again in the experience. Because you don't know after you do something for a while, you kind of think you know it all you think you got the you know, the shortcuts or you got your technique down.

You know, so for me, I'm just I'm just excited. I'm just excited to be young again, in something that is my first time, right? So I'm not afraid to break up. I'm not break a leg, right? I'm not afraid to break a leg. And sometimes as we get older, and we get put into our career so much, we're kind of afraid to take that leap of not knowing what is going to be. So I'm just grateful that I get to relive my childhood for a moment, at least for the moment, for the moment for the weekend. Look, if you're looking for something to do, you got your girl, girls, you're looking for a boy, your boyfriend, you're looking for a girl's night out friends, you're trying to dress up for Halloween, you don't know what to do, you're grown, you're looking for a party, you're looking to kick off your weekend, right?

October 30, and October 31 Halloween weekend at eight o'clock, right there at the Secret Theater, you can go see Christie's Case Crackers get out of Stopford Street in Amityville, you can get tickets, they're 100 bucks or less. So you don't have to you don't have to break the bank to have a night out. They have an incredible cast. The shows are funny, they're grown, they're adult, they give you they give you all sorts of salacious fun material. And then you got to figure out who it's perfect for. It's like the perfect Halloween thing to do.

[7:20] Shyheim: Yes. And it's so crazy how, you know, I mean, it's based on like my redemption story a bit, you know, you read the press, of course, you read the press kit. And it was just so amazing how he was just able to take and make something fresh and new like this. I'm excited. I don't like to get ahead of myself. But I'm like, wait a minute, I might be like a reoccurring character, I might have to come back with some audience. What was the acting transition like for you? When did you realize you wanted to get on? Well now stage but on screen?

[7:53] Shyheim: Here's the thing I never did. I never did. Like I was I would just wanted to be a rapper and rap, right? Um, I will have to say, okay, take it back, right? And people always say this grandmothers know, right? Grandmothers know. I was a little little kid. And my grandmother used to be like, that's my Webster. He's gonna be on TV like Webster, right? She will always say that. I came into the rap game. I wanted to be a rapper. Now at this time in hip hop, if you was to do a movie or anything that was commercially accepted, you was considered a sellout. So I didn't want to do no movie. You know, the first opportunities I got, I was like, no, no, no, no, no, please not me. Cruise pop is a pop pop pop, right?

And, um, you got the gas phase, right? I did not want any of that, right? Um, so I was apprehensive. And then I got the opportunity to be in Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls TLC video. And how I was sold on it was like, it's a music video. It's not really like an acting. You just act. So I was like, oh, I'm just in a video. And that ended up being probably one of the best videos of all time. And at that point, the cause just didn't stop. First was Fred Williamson, original gangster. Then was Penny Marshall. And when Penny Marshall called, it was just like, because I didn't, again, Fred Williamson and Penny Marshall, they're legends, right? But they wasn't really legends of my, when I was growing up, because I didn't know who Fred Williamson was.

And I, I knew who Laverne Shirley was, but I didn't know who Penny Marshall was. I didn't know until it was like, the phones just rings. And I always tell people, don't worry. When they want you, you could live under a rock. They will find you. You got, how you get my number, right? Yeah, this is Penny Marshall. I'm like, who? Oh, Laverne Shirley. I'm like, get out of here. I want you in the movie. And I'm like, okay, like you just certain, certain people and legends, you can't say no. Like I couldn't say no to Fred Williamson and working with Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, you know, Wheezy from the Jeffersons, you know, Tim, Tim Duncan, who went on to do the Jamie Foxx show. And, and, oh man, it's like, and that's what I guard now, right?

