Hello, my darling girl no one had a voice like hers i was just calling to see, how is your heart . Talk about being a word smith, everyone else would ask how youre doing, you would say, im fine, great. How is your heart. I said, no one ever asked me that. She said, im sure not. Charlie we concludes this evening with one of the legends of hiphop, nasir jones, known as nas. People hear the music and think i glorify something negative, and they might be so inspired. They may hear a song thats so raw to them that thats all they hear is the negative side, so i had to show them the difference. Im a musician, you know. So never get caught up in the street tales we tell and never let it become you and never let that be what defines you. Just because im from the projects doesnt mean im negative, you know. Charlie an appreciation of maya angelou, and nas, when we continue. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Charlie this week, we note the death of maya angelou, the influential author, actress and activist was 86. Perhaps best known for her autobiography i know why the caged bird sings a candid account of a southern childs live marked by racism and hate. She spoke several languages, taught drama, danced and marched for civil rights with malcolm x and Martin Luther king. When the latter was assassinated on her 40th birthday, she was devastated. First and foremost, she was a poet and over the years a frequent presence on pbs. Her first appearance on my program came in 1993 after she recited her poem on the pulse of the morning at president clintons first inauguration. A rock, a river, a tree, hosts to species long since departed marked the mastadon, the dinosaur who left dry tokens of their sojourn here on our planet floor. Any broad alarm of their hastening doom is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today the rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, come, you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny, but seek no haven in my shadow. I will give you no hiding place down here. I took the three symbols from africanamerican music so that the rock and all that is said about the rock comes from the 19th century gospel song which is there is no hiding place down here no, theres no hiding place down here oh, i went to the rock to hide my face rock cried out, no hiding place you know . And then the river, i took from im gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside to study no more and the tree from my grandmothers favorite song. My grandmother when she died was over 6. And she used to say. I shall not, i shall not be moved actually, she was saying. I shall not, i shall not be removed just like a tree thats planted by the water oh, i shall not be removed so i took those three from that particular genre and africanamerican soul. Charlie once you had that . Then i could talk about all of us the spanish speaking, the jew, the italian, the muslim, the gay and the straight and the teachers, the privileged and the homeless and the artists and all of us who make this fabulous country. I belonged to church in winstonsalem, north carolina, mt. Zion baptist church, and i work in the church. Charlie and sing in the choir . No, but i will work with the choir. Charlie why wouldnt you im not home long enough. It wouldnt be fair. Charlie whats your favorite hymn . My favorite is my grandmothers. Not i shall not be moved, but she had a song she used to sing every sunday, every sunday the b. brought, mon the mother of the church pew, and the preacher would say, andanow, we will be privileged with a song from sister henderson. And every sunday for ten years, my grandmother would say, me . And i would think, momma, get up and sing they even know what youre going to sing the kids would be giggling, growr grandmother is your grandmother is doing it again oh, it was horrible then she would stand and sing. I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow im lost in this wide world alone charlie sing it, sister im not here to sing and i cant sing, either. Charlie yes, you can. There was also the dark side to Maya Angelous childhood in the rural racially divided south. It woul would become the grist r her breakthrough novel. My friend bill moyers went back with her to stamps, arkansas. The black part of stamps started right there at that bridge. Charlie where that fellows fishing . Well, yes, there and behind us. At the at the railroad track. This was more or less no mans land here because, if you were black, you never felt really safe when you simply crossed the railroad tracks. You still had to go all this way. It was like an International Tarmac where anybody could get you. You were really in the black part of town when you crossed that Little Bridge and the pond. Then you were safe. Then, if you didnt know everybody, at least everybody knew who you were, you know. And as a child, it was the chance to have some protection. I used to have to walk over here. Oh, gosh, i hated it. I had no protection at all over there. I had an idea of protection on this side. I had my grandmother on this side. I had the church, my uncle and all my people were on this side. So i had an idea of protection, but there i would be all alone. And i loathed it, walking those railroad tracks. Bill, i tell you, to show you how much things dont change, im not even going to cross it with you now. I dont really im