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From 'Chicago PD' to Marvel: LaRoyce Hawkins' Big Moves | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
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Jun 26, 2025
From 'Chicago PD' to Marvel, LaRoyce Hawkins is making waves! Join Sway In The Morning for an exclusive conversation with the multi-talented star as he celebrates 13 seasons of "Chicago PD" and his exciting role in Marvel's "Ironheart." LaRoyce shares his journey from humble beginnings, his dedication to storytelling that uplifts Black voices, and how fatherhood has shaped his perspective on legacy. Dive into his passion for poetry, the power of Black imagination, and his unique creative process. Hear him reflect on the importance of relationships, the evolution of his career, and his hopes for inspiring the next generation. Plus, don’t miss his powerful live performance of original poetry! Subscribe to Sway’s Universe for more exclusive interviews and inspiring content from your favorite stars! #LaRoyceHawkins #ChicagoPD #Marvel #Ironheart #SwaysUniverse #Poetry #BlackExcellence #marvelrivals #nationalpoetrymonth #chicagowhitesox #crimeprevention #laroycehawkinsinterview CHAPTERS: 14:31 - LaRoyce Hawkins on Chicago PD & Water Fasting 19:57 - Spiritual Benefits of Water Fasting 21:10 - Joe Budden Sees LaRoyce Hawkins Perform 23:20 - Future of Def Poetry Jam 25:00 - LaRoyce Hawkins’ Top 5 Poets 28:14 - LaRoyce Hawkins Practice Techniques Subscribe Here! http://bit.ly/SubscribeSU Watch the Best of Sway In The Morning! http://bit.ly/BestOfSITM Check out More From Sway’s Universe
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0:00
my gosh big round of applause for that big round of applause for that piece of
0:06
work that my brother came up here did and shocked the world they're still talking about it and that was over a
0:12
year ago when he did that piece he has since been on tour citizens um he has
0:18
since completed his about to promote his 13th season of Chicago PD give this man
0:25
a round of applause for that 13 seasons crazy kevin Atwater is up in this
0:31
building but that's not all he does he's multi-talented tracy G as you know from television to film to theater whatever
0:38
the case may be he is he to me is walking edutainment and I want to
0:44
welcome my brother back and say thank you to him have the be because he
0:49
actually without cause or agenda reaches out from time to time to say "Hey man
0:54
what's up i'm just checking in." And in all my years of doing this in the decades I could count that on less than
1:00
two hands how many people has done that um and so that to me makes you very
1:06
special in my book and you always have a place wherever I have a place i want to welcome you back give it up for the one
1:11
and only Leroy Hawkins y'all come on man that's love og come on man that's real
1:19
bro from the heart too yeah man yeah yeah yeah i can tell that means a lot yeah no man i I've seen a lot of people
1:24
come and and go right and um that's just the nature of our business everybody ain't going to be around all the time
1:32
and what you do with in the time that you're here is really important the relationships you make in the time that
1:37
that you're here mhm it's not because you have done now 13 seasons on this
1:43
series or I I used to see you on Ballers or or I watched you on House of Pain or all these different pro um projects that
1:50
you worked on is um is really who you are behind all those characters behind the Atwater character u that appeals to
1:58
me and I think is in is conducive and indicative of why it is that you've you
2:04
survived so long and you travel so far and I don't even feel like you out of the first quarter of your career man
2:10
that's love i feel the same way though i feel like we just getting started you're just getting started right Louis yeah right yeah and it even with it this
2:17
being the 13th season you're just getting started i feel like I'm just getting started we grateful for 13 i
2:23
ain't going to hold you when I first got on the show man me and my me and my family my whole neighborhood everybody
2:28
was a little nervous uhhuh cuz when you got that one black dude on the show full of white constituents you you know it's
2:34
hard to say how long he going to last and that's just the nature to go bro that's just the nature of storytelling you know what I'm saying um but uh 13
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seasons later we still in the pocket and and still a part of the plan so I'm proud of that yeah you should be proud
2:47
of that um and what what you've had a kid since then right yeah yeah i um my
2:53
son is eight now so when you started I know right
3:00
when I started I was dodging it i ain't going to hold you i was I wasn't looking for it but um it found me fatherhood
3:05
found me and I'm extra grateful for that because um that truly changed my perspective i started working even
3:12
harder and thinking even longer about you know what legacy meant and the example that I wanted to be to my son um
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and it really shifted it really shifted everything for me just as a as a
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storyteller i'm like all right I want to tell stories that preserve black boy joy now you know what I'm saying that
3:29
protect the black woman now that uplifts the image of the black man you know what I mean and so that's extremely important
3:34
to me and my family at this point and uh I wouldn't be in that pocket without my son i love it man um your son has he
3:42
looked at you and is he following in your footsteps you know does he want to be an actor now or is he Man he he
3:49
definitely got the light in him um and and I can tell he's interested but he's also very very very talented as an
3:56
athlete you know so I didn't start playing sports um until I was like 11 or 12 you know and I already told y'all
4:02
that story once until I started playing with my duck where I came outside and then I had to figure something out but my son my son been playing uh basketball
4:10
and football since he was like five five years old and and he's always played up you know what I'm saying um yesterday he
4:17
had a game and he's eight years old but he plays um he plays 9 through 11 wow on
4:23
the flag football team big nice is he nice he's nice he's just fast yeah you can't you can't catch him once he get
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loose it's over with that's it and he's real good at basketball too i'm watching his handles develop in a in a very powerful way um you know so me and his
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mom we just do our best to support and keep him in the pocket and he loves sports but he also has it in him too you
