Hip Hop Wired: You mentioned that you were a rapper, are you coming out with any albums or other projects soon?
Affion Crockett: Not really. To be honest, I’m so far removed from the culture that rap is in right now, that I don’t desire to be a part of it as far as pursuing it as an artist. I’ll be a fan of it, and the time is right and the opportunity is right, I’ll make an album. I’ve done mixtapes before; I’ve done collaborations with people like Talib Kweli. But right now, I’m really focused on comedy and acting, and I want to service the audience with that for now.
Hip Hop Wired: Was it a hard transition from Hip-Hop to comedy?
Affion Crockett: Not at all. I never really pursued rap to that level. I’ve always just been a comedian and an actor. The rap thing came in the middle as the more people I met with, I collaborated with. I’ve always been on the path of comedy and acting but I’ve fused them together now with Hip-Hop so now you can call it a Hip-Hop style of comedy.
Hip Hop Wired: Out of all the people you’ve done impersonations of, who has been the most receptive? Has anyone given you any flack about your work?
Affion Crockett: No flack to date. Jay Z was very receptive. He loved the impression. Russell Simmons was probably the most receptive. After he saw me do the impressions, we ended up doing Hustles With Russell together, a 7-part YouTube series . That was probably the biggest compliment I’d received off my work…someone being so appreciative of it that he really wanted to get involved.
Hip Hop Wired: Tell us a little about In The Flow. In the past it was communicated that Jamie Foxx was doing a sketch comedy show and then you were doing one and somehow they merged. What was the connection or clarify the misconfusion.
Affion Crockett: It’s still a sketch comedy show. There were no monkey wrenches in the system. It was always meant to be my show with Jamie Foxx’s named attached as executive producer and to introduce me to the world. It also gives the show more publicity as he’s an Oscar winner, Grammy winner, and a veteran of sketch comedy. So he was always there to oversee the project but it was always meant to take my same vision I had on YouTube videos and turn that into a TV show.
It’s definitely sketch comedy. Jamie’s not in it but its plenty of other guest stars where you’re not going to be sitting around asking, ‘Where’s Jamie?’
