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RELATED LINKS

• Mr. Cannon's official site
• Article on Mr. Cannon
• Nick Cannon Presents Wild'n Out
• Underclassman

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Tavis: Nick Cannon is a multitalented actor, rapper, producer and writer who has a number of projects out this summer. His latest film, "Underclassman," hits theaters on August 5. He not only stars in the movie, but also serves as executive producer. On the music front, he has a new single out in stores now called" Can I Live." The full CD out in the fall. His latest TV series is called "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out" on MTV. It premieres July 28. This boy is way too busy. Way too busy.

Tavis: How you living, Nick?

Cannon: I'm good, I'm good. How's things?

Tavis: I'm doing good, man. Good to see you.

Cannon: Good to see you, too.

Tavis: You are too busy.

Cannon: Yeah, you know. It's that ADD, man. I got to keep it moving all the time.

Tavis: Keeps you moving, huh? All right, so I'm trying to understand from this clip--I've not seen the show in its entirety yet. I'm trying to understand from the clip what "Wild 'N Out" is. What's the concept here?

Cannon: Pretty much it's like improve comedy with a hip-hop spin on it. You might have been familiar with stuff like "Improv Olympics" or even "Whose Line Is It Anyway," where they play different games with comics and comedic actors do a lot of times before they go on, they kind of do these little warm-ups, or these little games. And we took a show and kind of built that and put that hip-hop spin on it. So I introduce my rapper friends to my comic friends, and we got all just got together in a nightclub and just wah-la.

Tavis: That sounds like something for MTV. The movie "Upperclassman."

Cannon: "Underclassmen.

Tavis: "Underclassmen." Tell me about the movie.

Cannon: It was an idea like for a while, like right after I did "Drumline," I was getting all these scripts and stuff. I really would want to do an action movie or play a cop. They'd be, like, you've got the perfect sense of humor and personality but you're a little too young. I was like, man, come on, I can be a cop. I'm actually the age. I just look young. So I actually took that whole idea and created this story about a cop who is about 23 years old and he's a bike cop, and you know, he looks like he could be in high school still, so there's this case that goes on in a high school, and they put him in the high school as undercover. So I kind of used the baby face to my advantage in this story. So we just created this whole story.

Tavis: And you had the nerve to EP it.

Cannon: Yeah, yeah. I took the whole thing to Miramax, and you know, gave them the story. We got some writers involved and stuff, and then we just, you know--it's amazing because it usually doesn't work like that in Hollywood to where someone comes up with an idea and it turns into a movie in less than a year. But it was a blessing that it happened like that, that fast for me. I just came in with the idea, took it to them, and we were shooting about 12 months later.

Tavis: For as long as I've known you, you've always been a hands-on sort of guy. There are few people, to the point you just made, who get a chance to do something as quickly as turning a film around in a year, but also, not a lot of people who have their hands in every single aspect, from the music to the producing to the writing. How important is that for you?

Cannon: Man, I'm a control freak, so it's like--

Tavis: So you got ADD and you got control issues. You got a lot going on, Nick.

Cannon: But you know, I like to see stuff come from my mind and just flourish into a full product. So I've always been that way from starting in public access when I was younger with my father to just, you know, being around the house with a camera just trying to make little cartoons and music videos and stuff. So I've always had interest to be behind the scenes and write and create, and for it to happen on a bigger scale is just me getting my love out.

Tavis: I want to go back to the public access thing with your dad in just a minute, but before I get back that far in your history, which ain't been that deep since you ain't but 23 years old. The movie "Drumline" that you referenced earlier, what did "Drumline" do for you? What has it done for you? Because that movie was--

Cannon: Man, "Drumline" is probably, like, for it to be my first film out the gate has done so much for my career and just for, you know, the acceptance in the community. It was probably like--I would say-- I didn't expect it to be what it was. I thought it was a small film that, you know, I did at Fox, and I was really proud of it. I knew the director, Charles Stone, was amazing. But then when it came out and it just crossed all cultural barriers, it was just like, man, it was like everybody loved that movie.

Tavis: Why do you think that is? What do you think made that work? We know the HBCU band experience, but what made that thing connect across the generations and across the cultures?

Cannon: I think one of the things was it's a classic coming-of-age story about, you know, an underdog, a kid who just is trying to do the best that he can possibly do. But then to have the undertone of music, you know what I mean? Music is universal, and it wasn't like it was just strictly hip-hop or it was just like this is just--you know, everybody enjoyed the marching band. I don't think a lot of people understood how deep it was in our culture, you know what I mean? It was just something like a lot of other people--Oh, my God. I didn't know it was that serious at the HBCUs, and that the band is more important than the football team at a lot of these colleges. And that film just kind of shed a light on a whole new world. So I think people really took to that in the same way as people took to "Rocky" and boxing and things. They didn't know about this world, and it's a whole culture going on at these HBCUs. Then the people who did recognize and who did live that, it was just so nostalgic for them. People were, oh, man, you know, I went to a school just like that. I'm from Tennessee and that's how we did it. You know what I mean? Like, so it definitely struck a chord with a lot of people.

Tavis: I don't want to mention the names of the two schools. I don't want to out them on television. But I went to a game after "Drumline" came out. Months after "Drumline" was out with two white schools, two mainstream schools. And I was straight cracking up at the moves that the band was trying to put down. And you could tell these white folk have seen "Drumline." They were straight trying--it was funny to me, though. I was straight cracking up. But it's like so much that happens inside of black culture, people find a way to pick it off. I mean, I wasn't mad at them, but it was fascinating and funny for me to watch them try to do their thing on the field.