4:41
know what I mean um I think he got an award at school i think they call him the comeback kid his teacher said he got
4:46
the best comebacks the comeback kid the comeback kid like the verbal comebacks yeah like the verbal comebacks like you
4:52
know like he just witty he got he got a great sense of humor he been watching The Office since he was like three
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oh man come on for real you got to love that do you use poetry 8 years old do you use poetry do you use poetry to help
5:06
with his um development and just in terms of um parenting
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um well I I use poetry as a as a listening mechanism i think poets listen
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different so I just listen to my son a certain way i haven't really introduced him to poetry that much outside of you
5:24
know like we freestyle and stuff we'll put a we'll put an instrumental on in the car and we'll freestyle he definitely got chops he got a couple
5:30
songs that he made his rap name is Swag Daddy that's what he call Swag Daddy he
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calls himself Swag Daddy he pulled up and just called himself Swag Daddy one day i don't know where he got it from that's harsh i like that kid man i know
5:42
right hang out with his uncle sometimes man i used to have you know I was a young guy with swag too boy so I that's
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what the kids call it rez now they call it rez rz he said he got the riz so the rez is when you got the the the
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mouthpiece you know you know you can step up your vernacular and I be trying to introduce him to I'm like you know
6:01
rez came from a a bigger word called charisma i'm pretty sure that's what it came from and he he look at me like I
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don't know what I'm talking about he he don't understand charisma it's all re
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he'll learn later you when you go to Leroy um Haw when you follow Leroy Hawkins you'll often um hear this man
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talk about right on and right on right like r i g ht right and w r i t e right
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right right break that down again man to be honest with you um it I I my
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grandfather has a favorite had a favorite cousin I'm not I'm sure he's not alive anymore but he was a poet his
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favorite cousin was a poet and that's how he would end all of his pieces right on right on and naturally um right on
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has a lot to do with the movement we say right on to each other as brothers when we agree or um you know as as we as we
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motivate and right on obviously is um from from pen to paper um you know just
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like writing your legacy or or or even writing your goals you know what I'm saying but it's it's um the point is to
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inspire you to continue to write whatever it is and so I just I just thought that that was cool plus you know
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it was from the family from the family cloth so I was like I'm I'mma add that to my to my space right on right on to
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kind of keep my my grandfather's favorite cousin alive that's dope i was uh talking this morning Leroy about
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seeing and listening to Robert Townsen last night and and it was such a
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powerful conversation about spirituality about gifts about being present about
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doing the work and I'm I'm listening to you speak and and kind of what you're touching on is is reminding me of the
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conversation is he someone that you thought about working with or would like to work with is he somebody you need to get in front
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of you know man absolutely i've been I've been I've been waiting to run into Robert Townsen facts and um he's one of
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those people that you you almost feel like you have to prepare for before you
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meet like I have so many questions and I have so much I want to say um just because ever since the five heartbeats
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yes I've been locked in um he he's the uncle to um one of my best friends and
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she's a hair stylist on Chicago PD um and and she works with me so she's a part of my team and um and so me and him
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communicate through her you know we we have great conversations and and he's aware of me he knows you know that I'm
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looking for him and that I can't wait to rock with him but we just haven't had that opportunity yet yeah it was it's so
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ironic that you're here today and I I didn't plan on seeing him last night he happened to be at a screening and he was
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a part of the talk and I told Sway and the citizens this morning I wanted to give him his space i'm a huge fan from
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the five heartbeats as well that was my moment when I realized like this man is different you know um and I gave him his
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space last night i wanted to say hello but I realized he was in his own aura
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and and and and tapped into something different but um I would love to see you guys work together and I hope God has
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that for you because I can see it yeah I pray for the same thing i think that I think it would be dope
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what a coincidence though that I know this was just last night so this
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was a few hours ago cuz I just got home in the A.M and yeah I saw him and just
