‘Empire’ Star Bryshere Gray Talks ‘God’s Anointed’, ‘Canal Street’ Film, & Yazz the Greatest Music

Whether you know him as the actor Bryshere Gray or as the rapper Yazz the Greatest, this 23-year-old rising star has a plan, is focused, and has his head on straighter than most people his age.

Born and raised in Philly, Gray has no qualms about trying to be the next Will Smith. He remembers where he came from and how far he’s gone. And where he’s gone in such a short time, is quite impressive.

Since 2015, Gray has been playing the character of Hakeem Lyon on the critically acclaimed show “Empire.” In 2017 he was part of “The New Edition Story” mini-series where he played Michael Bivins. In 2018, he’ll be starring in his first feature length film, “Canal Street” as Kholi Styles, and also, post-production is said to have started on “Honey 4” where he plays the character Tyrell.

“I didn’t just start driving the Ghost (Rolls Royce). I didn’t just start making what I make a year,” he said. “I came from Philly where before ‘Empire’, I was sleeping on the floor next to dog pee, not even having money to eat.”

He continued proudly, but humbly, “Now my mom is looking for houses. That’s my life, coming from the bottom and now working, to being on TV every Wednesday, that’s nice. I’m from Philly bro! I got so much to talk about people probably think that I’m from Hollywood. I’m 23 and we doing it.”

His roles in “Empire” and “The New Edition Story” have earned him BET and Emmy Award consideration for Best Actor. Gray could not be more excited.

“I made a video on Instagram and I couldn’t stop dancing the whole thing,” he described of finding out about the nominations. “I was YOU watching ME on TV in your mom’s room. If anyone tells you that you can’t do it, you tell them what to kiss, and that you can do anything you put your mind too. I think it would be so great for kids right here in the hood that don’t really have the belief to be a star or anything. Look at me, all the odds were against me. I’m sorry Denzel, but Imma take this right here (he said jokingly).”

Gray says he enjoys being able to work on TV at a young age because it affords him the time to branch out of the box a bit. He credits “Empire” with making him what he is today and also giving him leverage to be creative with roles.

His dream scenarios for work are quite big. He’d love to play the Miles Morales version of Spiderman. Gray would also love to star alongside Halle Berry and be directed by Michael Bay or John Singleton.

A Spiderman action and explosion packed movie directed by Michael Bay does not seem that far removed from reality, although Halle Berry might be a bit old to play love interest Kate Bishop…maybe his mom?

While Gray dreams big, and acting is his first love, he is also developing his music as well.

“Been working on the music. I’m so prepared and trained to do music, I can knock the songs out in one day,” he said. “Just have everything organized now, and it should be two or three months. I feel like people need to hear my sound first before I grab features.”

The young actor is carefully calculating his moves on the screen and in the studio, and credits his “trust in God” with all the decisions he makes. “There’s always a sign that tells you do it or don’t do it.”

“First let me say, God is good all the time and all the time He’s watching over me even when the devil is looking at me,” he stated. “I make smart decisions and keep a solid circle around me. I know everyone is always watching me and I don’t want projects to start becoming my personal projects. You come out with an album and they focused on you getting into an argument, now they worried about your personal life when they should be focused on your work.”

He continued, “My fans want to know what my next job is which is fantastic. They don’t want to know who I’m dating next. If I can keep them wanting to know what’s next as far as movies or music, that’s perfect. I’m human, I’m going to make mistakes, but I’m going to make smart mistakes.”

For those in a similar situation to Gray, he said to find people who “have their head on straight” and find people “more religious, or as religious” as you.

“That person right there is your anointing. That’s your angel that God brought to you,” he shared. “He or she is just so supportive. Success brings negative energy and you have to have a team that dilutes that.”

For now, Bryshere is promoting his first starring movie, “Canal Street” where he plays Kholi Styles, a young man from Chicago who gets caught up in a bad situation and ends up in prison, wrongfully accused.

He took the role because it reminded him of Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, and Rodney King.

“Chicago has a lot of murders that you’ll never hear about but you’ll hear about the kid that stole Skittles from the corner…the 300 murders that happen a year, you don’t hear about,” he exclaimed. “This movie spoke to me in so many ways because it’s honest, heart touching, and inspiring. It’s a tear jerker and realistic.”

Gray described his character as a good kid who lives in the south side of Chicago. He’s into reading books, listens to hip-hop, is into the Beatles and other types of music that his friends are not listening to. He aspires to things his friends don’t. While he’s grinding it out in the library, his friends are grinding it out on the streets.

After his mother passes away, his father relocates them to a suburb of Chicago. In a new neighborhood, grieving and depressed, his father tries to make him forget his troubles by buying him a car. From there, he gets into a fight at school and the rest of the story begins to unfold.

“The story is basically not making people stereotype. Just because I’m black, doesn’t mean I like chicken. Just because I’m white, doesn’t mean I like white girls. It’s just non guilty for every part of stereotypes,” he said. “It’s a completely refreshing role. With any role I play, I tap into my personal life. For me with my work, I make it personal. It’s authentic. I gave my real emotion to the scenes and it was what it was.”

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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