Because I get opportunities to be in a lot of indie stuff and a lot of things. And I kind of like, I don't never want to under deliver. See, with stage, I can jump out there, right? Boy, I've never done it. This is my bar. This is me setting the stage for my career. With the acting that I've already done since I was blessed to be with Soul

[10:45] Shyheim: I'm kind of like nervous to jump out the window and break a bone opposed to keeping my legendary status with the legends, so I'm just waiting for the day I get the phone call and it's like, "Yo, you could be alongside Will Smith," or you could be there and not taking it away from 2B's and all of that, but when I came into that, it was not that. So I want to stay there. So if I'm not writing, producing, and directing, then it's like, "Okay, you can jump out the window again," because you're so new to the other aspects in the game, you know what I mean? So absolutely, I want people to see this. It's a stage debut; like this is the theater stage debut. Yeah, all the years behind the mic, all the years in the studio, all the years in movie sets and music video sets, now you get to see him.

I think that a lot of the people in your orbit, oh, I think you and the people that you have been so close with—Ghost, Meth, Raekwon—all these people have changed you. You all changed the game; you made acting and hip-hop really go together, and you all have made some incredible projects together. You've seen that shift; now you could bring that to the theater because people, they like to go to the theater and see something that they relate to as well.

[11:57] Robert Bannon: Yes, yes, yes. And I was selling Andrew off camera before, and I was like, "Yo, when this gets done," because I was able to see it come to life in real time, and his crew and his staff are so professional. It's like, "Yo, I can't wait." I say, "Yo, would you be pleased to do Shyheim's life story on stage?" You know what I'm saying? Please, you know what I mean? Man, sky's the limit, sky's the limit. You talk about, it's loosely based on redemption when you go through tough things, when you go through circumstances that life throws at you. How do you keep going? What has been your method? What keeps you going and saying, "All right, I'm here. I've been through some stuff; it's time for me to keep moving, going. I gotta create art, I gotta make a living, I gotta keep working." What is it that drives you?

[12:45] Shyheim: One thing I'd say—alright, so I had, when I say the rugged road, right, to recovery, right? A lot of people now, for instance, it's weird; like you can say something and all of a sudden everyone's saying it. You know what I mean? You go buy a car, you start seeing your car everywhere, right? So when I came home from prison and I was like, "It's the rugged road of recovery," all roads lead to rugged. Nobody was saying it; now everybody got a road that they're going to, and I'd be laughing because I'm like, "What is your road?" Okay, so my road stands for our reality. When I was coming back home from prison, I had to deal with my reality—who I am, where I've been, and what I have to look forward to.

Then I knew I would have so many obstacles to overcome, so I got my old four obstacles, but I have access to people, places, and things. So I had to look at everything I had access to. Then I had to come up with directions to utilize everything I have access to to overcome the obstacles to change my reality, and that's what keeps me going every day. That's my formula, and I tell myself, "Don't take yourself too serious." Don't take yourself too serious. You think you got a problem? Yo, you want to play a game? Drop your problem on the ground. I may have a bunch of problems, but if we drop it and I picked up somebody else's problem, I might want my problems back.

[14:19] Robert Bannon: I love that! I love that! People, you don't want to take yourself too seriously. Get tickets; go see the show. Cristi's Case Crackers is gonna be the show that you need to see. Can you talk to me about hip-hop? I mean, you were there for a historic moment, and I have to ask you, you were on stage at Madison Square Garden back in the day with Biggie and Tupac in this freestyle battle. What is it like to look back and see moments like that, and you're part of the history of hip-hop?

[14:50] Shyheim: Okay, most of the time history is being created, you don't realize it, so it becomes history and legendary, right? So I always, always, always, when I tell the story, I have to give props where it's due, and that is to Big Daddy Kane. Big Daddy Kane was the celebrity; he was the big honcho. He was the one touring with the Budweiser Superfest; he was on tour. I was an up-and-coming artist; I was coming out with my single "On and On." I met Kane; Kane started to be like a mentor, godfather type thing for me, and Virgin Records, who I was signed to, they asked Kane if I could go on tour with him, kind of as like a student opening up for him to build. Kane said, "Of course," and that's how I was on tour with him.

We made the stop; one of the last stops was New York City, and he also invited Tupac and Biggie out from the stage, and the rest is history. It's history; it is absolutely history. And that record "On and On," which is played in the clubs in New York and around the world for the rest of time. And if you look, people in like Jay-Z's book, he says that he looked up to you. I mean, that's amazing! That's amazing, right?