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listening to you speak I was like he needs to get in front of him you know um
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yeah just something like I think it's on the way i think it's on the I can feel it well every time Heather's had a
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vision or a dream or a thought that was with me that I need to do something or
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something is coming for me it always comes to fruition so the fact that y'all
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having this conversation that's facts one of the things one of the things he spoke about last night was that you can
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prepare and plan but what he does is that he leaves room for the magic and I think that's a part of that magic you
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know these conversations what we think are coincidences are not it's just designed you know God has his divine way
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of lining things up and so you're out here he's out here the hair stylist friend connection it'll all take place
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we relocated to LA at the same time you're out here uh-huh
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yo man i was trying to catch his one man um but but I couldn't he he had a oneman show in in Oakland right uh Robert
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Townson robert Town yeah yeah yeah man I was trying to catch it just so I can take notes and pick up what he was putting down well it's interesting
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because a lot of the crowd didn't realize he had to remind people that he was a comedian as well he he said for
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some reason people forgot you know that he was a comedian and it's funny i know you do um comedy you do so much on stage
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you guys have a lot in common you You'll run into him when it's time it'll be dope i'm here for it she just blessed
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you Leroy man we bless each other you being forever indebted to her
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you want to jump in congrats right now and congratulations to that fans Loyce for what's about to unfold you know um
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on the subject Absolutely on the subject of Townson and as well as um when Sway mentioned right on it made me wonder for
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the stories that you want to continue telling right what do you feel like is a
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narrative about black men that is still under represented
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honestly I think um you know right now I'm I'm big on imagination i think black
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imagination is is very underrated um and it starts
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at at at a young age you know what I'm saying young black imagination doesn't really get um the resources sometimes
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and the opportunity that young white imagination does and so when you grow up and mature into a into a um a man you
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you don't have that support or you don't feel like um life has helped you out thus far and so I think that's the
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difference between the imaginations as we get older is that historically ours just hasn't really been supported as
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much and so I would love to see stories um it's funny like like Iron Hart right
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um from Gary Williams yeah yeah yeah i I would love to see stories thank you yes
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stories like these that um that promote and support black imagination and inspire um young black minds that grow
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into older black minds in a way that prepares them for the world right
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because we're not as prepared as our white constituents often yeah and you know uh
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and that and that and that goes to a fact that Mike Muse brings up a lot too
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uh somehow I think it correlates with the vocabulary of young black kids compared to other kids being um
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substantially less y at a younger age than it is for Caucasian kids so on and
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so forth they're using a way way more words right perhaps they're being paid
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attention to way more than young black kids as well maybe they're not being stifled for some of their ideas or or
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some of the behavior isn't being uh misdiagnosed you know a lot of our
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energy and behavior gets misdiagnosed and then they we get put in these boxes or these and I don't mean to cut you off
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but I was going to say because imagine this Tracy if only a certain version or
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um a certain corner of our imagination is utilized and promoted right and and
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we are so unmonolithic we we're able to really go in various ways and be
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extremely diverse within our own imaginations but only a certain portion of it is promoted is put on that's why
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most of us only feel like we can be rappers or athletes you know what I mean because our our dreams are deferred in
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other directions right you know so um so yeah I think what what I love about Iron
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Hart and the character Riri Williams is that she's in a space where you don't find a lot of black young black girls
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and black women need to be in tech obviously because um I think she's an example um and Dominique Thorne is just
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a genius herself you know what I'm saying she just smart as a whip and so I think it's a very appropriate that she