not doing this for any reason other than i really do not want to go across there. I really dont. I understand. So what are you thinking right now . Charlie it was the challenges of her childhood, not only segregation and jim crow but incidents of sexual abuse that would fuel her fires of creativity. After she named her abuser and he was killed by a mob, she went mute for five years. This is a letter to myself when i was about 15. Dear me. Myself then. First, i know you know how to miss him. When i was 8, i became a mute and was mute until i was 13. And i thought of my whole body as an ear, so i could go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. That talent or ability has lasted and served me until today. Once you appreciate one of your blessings, one of your senses, the sense of hearing, then you begin to respect the sense of seeing and touching and tasting. You learn to respect all the senses. Charlie you have done everything. No, i have not. I have tried a lot of things. I have failed at some things and succeeded at some things. Charlie yeah, but what i love about you is that you have attacked it all with great passion. I mean, look at all the books here you have written. If i could look at all the things youve done from journal its, poet, writer, actor, producer, all of those kind of things which suggest this uncommon confidence in yourself and willingness to risk failure. Yes, but maybe its more dangerous to risk success. Charlie what do you mean . Well, a lot of people dont really want success. Charlie ive never understood that. This is true. Charlie they dont want it and the best evidence of that is they fail. Charlie they fail. The best evidence of that is they dont try things. Thats right, thats right. But to succeed means that youre in front of god and lots of responsible people and you have to either eat your words or stand by them. I think that i have agreed a long time ago, charlie rose, this may be my greatest blessing, i agreed a long time ago that i would die. Now, if i can admit that, that no matter what happens, i will do this thing, this is the biggest bugaboo of them all, i will do that, well, then, why couldnt i attempt something lesser . So i will try. Charlie among her many accomplishments, maya angelou also became a teacher, first poet and resident and professor at wake forest university. Even as she grew frail, angelous writings continued to inspire. The final post on her twitter account was as beautiful and simple, listen to yourself and in that quietude, you might hear the voice of god. You think poetry is the music of the voice. It is all music. I go back to edgar allan poe, Mickey Giovanni all poetry is music written for the human voice and only comes into its own when it is spoken. Its fine and wonderful to see professors of literature and the Ivy League Universities and colleges looking at what is called concrete poetry that is poetry which is to be seen and, so, how it is shaped is so important to the poetry, thats fine and may be true, but to me, until the human voice gives it elevation, it doesnt really sing, it doesnt come into its own, it doesnt lift the heart and make the blood race. Charlie of all the talents you have, what one of them resonates most with you . What one of them is the clearest expression of who and what you are . Im a writer. Thats what i am. Thats who i am. Thats how i describe myself to myself and to god in prayer. When i say, lord, you remember me . Maya angelou, tall, 6tall black female, i write, lord. When i feel like i have to describe myself to the lord, i always include, i write, thats what im able to do. I thank the lord that im able to do other things. Im grateful, but thats how i describe myself to myself. Charlie is it, in your judgment, a learned craft . Well, everything is learned, charlie rose. I dont know how you learn it, but everything is learned. It is said some people are born great, some achieve it and some have it thrust upon them. Well, i think thats true of all the things you are. You are born that thing, you earn it and some of it is thrust upon you. I believe that to be so. Charlie so your story was thrust upon you. It was mine to live. Charlie yeah. Mine to live. So it is now. It is mine to live, and i try to live it with so much flare. I do. Charlie maya angelou, dead at 86. We continue our appreciation of maya angelou with gayle king. She was a friend of maya angelou, and she is a great friend of mine. She and maya knew each other more than 30 years. She has called the poet and teacher one of a kind in all the best ways. Gayle is cohost of cbs this morning and much more than that. I am pleased to have her with me at this time knowing the depth of her feelings about maya angelou. I thank you. Its been a very interesting week, charlie. The first day came as we had just gotten off the air and you sort of get through that. The next day, after watching all the tv coverage and seeing your friends name with the birth date and end date of her death and then to see people going to her house and laying flowers at a house you have been to many times was very, very hard. Charlie tell us the maya you knew. Well, i was thinking about this because what is it like to admire somebody as a kid and then you meet them and then you become friends, so friendly you see them in your pajamas, so friendly theyre in the kitchen cooking for you, that theyre