[16:10] Shyheim: I always, that's one of the opportunities that, although clearly it wasn't for me because Bleek got it and he did a great job on the record, but it's one of them things; it's like, "Dang, if he would have just said something to me and not whoever he said it to," that blocks opportunities in life because they don't, they'll block this in this business. Someone will block your opportunity because they don't benefit, and it never was for them. And that was one of those situations. I always be like, "Yo, if I was on that song with Jay-Z, you know it would be more things to add on to it," right? Not to say like it broke me or would make me, but it would have been something cool to have. But I did get on a joint with Jay-Z, which was Big Daddy Kane's record "Show and Prove."

It was me, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Jay-Z, Sauce Money, so you know we rock together. We definitely got a rock; we rock together. But to hear that, you know, he correlated his lifestyle to my lifestyle, like he's seen something in me that he seen in himself, and now I get to say, "Yo, I see something in Jay-Z that I see in myself," and one day I'll be way, you know, on that level. I love that, but that shows you an architect of hip-hop is you, and now you get to see him on stage. Everyone see the legend himself October 30th and 31st at 8 o'clock. Get there early; it's at the Secret Theater right there. I'll be shaved up too; I have my cut and all that. I won't be looking all rugged. Get out of here! Long Island City is gonna be lit out this weekend, so you better—everybody better go and get their tickets.

[17:56] Shyheim: I know that I'm not a hip-hop gossip show; I don't—that's not the world I live in. And people always ask you questions about friendships, relationships, beefs, people famous ones that you have had with other people. How do you feel about the people you grew up with and came into this business? Are you close to them? Are you not close to them? Do you look back at life? Is it bittersweet? Is it happy-sad? How do you look at where you fit right now?

[18:14] Shyheim: I've come to the realization with business, right? And I always tell people, "Yo, there's three Wu-Tangs," just like there's three me, right? You have a corporation, then you have a product, and then you have a human being, right? Those will forever be my brothers as a human being, but I'm building my IP, and I'm building things that I'm able to leave to my children. Yes, I am Wu-Tang, and yes, I am affiliated, but do I own the W? Can I leave it to my children? No. So I'm in the space of creating things that I can leave for mine. It's all love; I wish everybody the best, and when it's time to work together, we will work together. But yeah, and that's just that. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, when I see the guys and we catch up, it's also very liberating, right?

And also you don't have any expectation. Like I don't have expectations anymore, so it's like I get to keep my friends my friends, my family my family, my fans my fans, and people I do business with business, right? I had to learn that hard lesson in prison, right? Because I was expecting the guys and the girls that I was partying with every weekend to come see me, and I had to come to the realization it's like, "Yo, they're doing what they do; they're partying and drinking; they're not for that." And everybody that was in my life, guess what? When I'm back out here moving and getting it, they're usually not around, but I know that they're there, and they're there, silent safety net. So, you know, that's just...

[19:54] Robert Bannon: Well, I love that! And life evolves and moves on, and now you'll have a whole new cast of people and friends to lean on. You've got the cast; you have this incredible cast that Cristi's Case Crackers. The tickets are on sale; you can go to Prekindle.com, and you can get your tickets. You can go to the link below us and see it, and I'm sure it's gonna be a wild night. I'm sure he wrote some crazy story that...

[20:14] Shyheim: Oh, you know, listen, I felt like I had—I felt like he was in my head, like, "Right, like, yo, how'd you know?" Like that's low-key mark, like character personality. It was like he was on the news. Oh no, I was like, "These phones, man, these phones be listening when you don't think they listen." He got one, Andrew, shout out to you, and he writes these fast, and they're incredible, and you gotta get your tickets. Shyheim, it's an honor. You know I'm a hip-hop head, grew up in the 90s in Jersey right across from the bridge to Staten Island. We give homage to you, the work you did, the legacy you leave behind, and we'll live for it, will be on and on and on. These songs will be what's on and on, and I can't wait to see you hit the stage in this new chapter of your career. Congratulations!

[21:02] Shyheim: Thank you so much! Thanks for having me, man! Tag me, tag me, tag me!