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plays this character and um and I'm grateful that I can be uh the dad that
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planted a seed you know um planted a seed and and we see how it grew it grew into something pretty amazing leroy
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Hawkins is here man celebrating his 13th season of Chicago PD uh also NAACP award
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uh nominee right man they starting to see you bro man it was incredible man i
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was I was thrown off one of my home girls Danielle Pinock who actually just won the NAACP award for best supporting
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actress um for her role on Ghost she called her and I started off as understudies at the Goodman Theater
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crazy that's where her and I met yeah yeah yeah but um I remember she she DM'd
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me and was like "Hey friend you got I was like "Is this real?" She was like "Yeah I think it's real." I tapped in on
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my team i was like "Damn I can't believe it." I didn't know they was paying attention yeah yeah they see you man yeah that's love we see you and you
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doing it your way man loy Hawkins to be on a a show a series for 13 seasons i
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would imagine that's an actor's dream number one you got 13 seasons of checks
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right coming in and that that that creates a foundation that allows you to stretch out and do the write on write on
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tours and and do your poetry and all the other things that you're passionate about right yeah i'm grateful yeah but h
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how being have you ever been did you ever get has ever become monotonous like how do you stay enthused for 13 seasons
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about a character well to be honest with you I feel like um you know I was I was booked right off
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the block it was it was it wasn't I I felt like I kind of came from behind
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like I've always felt I've always had this energy of urgency right like I had to catch up so even now I'm still
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excited to go to work and learn you know what I'm saying i feel like I didn't have as much experience as everybody
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else on the series and so um I've truly appreciated this time you know season by
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season i just do my best to pick up the little things and get a little bit better every time i can't wait to apply
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what I've learned from 12 to 13 you know what I mean and so I think when you if you think about it like that it doesn't
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get monotonous or redundant you know what I mean it keeps it fresh for me because I'm still learning a lot yeah
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yeah and every every little thing I learn I apply the pressure and and then you start feeling good about yourself
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once you utilize what you've learned and it works you're like "Oh damn boy i'm getting better." You know what I mean so
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that's how I feel about it man as you should man give it up for this man leroy Hawkins coming in here looking lean
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tracy looking like a urban action figure right now give him a pound and a hug i
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got Yeah man i got motivated when I hugged him i was like "Yo man this He feel like I used to feel right now." You
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know so motivated to do what just motivated heaven
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just motivated just motivated i want to get lean again i mean you you're doing a I have never I've heard of people doing
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fast right obviously I've fasted myself at times in my in my life a water fast
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I've never done you're doing a water fast what kind of research do you do before you jump into a water fast i I
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don't do I don't do nothing okay that's that's okay all right i just listen to the spirit okay spirit told me to do it
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and I was just obedient and at this point I think it's more of an exercise in obedience than even for the look it's
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about being locked in you know cuz at first obviously you know there were uh I
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was man I was looking at my obliques and I got motivated myself i was like dang I I could tighten them up you know what I
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mean and you know in the summertime you start enjoying yourself m and what I learned is a thin line between enjoying
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yourself and loving yourself you know what I mean and so I was enjoying myself a lot but I wasn't loving myself
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necessarily by you know being disciplined um eating a certain way you know working out consistently um and so
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the water fast started as like a you know a get thin quick kind of kind of
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thing but it's not that yeah because around day five six you start to realize
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it's bigger than that you know what I mean it's it's really about being locked in i noticed the difference in my writing i felt a lot Can you speak to
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that though like a lot closer to the source talk about the spiritual benefits from fasting water fasting for you um
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man you know Jesus did 40 days 40 nights right it was upon the time you know and I got a home girl who said she just