asking you your feelings, how are you doing, whats going on in your life . I would sometimes be in awe of her, watching her move around. I know that she generally, generally cared for me and im so grateful for that. I met her through oprah. She and oprah had been friends many, many years. I met her through oprah and a long time didnt call her anything. I was afraid to Say Something to her, and i would always try to make eye contact before i would just start talking. One day, i said, dr. Angelou she said, why are you calling me that . I heard her chastise people who called her maya. I said, i just thought i was supposed to. She said, no, youre not, what are you doing . Then i thought, oh, she likes me charlie did she Say Something like she would look after you . Yeah, you know, my mom died in 1994, and she called me one day and said, hello, my darling girl no one had a voice like hers i was just calling to see how is your heart. Which i think talk about being a wordsmith. How is your heart. I said, boy, maya, no ones ever asked me that before. She said, im sure not. Doesnt that sound like her . Im sure not charlie she had a sense of confidence and self. Thats what resonates with so many people. Ive gotten so many amazing emails and letters and phone calls from people who said i never met maya but because of her i feel more confident and stronger about myself, i feel significant in my own body. Thats certainly what maya did for many, many people. She didnt care about your color, your class. So you would go to her house for thanksgiving you know, charlie, for thanksgiving at maya angelou with 300 people or so she was a very good cook. There would be the housekeeper and driver sitting with diplomats and politicians and famous people because, in her, the human condition was the same, and thats something that i think, you know, ill never ever forget that. But, also, she could be very tough. Charlie and demanding. Very tough and demanding. When we were sitting around the table and you said something that she felt was inappropriate, a racist or sexual joke, she would say, stop it stop it i will not have that i have seen her at other peoples homes and say, you cant do that in this house she would have people leave the table saying, i dont want it in my furniture, i dont want it in my curtains, you must leave we would sit there, like, oh, this is awkward, but she was very sure of herself. I called her once and i was complaining i thought it was venting and seeking advice. Im mid story and she said, stop it, stop it i said, i havent finished. She said, i dont care, it doesnt matter. Youre whining. I said, im not whining, im just youre whining. Charlie youre seeing yourself as a victim. She said a, whining is very unbecoming, it lets you know theres a victim in the neighborhood and you must stop it. You must say thank you. What am i saying thank you for . You must always say thank you you can always say thank you. Im, like, thank you i wanted to shrink under the table shes the only one who could make me feel like i was seven charlie leather bound copies of her books with a lovely inscription they came a week before she died to my office. She had written a note to me in them. I called her to say thank you. That was the last conversation i had with her. She said, i wanted you to have these. I dont think people said, oh, she must have known. I dont think so, charlie. I talked to her son, i talked to people who had talked to maya the day before she died, she was planning the party for the fourth of july she had been fragile for so long that we all thought it could happen any day, this week, next week, a year or two from now. We didnt think it would be that day. When youre 86 years old and you die in your own home, in your own bed, peacefully without pain, there is something very beautiful in that. Everybody has a favorite maya quote. Charlie people wanted to share their emotion with you when they know your relationship. People say, i feel like i lost my mother and grandmother. Everyone says what i believe, too, you know, not to have that wisdom or hear that voice. You know, of course, oprah and i talked, she was on a movie set this week and she said, im not looking nate of the coverage. I said, oh, man, oprah, you should see the coverage. She said, i dont want to look at it because i dont want to think of maya as a news story. But for me, you know, im a news junky, as are you. I couldnt get enough of it. I wanted to know what people said. You know, the impact she had on people really does live on and, in that way, there will always be a place for us with maya. Charlie she had such a powerful personal story. Yeah. Charlie what she had overcome and wrote about. And even going mute. Even that. Think about this little girl who was raped at the age of 7, and she speaks of it, she tells her uncle, and the man who did this ends up being killed he was beaten to death and she feels that because of her voice, this man its a wellknown story because of her words, this man lost her life and to decide at 7 that im not going to speak, and she didnt speak for five years because she was so consumed with that. What little kid thinks like that . That shows you again, she was in a different gear than most people. She was very confident in her own skin. Very confident in her own skin. You know, you might not agree with her tactics sometimes of correcting