Stepping into the entertainment industry is already a difficult task for any aspiring artist. What’s even more difficult though, is trying to move over from one area to the next. In the past when actors have tried to add singing or rapping to their resumes, it very seldom works out. However, when a talent prevails like Jamie Foxx, Tyrese, Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake, or new school triple threat acts like Zendaya and Trevor Jackson, we often forget that they were even known for acting or singing in the first place.
Somewhat of the same case can be said for famed actor Mack Wilds. Receiving fame in 2006 for his role as Michael Lee in the HBO hit series The Wire, Tristan – who uses Mack as his stage name – has been a well-known actor starring in top productions such as Red Tails and 90210. Now, eight years after the start to his most famous role, the New York native is becoming known for something a little different.
Receiving a Grammy nomination for his debut album New York: A Love Story, Mack Wilds has gained a large amount of critical acclaim for his ability to jump in and out of both sides of the entertainment industry. Truly talented in all arenas, the 24-year-old actor turned singer/rapper turned heads when his debut single, “Own It” hit airwaves in 2013.
Although it’s now just a short year, full album, dope singles and a Vibe Magazine cover later, the singer is taking on many heights in his career and owns it all well. Taking a little time to chat with ThisIsRnB about his current ventures, Mack is ready to take over 2014 and the years to come. Discussing his new Vibe Magazine cover, upcoming music plans, current sound and more, this interview will surely let you in on just who Mack Wilds really is.
Jump into the exclusive interview below:
I know you’ve been touring and doing performances lately. How has all of that been for you?
It’s been going real good, you know. It’s crazy – it’s progressing so fast, but to me it feels like it’s going slow. Until I step out of it and kinda look at where I’ve been – even just a few months ago – to where I am now, it just brings me right back. It’s like ‘OK, this is happening pretty fast. Let me stay focused and keep it going.’ So, it’s been moving. It’s definitely been moving and it’s been an amazing journey. I can’t wait for everything else that I have. I feel that we’re still at the beginning and we’re still scratching the surface. There’s just so much more to explore musically and otherwise.
I was doing some research and it’s been a year since you released your first official single, “Own It”. Did you really think that people would take to you as much as they did when you decided to release that first single?
Um, honestly I didn’t. When we first released it, I really was under the assumption that it wouldn’t because it didn’t sound like anything that was on the market or anything that anyone popular at the time was doing. So, I didn’t know if it would catch on or if anybody would even look twice at it. Fortunately, we had Funk Flex play it for the first time and once he loved it, I realized that I think this is gonna be a joint that the DJ’s are gonna love and it just started to spread. Every city that we went to, every club that we ran into, every mic that I grabbed to rock the club, afterwards you would see that the people actually loved it. So, it was definitely a long grind, but it was dope. It’s been dope. I definitely didn’t know that we would be where we are now [laughs].
Touching on your sound – right now you are bringing a real New York vibe to the industry. That’s something that we haven’t had in a while. With this project that you dropped last year, how much did you go through and what was the process behind the tracks you chose?
We went through a lot of tracks. We definitely went through a lot of tracks, but it was weird because it just seemed like every time we found a track or anytime we had an idea, it was dope. There was nothing else to think about. That was the idea – run with it. Me and Salaam [Remi] started by just collecting a few tracks from artists that he’s worked with that didn’t necessarily want the records. It was records that they had written. Like the single “Own It.” At first, it was written by Ne-Yo and I wrote the rest of it. “You Can Cry To Me” by James Fauntleroy, that was another record and “Magic” by Rico Love. So, after we did those three records, Salaam also had the song, “Keepin’ It Real” which had the sample from Group Home’s “The Realness” and I remember listening to it and I was like, ‘Yo this is dope, let me rock wit it,’ and I messed with it and I wrote it and I went in there and I sung it. So he was like, “Yo, let’s just keep going – let’s just keep doing this.” So we just started literally racking our brains for what songs we should do. He’d come in the room and be like, “How dope would it be if you did “You, Me, Him & Her”?” And I was like, ‘N*gga, let’s figure it out!’ Next thing you know, it becomes “My Crib”. Then, he was like, “Yo we gotta do a Mobb Deep joint”. I told him yeah and the next thing you know, we were lookin’ on our computers. We thought “Quiet Storm,” but then we said nah because too many people had done it. We hit “Burn” at the same time and were like “Yes, loop it – let’s go!” Next thing you know, “Henny” and “Remember the Time” came out of that. So, it really just started building so quickly that I was able to get the album done in a month.
That’s incredible. How many tracks did you actually record for the album?
I think all together I probably recorded 15 tracks, so 3 didn’t make the album. Out of the songs on the album, I think I wrote about a clean 9 or 10 of them.
Being that your sound is very New York and a lot of people are taking to everything southern, how do you reach other cities and regions with your music being that it is a little on the outskirts of what is popular right now?
It’s all about going to certain places and showing love. I think that message of promotion is kinda…a lot of people haven’t done it in a while. They just expect to just get on the internet and explode, but it’s something about just going to a city and shaking hands and showing love and really making people give you a chance. Giving them a reason to want to press play because you know that once they press play, they’re going to like it. It’s just about getting them to press play. It’s like bringing a horse to water. Like, “Listen, I understand you’ve been drinking that other water, but this water is well, you should try it. It’s just a little different.” So, it’s just trying to give them the water – trying to get them to press play.
Your background has been acting for a very long time and it seems to be difficult for people to separate your roles in The Wire, Red Tails and 90210. How have you separated who you were as an actor and who you are as an artist?