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finished her 40 i was like "Oh you cold." I don't know if I I don't know but what what I'm learning is case in
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point before I started I was uh I was locked in me me and my little brother Subzero Beats we we doing a little we
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writing all night with my other homie Black Mail and we eating candy and drinking Japanese whiskey a little wavy
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and I liked what I was writing it was cool i wasn't mad at it when I looked at it the next day
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around day 12 in between day 12 and 13 I revisited those bars
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i didn't love them but I'm tapped into the source differently and I've noticed the depth in the layers now in my
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writing and I was like dang I I see the difference between the spirit naturally
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and the body you know what I'm saying and so I I'm I'm I'm grateful for for whatever the gift is but when you can
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actually collaborate with the spirit when you locked in it's a it's just a difference in your writing and I think
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um and I think that's the difference between the people we you know who are our favorites as far as storytellers and
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and barbarians you know what I mean and the other ones did did you find because I I found as I fasted I I was locked in
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but I was also my receptors were up so when people came in the room like your
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sister Lo came in the room you know my brother right here I feel energy right i I gather energy and when I fasted I
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gathered so much energy I couldn't go outside cuz I'm reading people right you know next to not everything you read is
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favorable right do do you find that as well yeah absolutely i ain't going to hold you big homie i got some dark
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information you know what I'm saying it enlightened me i'm grateful for it m um but when you hungry pain feels worse
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when you you know what I mean it's it's it hits you different yeah but but you truly have to embrace it um and I'm and
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I'm grateful for that for those moments you know um Yeah but I definitely find
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myself being a lot more thoughtful a lot more thorough you know what I'm saying it's hard to think ahead when you behind
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but you know when you when when your receptors are up like you say you thinking on all cylinders you thinking
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on all cylinders yo this is what I like about Loy man we don't You never know where the conversation's going to go i
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like this man we going to open up these phone lines to Loyce Hawkins is here if you watch Chicago PD or you've seen his
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work in other areas call us up 8887423345
21:23
and I got a question for you when we come back copy that all right shade45 yeah Shade45 we got Leroy Hawkins here
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celebrating the 13th season of Chicago PB along with all the amazing work he's been doing um the the Right On and Right
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On Right On and Right On tour that he's been doing around poetry and as well as
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comedy and um I I I mentioned earlier in the conversation they starting to see you now you know you got the NAACP
21:52
nomination mh um Joe Button who has the biggest podcast platform there is uh
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actually came to see you perform recently right yeah yeah he pulled up on me in Jersey at the Life After Restaurant we had a powerful show too
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black Ice um you know the legendary Black Ice how Yeah rich Nice just produced this album right right right
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right right so he I was in the studio yeah yeah kay Love the poet um pulled up and had an amazing set o Solo a battle
22:20
rapper who um who in my humble opinion is is a real heavy talker so he opened up for us um and it was packed wall to
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wall i ain't expect Jersey to pull up on me like that don't do that i'm from Jersey i know but you know we we come
22:33
out i I see that now we come out i thought y'all was busy in Jersey i thought y'all had stuff to do it's
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different parts sway think everything is New York and you get carjacked it's you pull off of people man was it a parking
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lot outside the venue yeah it was a whole filled with a lot of cars oh yeah for a fact jersey going to show up but I
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feel like I feel like um Joe pulled up and he had a good time you know what I'm saying i think we surprised him with the energy that was in the room well Joe
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Button is an artist right you know and he's a he's a poet in his own right when
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you go back and look look and read Joe Button lyrics from Jersey from Jersey he's a poet in his own right how did
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heavy talk too heavy talker right so how how did he respond to your show i think he responded very well his um I think
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the highlight for him was seeing Kay Love okay kay Love the poet he he really thought she was hard he was like "Man I think she a rapper man she can take on
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any rapper out here and she probably could." Yeah for sure i love that um Joe
23:27
Button or folks like us we we you know we we came up in and around you know
23:32
poetry when de poetry jam was so important right to poetry is it is it room for another something like that or
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is that what you're doing well yeah but what I'm I'm doing my best to um you