people, but she was never wrong. She was never wrong in that respect. Charlie she could also be a bit of a she was mischievous. Charlie yes. She said to me, you know, im juicy like a peach, and she would hold her head like that. Im juicy like a peach. She was very smitten with you, charlie rose. Charlie well, thank you. Its a testimony to her and what she meant as a part of the legend of maya angelou. Im delighted to be her. Charlie back in a moment, stay with us. In my youth before i was corrupt bid the business of national security, i was a poet. Charlie you were a poet . And i loved writing and studying poetry. And she was from my earliest days as a student of poetry one of my very favorites. Then as i grew up and had more opportunities and exposure, i got to meet her on a number of occasions, and she had such grace and warmth and dignity, she was extraordinarily affirming of everybody she touched. Charlie nasir jones is here, most know him as nas. Professor of english at harvard calls him a poit illmatic, his album, introduced people to the streets of new york. It was written, its a depiction of inner city blight. More than 20 years later the story behind the album is the subject of new documentary called time isomatic. Here is the trailer for the documentary. I felt like a king was born. Every rhyme was like the best i ever heard in my life. Eight, nine, ten years old, talking about the devil and god. Nobody was rhyming like that back then. One, two, three illmatic was a new beginning of rap. It was like living a hustlers life through poetry. When i made illmatic, i was trying to make the perfect album. It comes from the days of wild style. I was trying to make you experience my life. I wanted you to look at hiphop differently. I wanted you to feel that hiphop was changing and becoming something more real. I gave you what the streets felt like, what it sounded like, tasted like, smelled like, all in that album, and i tried to capture it like no one else could. Charlie is your music poetry . I never liked that word. No. Charlie why not . It sounds too refined, too charlie not raw. Right. I consider my music more raw, especially the first record. I was more raw. Charlie you said this was your effort at perfection. Yes, i tried to make it perfect because, at that point, it was my first it was my entry into the rap game so the rap game was full of so many hardhitting groups and artists that if it was anything less than what i felt would be perfect, i would have failed. I would have never gotten into the rap game. Today is a lot easier, i think, to get into the rap game. But back then, in 94, it was a lot a lot harder. Charlie did you change the game . Yes. Yes, i did. And that was my point. It was my point to i was a new voice and, then, a new voice automatically it was beyond my control. It was, like, im a new voice with something a new way to talk about things, and it changed things. Charlie how different is hiphop today . Its definitely more global. Its everywhere. Its more of the mainstream. Charlie its been i dont want to say this word but its been accepted as the music form it is. Its been accepted for sure. Yeah, thats the difference. Charlie even if its protest, its been accepted. Absolutely. Like, its cool. laughter it used to be a lot scarier. Charlie yeah. How does that happen, do you think . Well, people dont get scared anymore. They realize that this nightmarish music is not going to influence your kids to g thrw it all away. Its okay. Charlie where do you see yourself in this evolution . Well, i see myself as just just as a musician. I feel like im growing, i evolve. Im an evolving artist and i evolved with the times, i feel like. You have to, you know. Charlie dont you say the name an artist you havent influenced. Yeah, thats bragdocious way of rap, you know. Yeah, ive influenced a few, sure, and i have been influenced by a lot of artists as well. Charlie like whom . Slick rick, ice cube, ll cool jay, rakim big daddy cane, kool g. Rap, michael jackson. Charlie michael jackson. Frank sinatra. You know, a wide list. Charlie yeah. Of artists. From sinatra, you got what . I liked when he said i did it my way. I didnt know Frank Sinatras name. I heard his name when i was a kid, but the song my way stood out to me, as a kid. Charlie you know, i have been doing this for a few years, so ive met a lot of artists. This is jayz making the case hiphop is poetry. This is in 2004. The hiphops poetry and the poets in hiphop are some of the best ever. The stories being told all the while rhyming and staying on beat and expressing emotions and having people connect to those emotions, oh, man, thats some of the best music ever. Ever. Ever. You know, not to knock any of the industry, like the things that hiphop artists sing about, those are real things. Those are things people connect to. Thats why hiphop artists have movements, people follow them because the things theyre saying resonate with people. You know, it strikes a chord. When its done correctly, the connection in hiphop, the raw honesty and poetry in what were saying is unrivaled. Charlie what role did the street play for you, the queens bridge projects . Everything. Charlie everything . It was school. Charlie it was your school . Yeah, the real school. You know, it was survival of the fittest. It was beautiful. You know, a lot of times, when you hear rap artists talk