Cannon: It amazing, to, now if you watch, like, commercials and stuff, they got different fast food commercials, energy drinks, they drumming and stuff, a cat that kind of look like me.

Tavis: I want a Nick Cannon type guy for this spot. Give me a Nick Cannon type.

Cannon: It's funny.

Tavis: Back to public access now. Long before "Drumline," your first film out the gate, which obviously has done remarkably well, before that, way back in the day, you were doing public access with your daddy. Tell me about this.

Cannon: My dad, he's a hustler.

Tavis: So you get it naturally.

Cannon: Yeah, naturally. And he always, you know, had an interest in television and especially ministry. And we lived in North Carolina, and it was probably in the early nineties and he actually had a small televangelist type of program. I forgot the name of it. It was like "A New Man" or something like that. And he would get on there and he would have all different ministers, and they would preach and they would have conversations, and you know, I would start off the show like doing this whole little, you know, "Greetings. Glad you could join us today," type of thing, trying to do stand up and jokes and stuff. At the same time he got me involved in front of the camera, he also put me through the courses, because if you understand public access and everything, you actually have to go through these classes to get your show or even work on public access. It's like a...-I probably would say like a week seminar or something like that where they teach you every aspect of television. They teach you how to run the cameras, they teach you how to set up the lights, dress the set, work the audio board.

Tavis: And only public access can do that in a week, but that's another story. Go ahead.

Cannon: It was a fast course.

Tavis: Yeah, very quick.

Cannon: But I was doing all of that at a young age of like 11. I would run the camera, I would call the cameras in the booth, you know, set up the audio, design the set and stuff. So it sparked my interest at a young age. And then probably a few months after working with my dad, I actually got my own show that was kind of, you know, like a "Teen Summit" type of show where I would go out, interview different artists in the community, talk to different community leaders. I didn't really have too much to talk about. I was interviewing the chefs from McDonald's, asking them grill cheese and cheesecake and stuff like that. But it was something to do.

Tavis: You were getting experience, though.

Cannon: I was getting experience. And I think that has benefited me so much, you know, for the things that I do today.

Tavis: I started in public access, too, so thumbs up to public access. I ain't mad at public access. I'm laughing because you know a cat is young, and you know you're getting old when you ask him to go to his history, how he got started, and he refers to the early nineties and when he got started in public access. That's history for him...-the early nineties. Way back in the early nineties. But I digress on that point. This video that you have out now, the song, the single "Can I Live" is kicking up all kind of conversation. And you know the kind of conversation being kicked up about it. Tell me where you got the concept to do this, the idea.

Cannon: My mother was pregnant with me at 17 years old, when she was still in high school, and a lot of people were telling her, you know, she's not married, you know, she didn't have a steady boyfriend or whatever, she should probably go ahead and have an abortion because she wasn't ready, you know, that the kid kind of would interrupt her life. And I always give credit to my mother for being such a strong woman, for not listening to those people. She said a voice actually spoke to her saying that, you know, this kid should live. I'm like, Mama, that's me. That's my voice. I said "Can I Live?" And I came from that standpoint, and that was the inspiration, like, wow, how amazing would it be to have a song speaking from the mother's womb, a child speaking. And I just took that direction. And I remember when I was actually making the track, I sampled Yolanda Adams. And her voice was saying "Talk to me." And I was like, oh, that's perfect, you know what I mean? It's the mother actually saying "Talk to me." Like what do they really want to hear? So I just kind of came from that direction, with writing like saying all the things like "Mom, please let me live." And the song has just been powerful, you know what I mean? People have been touched by it all over the nation, you know, helping them make decisions. And you know it's not really--I didn't come from like a pro-choice or pro-life--

Tavis: But you know that's what happened though. The song has struck such a chord because it is a powerful song, to be sure. But because there are so many politics around that issue, your song is in the middle of that.

Cannon: And even in the song, I try to say this is just my story, which it is. I'm not saying one should do this or one should do that. I'm saying this is what happened in my life. And I think that's what artists are supposed to do. It sparked so many different conversations, you know. And it's not saying, this is the way you should be. I've talked to people who are pro-choice and said, wow, this song has really helped me. I've talked to people pro-life and they've said the same thing. And you can interpret it any way tat you want to interpret it, and whatever you need to get out of it, you can definitely get out of it. It has been amazing. It was number one on BET for like three weeks. Some stations, you know, still think it's too controversial to even play it, you know what I mean? And some radio stations are real reluctant to play it.

Tavis: That's good buzz, though. That means they run to the store and buy when they won't play it. Here's the song that they don't want you to hear. Go buy it.

Cannon: Right. Exactly.

Tavis: Let me ask you in 30 seconds, with so many things jumping off in your life, where are you trying to take--I'm sure wherever you are trying to take it you will get there, because I know you and that's just you. You will get there. But where are you trying to go with this?

Cannon: Man, I actually just make my mark and I'm striving to be a mogul, the ones like Quincy Jones and people like that have just made such an impact on our culture, not even just our community or anything. They've affected everything. I would love to be that person, you know. That's what I strive for. But I'm just trying to, you know, take it day by day. Whatever I can put my hands on, if I can be creative, that's where I want to go with it.

Tavis: You're doing it day by day, and the Q is a pretty good role model. He's done it all. Nick, good to see you.

Cannon: Good to be here.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on public radio this weekend and every weekend on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then good night from Los Angeles, thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.