23:45
know introduce the average Loyce Hawkins fan to poetry okay you know cuz a lot of
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people know me for being Kevin Atwater and and I appreciate that platform and I'm grateful for um you know the eyes
23:59
and the ears that I have in that space and my thought was if I can shift you
24:04
know as much of that energy as possible to poetry then I think um you know I I
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just think that'll be a good look for the for the craft um Jay Ivy who's a big homie of mine I just uh did a show with
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him um at the City Winery in Chicago he's he's starting his tour also and so uh I hosted that and and that was
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amazing but he he brought comment out george Daniels was in the building george Daniels was in the building
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george Daniels put up over here at the back the legend George Daniels look him up chicago's finest if you don't know
24:34
who he is that's my that's my mentor oh yeah yeah yeah george Daniels the truth definitely OG and um you know and so I I
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think there's a I think there's a resurgence and and something like a renaissance right now going on with poetry jay Ivy blazed the trail to allow
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the academy to you know give us a category that we can respect and so you got poets out there now you know doing
24:54
their best to hit the scene and lock in on on albums and and and really make something u make projects which I think
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is important who who's your who's your top five poets top five poets people always ask top
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fives i don't I don't hear poets a lot yeah yeah yeah yeah i gotta throw
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I gotta throw Langston Hughes in there langston Hughes i'mma go Langston Hughes
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um Langston Hughes got a cold piece you ever heard the motto tell it to Drake no
25:28
no oh Langston langston Hughes langu difference oh the How does it go he say
25:34
I play it cool and dig all drive that's the reason I stay alive the motto as I
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live and learn is to dig and be dug in return the motto that's it yeah yeah
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yeah when Langston Hughes did that I was like "Yeah it's over with." Um who else uh
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I'm lost for words but you know who this brother is he's um
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the black eyes uh young older younger older okay older um
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dang what did he give us okay well maybe this is a tough question man no it's not tough i just can't think his name all of a sudden you know I'm still floating off
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the water fast okay okay and now it'll lose me but no but but I am to be honest
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with you I'm putting black ice in there black ice i'm putting black ice in my top five because uh I remember watching
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deaf poetry and he was he felt like the Michael Jordan of the craft at the time you know what I'm saying the first and
26:28
last poet to be signed to death jam you know what I mean so that's that's something that I always felt like was um
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was was extremely powerful so I'm throwing him in there i'm also gonna throw
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I'm throwing Rudy Rard Kipling in there okay you familiar with Rudard break it down break it down rudy Kipling honestly
26:48
wrote Jungle Book uhhuh like we got we get Jungle Book from you Rud Kipling my favorite poem from his is uh if and how
26:56
does that go if if um if you can be
27:03
I forgot that next word if you could be something and all about you are losing theirs and blame it on you if you can
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trust yourself when all men doubt you and make allowance for their doubting too if you can wait and not be tired by
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waiting or being lied about don't deal in lies the poem is is long but but but
27:20
it's it's a staple in my humble opinion what about women poets anybody come to mind definitely got to throw Nikki
27:26
Giovani in nikki Giovani man we got a chance to interview her a couple of times bro yeah man it was uh when people
27:34
say "What's one of the highlight interviews you ever done?" That's one of them bro that's in my top five for a
27:39
fact just to sit next to Nikki Giovani at that time man rest in power that was just an amazing experience to have twice
27:46
bro wow yeah wow i was able to um I had a home girl who recorded
27:52
um a clip from one of her last speeches uhhuh and and send it to me it's like 45
27:58
minutes long and I locked in on it and she was she just had so many powerful things to say just about the culture
28:04
about her experience um I love her story about how she met Rosa Parks you know what I'm saying like all that is all
28:10
that is cold and you got to throw my Angelou in there as well you got to throw Maya Angelou in there come on man i like your five i appreciate that you
28:16
got a nice five right there man you know you you talked about locking in i'm I'm
28:21
curious being multi-talented all right you have to know your lines you have to run lines you have to go back and forth
28:27
then you're a a writer you know a poet so that's very specific in my opinion and then you do standup when do you have
28:34
time to pra to practice i practice all the time you know and and I've learned
28:40
that uh you can't I can't let a conversation go sometimes without
28:46
testing something you know it can be a concept in my head and then I like to bring it up in conversation first and
28:52
see how the response is you know what I'm saying just oneon-one sometimes it
28:57
could be a small room like this one you know what I'm saying and you throw something out there see how the people pick it up and then I can tell if I
29:04
could do it on stage or not mhm um so so yeah I'm I'm always I'm always kind of
29:10
locked in I think because I don't really have the time not to be i hate walking away from moments and being like "Man
29:18
why didn't I say that man why didn't I do I should have did it like this if I would have did it like this?" You know