about the hood, we dont get a chance to talk about the beauty of the community, also. A lot of great people come out of the neighborhoods and i have been inspired by the all, the good and bad, but its definitely a survival. Charlie where did this documentary come from that we saw . This was a couple years in the making by two cool guys, one nine and eric parker. They put this together and i wanted nothing to do with it. I mean, i knew them from being around them in the industry, they were working in the industry, and they had interviewed my father and a few other people and, you know, that wasnt new. There were people coming around, interviewing my folks and, you know, but something about them, they kept at it, and they really were so determined to get it done that, you know, i thought it had gone away. And just last year, we sat down and they showed me how much theyd done, and i just had to take my hat off and finally sit down and do an interview and let them in. Im glad i did. Charlie heres another artist that you know, kanye west talking about his skills and others, an appearance on this program in 2005. Here it is. Im not that good of a rapper. Im getting pretty nice. Charlie but youre not that good. Yeah, im no jayz, im no nas, but i got a niche. I got my thing. Charlie hes no nas thats kanye, the one and only, man. Charlie because . He charlie he does the music and the lyrics . He does the music and the lyrics and takes it to another level and hes not scared to say whats on his mind and he does it in a way where its just you know, amazing. Charlie press eats him up, dont they . Yeah, man. That comes with the territory, you know. And hes walking on some pretty some dangerous ground. He likes to live on the wild side seems like, but, really, seems like hes trying to offer himself. Hes showing us who he is and the media eats that up, you know. Charlie what is gangsta rap or maf oso rap . I think that came in the 90s. It wasnt the type of records you play on the radio at all. The language was out there. Charlie violent subject matter. Violent subject matter. Some would say derogatory. Some would say disrespectful to women. But today its funny because they play that stuff today, whereas back then no chance. But, yet, these guys still sold records, lots of records and got the title gangsta rap. Charlie this is your rap. I got far from my life but kid who made his fame from a pen you sound good saying that. charlie reading rap thats nice. Charlie thats your words. Because when i talk about the street, you know, people hear the music and they start to feel like im glorifying violence or something negative and they may be inspired, the kids might hear a song thats so raw again, raw, the word but they hear it and its so raw that its all they hear is the negative side. So i had to show the difference. Im a musician, you know. So never get caught up in, you know, the street tales we tell and never let it become you and never let that be what defines you. Just because im from the projects doesnt mean im negative, you know. Charlie absolutely. I dont think you are. So of all the lines youve written, what are the ones youre most proud of . Where do you think you were at your best . I dont think i charlie you dont have to choose one, but just among them. I didnt get there yet. Charlie youre not there. Im not there yet. Charlie so youre still coming. Im still working, still learning. Charlie how do you learn . I read. I like talking to older people. Wisdom. You know, i love wisdom. Charlie im going to take a look at this. This is a clip from one of your music videos. Here it is. rapping charlie 20 years. 20 years since you released this. 20. Thats crazy. Crazy. Charlie youve got two kids now . Yeah, son and daughter. Charlie how else are you different . Well, ive always been a calm individual, but im a lot more calm, and ive changed in ways where i was once a rebel to america, and now i like america a lot more. Charlie you like america a lot more because it accepted you . No. I dont want to feel accepted. Charlie you dont. I want to earn it. I want to im like everybody else in this world and i just want to be a part of this whole human family and i dont need to be accepted by anybody. But its better for me because now i can see different. I can see why certain things are the way they are, why the system works a certain way, and it doesnt seem like a beast that i cant conquer anymore. It feels like this is my soil, this is where im from, this is who i am. A proud american. There was a time when i didnt feel that way. Charlie new york state of mind. Yes. Charlie what do you think of that . Oh, thats one of my favorites. That is one of my favorites. Theres a darkness to the music, but theres a piano thing in there. Its a lot different from billy joels new york state of mind. I like his version. Charlie i do, too. But, you know, it didnt come from his version, it came from me, just a kid in new york, and i wanted to make that a picture of my live. Charlie where is hiphop today . Oh, wow. Charlie what place is it . Acceptance, for sure . Celebrated, for sure . Taken its place among genres. Yeah. Its in a happy place. Charlie yeah. The music is about its funny you said its celebrated. Its about celebration more than ever been. A lot of Party Records. A lot of Party Records for the strip clubs. Theres a lot of those records around. So its