How did it feel being the romantic lead?
It was fun. It was my first time doing it in a film. It’s my first leading role, actually. It feels great. I’m happy with it. I read the script, thought it was great, and thought the role was cool. [I] thought the role was great actually and wanted to do it immediately. [I] called Gary [Hardwick, the director] up and said, “Hey, I want to do this project.” He was into it and we did it. Was this a stretch? I guess so, yeah. Growing up being a rap star, growing up being a person in the public eye and interacting with a lot of women on tours and stuff like that, is not the same as a guy who’s in his town, playing the games that Ray plays. Interacting with women, I’m not unfamiliar with that. But the way he does it and who I am are two different people. I’ve never been one to have to manipulate women. I always want it to be like a mutual thing, like everybody loves everybody. We’re in this together. I don’t need to manipulate and figure it out, so he’s a different guy for me. There are asp