29:23
what I'm saying so I'm always critiquing my own conversation you know and I think that's what kind of keeps me on my toes
29:29
usually loy Hawkins is here man
29:34
you you from Chicago what what's your relationship with um like with u or the outskirts of Chicago what's your
29:40
relationship with Deion Cole oh man Deion Cole is a big homie i've ran into him a few times okay you know what I'm
29:46
saying yeah it's moments when me and Deion Cole look like each other sometimes a little bit i was going to get to that
29:52
depending on the day you know what I'm saying if if if I leave my conditioner in Yeah you know what
30:00
me and D could be cousins for sure the hair texture but it's a thing it's a I feel like you're a Renaissance guy
30:06
chicago got a lot of that cooty and Chica those are my guys you know um J Ivy you know all those all my guys you
30:13
know Dion y'all do a multitude of things nobody does one thing that's You grew up
30:19
like that or Man when you I think I think it's just come from coming from Harvey you kind of got to wear a lot of hats and be honest with you by the time
30:26
I really took entertainment seriously as a young man and standup was my first love um I didn't know what was going to
30:33
blow mhm i was a Ray Charles impersonator for four years you were a Ray Charles impersonator yeah go ahead
30:40
like hired to to be Ray Charles hired to be Ray Charles what did you do like I did I did the Taste of Chicago a couple
30:46
years in a row i did big festivals this was around when remember Hurricane Katrina um had happened and I did a
30:52
benefit concert with this mock Beatles band called the Liverpool Legends okay it was these middle-aged white dudes that was just good to be in the Beatles
30:59
and me and my homies was Ray Charles but we was all in high school that's what made it dope because we had the young
31:05
the stick was we young kids playing this mature music and so um my my homie he
31:10
was the other half of Ray Charles his name is Robert Bradley great musician robert Bradley would actually be playing the piano i would be the one acting like
31:18
I was Ray Charles you was about to go into it give us a I saw you about to go
31:23
give us Ray man can we Yeah i got a woman right over town
31:31
that's good to me oh yes say I got a woman way over town good to me well yeah
31:40
she give me money when I'm in need she love me so tenderly that's all you could
31:48
get for free really do wow i did i wanted him to do
31:54
some drops this Ray Charles on Sway in the morning can you give me one of those i'll give
32:00
you one of those later but I ain't going to hold you that's a big shout out to U jamie Fox who I haven't met yet but I
32:05
saw that movie and it changed my life at the time I was on the speech team okay um and the speech team is um they kind
32:11
of introduced me to comedy and acting um and every Saturday morning you put a
32:17
suit on and you compete against other students right around the state um and my events were original comedy and so I
32:24
had to write my own piece that had a beginning middle and end and I watched a state champion the year before win state
32:32
and he had all these impressions i never forget his name white boy named Tim he was nice and he did like Muppet Babies
32:38
put himself on trial and he was great at all these impressions and I was like man if I'm going to win state I got to get
32:44
an impression and Ray came out that summer damn and I saw it and I was like that's what I'mma
32:51
do and I added Ray Charles to my bit and I would I would actually win state the
32:56
next year um and that was a big reason why because you know I locked in on Ray
33:02
and allow Ray to really you know take the piece to another level and before I knew it all my homies were in band uhhuh
33:09
so I had a uh AP history teachers named Brett Fus he was like I think y'all
33:14
should y'all should really think about doing that and he had connections to clubs that we weren't even old enough to be in but we would go perform in these
33:22
spots and so I I would borrow the band literally from the band director and we would learn his music and we would just
33:27
go gig and so it started off as an impression for a bit that I was doing before I knew it we had a whole band called the Ray Charles experience wow
33:34
that's incredible we started to show off what the Robert Townsson say about work
33:41
do your work and leave room for the magic there it is that's look like what Leroy is doing man we got Keith on the
33:47
line from Texas keith welcome to the show hey Keith what's happening Keith hey hey everybody what's going on uh I'm
33:53
going to make this real quick because I know a lot of times when people call in they're longwinded so I'm going to ask a
33:58
question to Brother Loyce then I'm going to give flowers and then I'm going to
34:04
make a possible drop that citizens have been waiting for to hear and then I'm gonna hop off so here's my question
34:10
Brother Loyce when you do crossover episodes do you prepare for that
34:15
differently than you would just your regular episodes and then let me get my flowers heather B is the dopest female
34:21
lyricist in the history of ever and go argue with your mama because that's how I live and then here is the drop that
34:27
the citizens have always wanted this is Sway in the morning on Sway 45 this is
34:33
Keith from Texas i'm out have a good one all right man he knocked it down hey he
34:40
told us what he was going to do then he did it that was like an audition i won't
34:45
keep it come back he hung up before Sway hung up on him because Sway hang up on long-winded
34:51
people true but that's hilarious question to answer this question the
34:56
question is do you prepare differently for um for those crossover moments and
35:02
I think I I I think so and but not not as differently as you would for um for
35:08
one of your regular episodes but I just think you prepare more and you prepare yourself for the the mental strain that
35:16
it can put on you because it's it's hard with the scheduling you know what I'm saying and so what you prepare yourself
35:21
for is not knowing what to expect you prepare yourself for the elements
35:26
whether it's weather um like I said scheduling sometimes it could it could be anything but no it's it's definitely
35:33
more of a mental it's more of a mental move when you're doing those crossovers than anything wow yeah loyce Hawkins is
35:39
here i'mma keep saying his name okay congratulations 13 seasons chicago PD
35:45
the Right On Poetry Tour iron Heart with Marvel and Disney Plus man I'm proud of
35:52
you fam drops today that drops today yes sir man yep you're part of the Marvel universe anthony Ramos and Dominique
35:59