happy. Its happy. Charlie you gave Rolling Stone magazine a list of your favorite songs. Okay, yeah. Charlie they all came from the 1980s, the socalled golden age of hiphop. Yeah. Charlie would you change it if you were doing a new hist . No. Its still a nation of millions by public enemy. He was very outspoken. The music was loud and crazy. Its still, you know, the same records that i grew up with. Today the intensity in the music and rap music is not there as much. So im stuck there. Charlie are the conflicts there as much . What do you mean . Charlie well, eastwest, all of that. No, thats gone. Thats moved on. Everybodys grown up. There are conflicts. There are conflicts, of course. These are kids from the street and they come from one side of the street, and hiphop is also also has a competitive thing about it, but its battling between lier cysts, and those conflicts will always be around but its not on the level of east coast, west coast. Charlie is one person the king . I think theres a few kings. Charlie who are they . You. Well, krs once said kings rule and mostly never understood, so sometimes its cool being the king and at other times, you know, watch your head. Id like to put a crown on a lot of the young guys coming up, kendrick lamar, drake. Charlie drake . Yeah. A lot of the young guys, id like to see them you know, theyre doing their thing and theyre coming up in a way thats impressive. Charlie you can do this how long . You can do it as long as you want to. How long do you want to . As long as Frank Sinatra did it. Charlie you said nothing about bob dylan. I love dylan. Charlie i would think so. We were labelmates. I was on Columbia Records in my early years in rap, that album is on columbia, still, and some of the executives there would tell me i was the new bob dylan, and that was mind blowing. Charlie it should be. Yeah. Charlie speaking of poetry. Oh, man, hes someone thats, like you know, whew, hes out there. Amazing. Charlie when you look at the artists who have made it, i mean, do all of them have a bundle of talent . No. Charlie they dont . I mean, i shouldnt say that because im sure, to make it, you have to have some kind of talent. Charlie you have to have something. Youve got to have something. But, you know, what is making it . That sometimes bothers me because i look at a lot of the artists who made it through the years and they dont always seem too happy. Like we say, the press eats them up or, you know, i wonder if theyre happy with what they are . Charlie and what was the feud you had with jayz . That was about getting those conflicts of the two lyricists. It was about new york, i guess king stuff from new york. You know, we were both coming up, young and full of, you know, that energy that demanded the crown, and that happens. Charlie but you settled it, didnt you . Yeah, thats my guy. Me and him are cool. Yeah. Me and him are cool. Charlie hes got the queen. Hes got the queen. Hes got the queen. So, yeah. If you want to mention my king, all right, i gave the young guy some credit, hes the king. Hes the king. When you talk about that, youre talking about someone, like, 20 years, someone whos been around that long and broken down barriers and someone whose music stands the test of time and the current music theyre doing is still, like, breaking records, changing the world, changing things and people are, you know, following these guys. You know, people like that, i think you need to be around 20 years or something to really be in that position because you can lose your crown fast when youre young. One wrong move, the crowns gone. Charlie but after 20 years 20 years. Charlie he has a greater claim. Yeah. Charlie are you creating all the time . Never. Only in the studio, and im hardly there. Charlie why . I want to enjoy my life. You know, im really happy about how far ive come, but its important to not miss out on the real things in life, too. Charlie like children . Hildren, family. Charlie community. Ommunity. You know, learning and never getting, you know, too far away from community. Become isolated. Charlie can you make the argument that the best years are ahead of you . Best work is ahead of you . Absolutely, because i havent done it, yet. I havent done the best stuff yet. Its still coming. Like, when you look at the greats, like mali from where he started to where he ended, it was just, you know, he grew into something really, like, next level. Charlie okay, heres one more music video, if i rule the world. Here it is. rapping charlie what about you and this harvard. Yeah. Charlie how did it come about . Harvard has classes in art. They have a hiphop archive where they have all this old stuff. You can go and look at and learn from so they were starting a fellowship and needed a name to go with that fellowship, and they asked me. Of course, you know, i was happy. I was more than happy to do it. You know, sometimes i get up in the morning and i cant believe im still here. I cant believe the things that i made it through. There is people i wish were still around that didnt make it with me, and i think about how it could have went the other way and how close charlie you could have been them. Yeah, definitely. So for me to be here and not only be here but have harvard acknowledge me in my work and want to put my name on something just shows, man, never give up. Charlie youre the guy who said, my