With a new album with Tank and Ginuwine of TGT in the works, a new book Manology which he co-wrote with Reverend Run, two upcoming movies (Black Nativity, Fast and Furious), and a self-produced documentary called “A Black Rose That Grew Through Concrete,” about his life, Tyrese is doing the most! He talked about it all with AllHipHop recently; how his humble beginnings keeps him humbled after his success, his understanding male/female relationships, and he even expressed his views on the obesity issue that may ruffle some feathers.
Being born in Watts, Las Angeles didn’t hinder Tyrese from dreaming bigger and thinking outside the box. He documents the steps that made him into the man he is today in the doc “A Black Rose That Grew Through Concrete” to inspire those who feel like they have no hope. “I feel like right now there’s a lot of people that are saying “F*ck it!” and they just giving up. I wanted to remind people that I lived in that horrible economy. I know what broke is. I know what hungry is. I know what feeling stuck is,” he explained. “I’m still not used to this.” To expand upon his humble nature, Tyrese admitted in the documentary that he aspired to be a trashman as a child because it meant stability and manliness. “I found out the trashman got medical, dental benefits, retirement plans and pensions. I did my research. I used to go eight to nine houses up the street before the trashman got to my house and I would help him every week,” he revealed to AllHipHop.com. And to this day, Tyrese is still enthralled with the idea of what it means to be a man during this day and age where so many young boys don’t have father figures in their lives to teach them how to be men and treat women.
Enter his book Manology. Collaborating with Reverend Run, the two wrote a “how-to” for men and women to bring about an understanding between both sexes, ultimately facilitating stronger families. “We want to be better men and women. We want to understand the opposite sex. When it comes to being a man with kids, you say, how can I naturally know how to be something I was never raised by. How can you expect me to be a husband or to even know what the concept of husband is, if I wasn’t raised in a house to witness what a husband is?” he rhetorically asks. Maybe his role in the upcoming holiday Black Nativity went hand in hand with the knowledge he’s spitting in Manology. Tyrese plays a deeply flawed character who’s a father. “Jennifer Hudson plays my baby momma, who I left when our child that we had was very young, played by Jacob Lattimore. I went places I’ve never went as an actor. I grew my beard out and just became a different person in this movie.”
In terms of keeping his trim and toned physique, Tyrese believes in a “no-excuse” policy when it comes to having the body of your dreams. When asked if he feels responsible as an entertainer to inspire others to live a healthy lifestyle, Tyrese immediately associated the question with obesity and bluntly said, “If you are fat and nasty and you don’t like the way you look, do something about it. It’s simple. When you take a shower and you put your fat, nasty body in the shower and by the time you get out, the mirrors are all steamed up so you don’t look at what you did to yourself.” The singer continued, unapologetic with his comments on weight issues. “That may sound offensive or insensitive but ultimately…you worked your a** off to eat everything in sight to get big as hell. If you got a problem with the way you look, then you need to do something about it. Excuses sound best to the people that’s making them up.”