will be here tomorrow yeah word yes that's hard look at it look at it what question you want to ask them if you
36:05
could anthony Ramos and Dami man man those the homies man i I I want to ask
36:10
them how they feel about how they feel about it yesterday was my first time seeing it um and I wished that I had
36:18
seen it before I did you know like that little press run on the carpet yesterday because all I really had was all I had
36:26
was my imagination and like how I prepared for the role prior to Gary Williams um is an auto mechanic
36:34
and um I got a big cousin named Calvin who's also an auto mechanic and I just
36:39
pulled up on him a few times a week and I would just kind of watch him work try to get his approach um to what it is
36:46
that he does and it's like you don't know how anything works unless you able to take it apart and so that's I think
36:51
that's a big lesson that that I learned from my big cousin and that's something that the character teaches Riri Williams
36:57
also um but if I would have seen the movie or at least seen you know the first couple episodes first
37:04
I would have I think contributed a lot better to some of those Q&As's and one of the things I would have told him was
37:10
that this series is a has a lot to do with being able to do the most with the
37:16
lease riy Williams doesn't have the same resources that Tony Stark did with him
37:22
being the billionaire and with her being a young black woman really with with
37:27
little to no resources at all but still able to improve you know on technology
37:34
um that he started to me that was the most impressive part about what this story means black imagination like I
37:40
said earlier Tracy isn't that supported doesn't get as much fuel you know what I mean yet and still we we're able to
37:47
thrive and and and plant seeds that grow into something crazy um and so yeah I
37:52
think there's going to be a great motivator for the culture especially young black girls um but also brown and black people you know what I'm saying um
37:59
yeah and then man Anthony Anthony that's the homie man he crazy and when you talk about talented you know what I'm saying
38:05
crazy in the best way you know what I mean yeah me and him spent some time together in Chicago he was working on something and uh we actually got to kick
38:12
it and uh and and and learned a lot about about that space man you know what
38:18
I mean and it motivated me it motivated me you know what I mean space meaning being on those huge platforms being on
38:23
those huge platforms but but it's but it's also like I think the higher you go
38:29
sometimes the more grounded you have to be you know what I'm saying and that brother is very grounded got good family
38:35
around him you know his brother's always his brother always with him and that's an example too i always got family with
38:40
me you know what I mean um and uh and yeah so me me and him learned a lot man
38:46
i had some good times in Chicago y'all going to have a good time tomorrow man come on let's do it man iron Heart make sure y'all support that support Leroy
38:53
Hawkins man i'll be remiss if I didn't ask you to leave us with a piece of your own oh for real
39:00
please i got you okay i already know man yeah i think you should take the toothpick unless that's a part of the
39:06
character no no no no i'm I'mma get it out the way just in case okay can I tell your story would you please brother
39:14
i got you h In the beginning when everything was
39:20
even there was no good and no such thing as evil
39:27
god saw was decent every morning and evening and Adam and Eve was his latest
39:33
achievement imagine falling to the gap of the Garden of Eden the antecedent of everything you
39:41
believe in rip tides in the tigers and Euphrates i'm reminded of the signs and situations
39:48
like monkey see and monkeys do monkeys swang
39:54
and monkeys hang but never eat the fruit i swear to God if it's a problem it's probably true i swear to God if it's a
40:01
problem it's probably you watch this if you can smell the eucalyptus
40:08
hear the ukulele it was an event everywhere that Eve went
40:15
to be the first doesn't mean she was the perfect lady every season had a
40:20
different reason since the very first day she was fashionably late eve swore
40:26
to drop every drip the day before bold scale you could tell she wasn't
40:31
scared of snakes god body in the bag she would elevate
40:37
monkey see and monkeys do monkey swang and monkeys hang but never eat the fruit
40:43
i swear to God if it's a problem it's probably true i swear to God if it's a problem it's probably you genesis 3 part
40:53
one part two coming soon i love that give it up for Come on wow
41:01
food for thought that's a problem tracy what you trying to say deeper than that
41:07
you you you have to be a a special writer a lyricist and just understand the breakdown of the word Eve the
41:15
different levels to it it's a whole different kind of situation that happened i know i heard it i know you
41:22
heard it i felt you i felt you catch it i was like I have the beat only one know what I'm talking about
41:27
i'm looking you right in your eye and that's what you came up with no just
41:33
that's what I love about a Loyce Hawkins man you're truly a gift a talented individual multi-talented and anywhere
41:40
we are you are welcome okay continued success brother i'm glad we made this
41:46
happen i can't wait to put this interview up and put that poetry out again as we did last year around this
41:51
time here we go okay Leroy Hawkins y'all give that man a big round of applause thank y'all all right we'll be back
41:57
tomorrow heather as you mentioned our guest tomorrow Anthony Ramos and Dominique Thorne okay pulling up pulling
42:03
up we want to thank the citizens for tuning in um your sister Lo uh Lo good to meet you family say your name again
42:11
vic vic my man Vic uh what's up with Westside Boogie man
42:18
okay come on man y'all you know y'all did the first garage series with us with Honey Baby yeah so I just I just start
42:24
managing last you got to come to the mic Vic oh okay yeah vic ain't used to the mic man so so I just uh started
42:30
collaborating with B last year so we've been working on this new album and this new mixtape coming so we gonna come up
42:35
here for sure it's a guaranteed stop there you go tell us do something special too we'll do something different with it all right Vic my man uh Loyce
42:42
thank you brother appreciate you man continue to just continue to give brother we need it you know what I mean all right absolutely you guys stay on
42:49
the right side of positivity we'll be back tomorrow God willing and on that note we got nothing
42:57
left to say
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