Acting wise, I think one of the benefits as an actor…you know, it’s a gift and a curse. You never necessarily know who the actor is completely. Like Denzel, we know he’s an amazing man, but we don’t know necessarily exactly who he is or even which one of the characters that he’s played is most like him because he plays all of them so well. I think that’s a gift and a curse of actors. When you’re playing so many different characters and you’re jumping into so many different lives, you just become the vessel. People know you as the person who turns into other people. So, people don’t look at you as who you are, they look at you as Michael Lee from The Wire or Dixon Wilson from 90210. Never necessarily, “Oh, you’re Tristan Wilds”. Music wise, you have to give so much of yourself. You’re telling – well for me – I’m telling so many of my own stories of things that I’ve gone through in my life that you understand who I am when you listen to it and you feel like you know me. When you listen to Drake’s music, you feel like you know Drake because you’re listening to the stories that he’s gone through in his life. You’re listening to his trials and tribulations and his ups and downs. So, you can commiserate with him – you can understand what he’s going through and who he is as a person. I think that’s the difference between acting and being a musical artist.
The remix to your newest single “My Crib” features Pusha T and it’s featured on the BET Music Matters compilation. How was that feeling for you knowing that people are really taking to what you’re doing lately and notice that you are a benefit to the R&B genre?
It was amazing. Honestly, I still everyday just pinch myself like, ‘Yo, I know I’ma wake up soon’. This is crazy. It’s really just amazing and I truly, truly appreciate it. Again, I feel like I’m just scratching the surface. I’m like if you guys like this now, wait ’til I hit you with the next album or the next song or even with the next look. I just want everything to be a forward progression – like just to keep going.
Speaking of next album and next single, can you give us any update of what the next single is gonna be or if it’s gonna come from a new album? Can you drop any information on it?
I may drop another video from the album, but single wise, I’m not sure. I’ma see if the label is gonna back me on this, but if it were up to me, I would drop every song as a single on the album [laughs]. But uh, I’m definitely in the studio right now working on album number two and honestly, just working on music as a whole. I just wanna constantly make music that people can understand and rock with. It could be your voice or your comfort…I want my music to be that. So, that’s what I’m working on now.
So your new Vibe magazine cover just dropped. Tell me about that experience and how it felt to hold the cover with two other talented artists such as Ed Sheeran and August Alsina.
It was amazing. I’ve known August for a while now and we kinda came up together. We’ve done a lot of the same shows together, been in a lot of the same cities, so you know that’s my boy. Ed, you know, he turned out to be an amazing dude. You know, hilarious and very funny and just a cool all around dude. So, when we were shooting, it was like all of us just kinda checkin’ each other out – you know, making sure everybody was on the same page. A Lauryn Hill song would come on and Ed would start singing and I’d be like, ‘What you know about Lauryn Hill?’ Then we’d start talking about Hip-Hop and August would join in and we’d all just start talking about our favorite songs and this and that. So, it really just made me and August’s friendship better and gave me a new friend in Ed Sheeran.
Does that mean we can expect a collaboration from you guys coming soon?
[Laughs] You can always expect that. I’m always down to work with my friends and just make amazing stuff so, just be on the lookout.
I sure will. So, as you know summer has officially kicked off. What is considered the perfect soundtrack to summer for you?
To me, it’s Hip-Hop and it’s R&B. I don’t wanna be cliché and say my album, although it’s a great soundtrack for the summertime, but I think it’s the kind of stuff I draw my inspiration from. Like listening to Jay Z “Big Pimpin” or 2Pac “I Get Around”…I’m just thinking about the fun records or the fun sounds…the R&B joints that could possibly get a girl to come back to your crib…no pun intended [laughs]. So yeah, those types of records.
Speaking of your crib, how do you get the ladies to come back to your crib?
[Laughs] I don’t know. It would definitely involve a lot of great conversation and maybe the influence of a little bit of liquor of some sort [laughs] and honestly, just a promise of a good time. Doesn’t necessarily have to be sexual, but just the promise of a good time.
What’s your take on the current state of R&B and do you feel like the current era that we’re in now is a benefit or a hindrance to where we are as a whole?
I think the state of R&B – especially me being apart of the new generation – I think it’s moving in a great direction. It’s so many artists out right now – people like Miguel or people like Frank Ocean and TeeFlii, Ty Dolla $ign, August and myself – I think the sound of R&B and the sound of these young men is telling their story. It’s definitely giving more of a Hip-Hop edge because of the stories we tell. We’re not Boyz II Men-ing it out, we’re not “I’ll Make Love To You,” or anything like that. It’s more like “Paranoid” – ‘I see two of my b*tches in the club, and I know they know about each other’ – it’s different. It’s stories that we actually go through that are taboo to speak on. We’re bringing it and we’re bringing it with great melody and great lyricism. So, I think the state of R&B is in a great place and I think the generation is actually helping that because we’ve kinda been in the generation right now of – for lack of a better word – people with no chill. No chill at all. So, you’ll get the complete and full understanding of someone’s life or their feelings towards it. They won’t apologize for keeping it real. You gotta keep it real – you gotta keep it 100% real. The R&B guys right now are doing that.
Who are you looking forward to seeing drop an album or moving forward in their career this year?
I’m excited about Frank’s album. I know Ty Dolla $ign’s album is gonna be crazy. He even let me hear a bit of it. Chris Brown…you know, I keep hearing that ‘X’ is amazing and I can’t wait to hear it. There’s a few people. I’m just really excited about music right now as a whole. As well as a artist, I’m still a fan so, to sit back and be a fan and to actually listen to the way that everything is moving is amazing.
Lastly, what can we expect from you in 2014?
Ah man, a lot more creativity. I think last year showed me that creatively, people like what I do when I’m creative. So, a lot more creativity. A lot more movies, music videos, more music as a whole. Just all around more creativity ’cause I feel I have so much more on my chest that I want to let you guys in on. I feel like it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.
-Interview by Ni’Kesia Pannell
