Bryshere Gray cover-story feature
Bello Magazine, April 2016
HERE COMES YAZZ
One way or another it’s almost im- possible for you to be reading this sen- tence without having heard of Lee Dan- iels’ series—Empire. Knowing Empire means being a fan of Empire—and the same could be said of one its brightest stars; 22-year-old Bryshere “Yazz” Gray.
Yazz plays the youngest son of Terrence Howard’s Lucious Lion and Taraji P. Hen- derson’s Cookie—the rhyme spittin’, im- pulsive and talented Hakeem. In real life, his style doesn’t differ much from his on- screen counterpart. He’s chill, cool, with a fade that probably never needs tending to. His attitude and demeanor is strong, electric and inviting. We’re sitting side by side when his fluffy haired puppy, a mini-poodle by the name of “Prince” scur- ries over and jumps on his lap. Prince in- stantly settles down, as if he were waiting for me to continue the interview, apolo- gizing for his interruption. It’s endearing.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, young- er Yazz’s upbringing wasn’t too far off from that of his character’s. He re- members tougher times. “I wasn’t re- ally fortunate back then,” he says in a thoughtful tone. “My mother was a sin- gle mom, and my father was locked up in Jail. I was getting into a lot of trouble as a kid, in and out of Juvenile deten- tion centers—stuff like that. Growing up in West Philadelphia was rough for me.”
Yazz, as he’s known to be called now, is near- ing the second season of his hit FOX show. in January of 2015 the month of the show’s premiere, it was ranked as the network’s high- est-rated debut in three years—since then view- ership has continuously and vastly increased. At one point reaching 16.7 million total view-ers during it’s freshman finale. It’s a big show, with some big names, and even bigger mu- sic. For Yazz, it’s his first professional acting credit and its changed his life tremendously.
“Booking the role was hectic, man” he says to me, letting out a slight smile. That I can only in- terpret as relief as he looks back on his journey.
“I auditioned for a movie called Brotherly Love, and I didn’t get it. It was my first time audition- ing for a film. It happened to be my manager’s film, and I told him— don’t ever put me in acting again. I just want to focus on performing, open- ing up for artists, and my music.” He’d soon change his mind. “Empire came along, and it was everything. All in one. I auditioned with Lee Daniels. I then learned how accomplished he was as a director and how he was also from Philadelphia. I instantly wanted to work with him.” Two years later, It’s safe to assume Dan- iels instantly wanted to work with him, too. Cast- ing him in the role of the youngest Lyon son, a sharp-mouthed rapper, who gets into his own share of trouble. Hakeem’s performances out- do any of the trouble he finds himself in from time to time. Soon so will Bryshere’s. Having just finalized a contract with a major record la- bel, the name of which hasn’t been disclosed, the Philly native gives me some insight onto what he’s been working on since. “It’s a little bit of hip-hop and urban pop. I want to say it’s a different layer of Hakeem, because Hakeem is a different layer of who I am. So with the mu- sic, it’s somewhat like the Sasha Fierce in me.”
As for the inner workings of his TV show? Things are smoother when the cameras are off, than it is on-screen. “We have great writers. But,some- times the lines don’t go perfectly with a scene. Taraji and Terrence like to make sure the scene comes off real- istically. We’ll go in and rehearse the scene, but it’s a debate. We’ll try and make it as close to real life as pos- sible. Before we shoot, we have a meeting, like a family, and there’s a lot of “Jamal would say this, but Lu- cious wont react that way.” Those kind of moments. It’s real team-work.”
Bryshere’s work ethic is like that of a true Lyon. Perhaps it was this pre- cise quality that landed him the role. Wether this was the case or not, we’re just scratching the surface with he 22-year-old. “I want to be the new Will Smith, you know,” a Philly native my- self—I did know. “I want to keep do- ing movies, and keep inspiring kids. Not just being a rapper. Or just a sing- er. There’s a lot of that out there.” He was right, the amount of pop-candy and senseless rap was abundant. But he was referring to the real shit. The shit they tell stories with on his show. “I want to keep at this good pace. I’m already a part of History with Empire. I just want to keep it going, man. ”