people be projects or jail, never harvard or yale. Right. I got to start changing the lyrics. Charlie you do, because you became harvard. I became harvard. Charlie nas jones fellowship at harvard university. Your kids will be going to harvard, you know that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So ive got to change the lyrics up. Charlie you were at this harvard conference and gates said black americans are experiencing the best and the worst of times. Is that true . Yes. Totally. Gates is someone i look up to and he knows so much about african history, world history, black american history, so when he says Something Like that, its definitely real, and i see both sides. My friends dont have not all my friends have lots of money. A lot of my friends are still from the community i come from, and with the conditions that we deal with, whether stop and frisk, whether there are large amounts of people thrown in jail or whatever it is, its rough out there. But, yet, still, you have dr. Dre charlie 2 billion. 3 billion. Charlie 3 billion. 3 billion, and we still have president barack obama im really proud of. So, yeah, its a parallel universe. Charlie dr. Dre and jimmy. Im so proud of them. Its amazing. Says a lot about apple. They know about hiphop and know whats going on. Charlie i think they were buying more than headphones, dont you . I think they were buying heads. Wow. Charlie you heard it here. I heard it here. Charlie its true, though, isnt it . Yeah. Charlie they were buying heads, not headphones. Totally. But, still, weve got to celebrate. Its the first hiphop billionaire guy to do a multibillion dollar deal. Charlie still 3 billion. 3 billion. Charlie whatever they wanted, its 3 billion. So theres hope for people who come from places like i come from to be a dr. Dre. Charlie you said your pop told me a fool at 40 is a fool forever, so im in good shape, ive come a long way. Yeah. Charlie hes a jazz musician, right . He doesnt like it when i say he was a jazz musician. He said, i played jazz at the time because that was the music that would pay my bills. So he came out of the navy and played jazz at the time. But hes into all kinds of music. Hes officially retired, now, but, yeah, he has given me a lot of wise words through the years. Charlie whats important to you now . Health, family, knowledge, wisdom, understanding. Im always trying to learn. I want to create a safe environment for my family, a peaceful environment for myself. I want to always maintain a peaceful environment where i can work on whatever it is that i need to work on. Charlie have you made a ton of money . Well, whats a ton of money . Ive made more money than i ever thought i would make, and i continue to make a lot of money. Charlie and thats all right. Yeah. Yeah, its great. Its great, but its also its more great to figure out a way i can bring it back to my community and to all communities in this country and teach, if i can, how the next man can do it, too. Charlie the thing you can do is create and be an example. Absolutely, and i want to continue to do that right, you know. So thats my focus and, also, on top of that, i want to teach kids ways to get into this American Dream where they dont have to be rappers. Charlie well, exactly. Unless its in their heart, unless its what they really love. But you dont have to rap or play basketball or sports. Theres so many things you can do here. Charlie education is the key. Yes. Charlie on this day we remember maya angelou. Yes. Sad. Sad but shes angelic. She she makes the word poetry great, when i think of poetry. I dont consider myself necessarily a poet. I dont what it is i do. Charlie you know what she did. I know what she did, and she i guess she did what i do now, in a way. I mean, she was before me, before this genre rap happened, she was the mother of it. She is one of the greatest things america ever produced that i ever witnessed. Charlie an inspiration . An inspiration on so many levels, such a positive energy, you know, for women, for men. Another way to look at women for men who dont know how to understand women, who do not respect women, who do not understand black women, she was a shining star, and she was that doorway into understanding love and intelligence and passion. She saw things with extra eyes, you know, things i couldnt see. Things that were right in my face. The way she told it, how she saw it, her pective, divine. Charlie its an honor to have you here. Youre a remarkable young man. Its an honor to be here. I watch your shows. I cant believe im here, knock on wood. This is what its about. Thank you. Charlie thank you for joining us. See you next time. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org explore new worlds and new ideas through programs like this, made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Dr. Joel fuhrman is a boardcertified physician whose groundbreaking work has been acclaimed as a medical breakthrough for weight loss, disease reversal and prevention. The american diet today has 62 of calories from processed foods. How many of you would like a promise that you dont have to have a heart attack when you get older . Hes a New York Times bestselling author and a widely published nutritional researcher. And i see people putting this into practice every day, transforming their lives. Never forget that your health is your greatest wealth