Artist Mack Wilds is more than a charm on big screen. Most fans known him as Tristan Wilds the actor who starred on HBO’s hit show “The Wire” followed by his re-occuring role on the CW teen drama hit show “92010”. Wilds also starred in big blockbuster films such as ‘ The Secret Life Of Bees‘ and George Lucas war film ‘Red Tails‘ which debut last year.
Wilds is now switching gears from the tv creen to the music industry. As Mack Wilds explains music is his very first love and he had a passion in pursuing a career as a singer/songwriter since he was a child. Last week following the VMA’s, I was invited to Mack Wilds home in the Soho district of New York to listen to raw cuts off his new album: New York: A Love Story [ in stores September 17th]. Wilds performed a few songs, and gave me a semi-tour of his home which features both self portraits of the artist himself and other art works . I learned very quickly that Wilds was a HUGE fan of art and most of all, he enjoys residing in the place where he grew up, New York City [which he tributes to his album title].
So lets get into it. Check out a excerpts and photos of the event below:
On The Inspiration Of His New Single & Video: “Own It”
” The culture of hip hop. I wanted to show what the culture of hip hop was today as it relates to back in the day. It’s not much of a difference. I think the difference is our clothing options and things like that but honestly hip hop culture is still present. There kids still doing grafffiti [like myself]. There are kids that dance [they might not breakdance as much] but they dancing. All of that encompasses what hip ho pis is; rapping, break-dancing, dj-ing.”
On His First Love Music vs. Acting:
“Absolutely,Music was my first love. Since birth – I was around music my whole life. I fell in love with acting when I was 15 years old but before that all I wanted to do is music.”
On His Music Influences:
“Everybody. From Stevie Wonder to Phil Collins. From Billy Joel, Queen, Daf Punk, to Roy Aires Donnie Hathaway, Biggie, Jay-Z, Tupac, Rakim, etc.”
On The New Album:
“Just some real hard hitting music. From the more uptempo songs to the ballads. Everything hits hard and feels great and for me it feels like home. It feels like a place; like New York City. It’s a place in time and I think that’s what we really try to capture and we did a really good job at it.”
On What Fans Can Expect From The New Album:
“It’s different and its feels new. It’s a sound that we haven’t had for a long time.It’s New York! And I feel like ALOT of people are hungry for something new and lord willing I’m able to quench that thirst.”
Watch the full interview below:
Be sure to keep up with Mack Wilds. Twitter & Instgram: @mackwilds Facebook: themackwilds
Here’s Mack Wilds new single “Own It”