Terrence Howard
Why the actor-turned-singer won't let his kids listen to hip-hop.
by Tammy La Gorce
October 28, 2008
Some of your favorite artists are '70s old-school singer-songwriters. You've said that's because your parents turned you on to that sort of personal, heavily emotional music and also because you appreciate a sensitive, thoughtful lyric. What kind of music are you listening to now? What kind of music are your kids listening to?
I listen to Jim Croce, James Taylor, Paul Simon. Paul Simon is still inside my car CD player. I haven't changed what I'm listening to because I still haven't heard much in music to lead me in a different direction. Music is still saturated with electronic sounds. It's not true style, not something that can inspire me. My son loves Jim Croce, Cat Stevens. One of his favorite songs is (Stevens') "Father and Son."
There was a terrible incident in your childhood that's been widely written about. When you were two, you watched your father stab a man who made racist comments in a department store, and he went to prison for it. I'm going to assume that you were a really strong, resilient kid, because despite such a hardship you went on to be a success. Are your own kids resilient people?
They are. But I think of how much further I might have come if that hadn't occurred. I've been defensive; I've chased people away. My kids were born with natural resilience, and I think they'll be able to spring much further than me, because they haven't been pushed down.
You're thirty-nine, but you look twenty-five. How do you do it? I tell my children ABC: Always be comfortable, always be calm.
Bad living. I haven't been to the gym lately because I had been taking care of my mom [who passed away this fall] and it took a lot out of me. But no: I usually drink a lot of water. Cayenne pepper is good and so is ginger and bitter greens. You've got to work out on a regular basis, you've got to sweat for a good twenty or thirty minutes every day. What makes people look old is having all these toxins trapped in their bodies. You've got to sweat them out.
What can we see you in next? Or should we just plan to come to a concert?
Fighting is going to come out in the spring — that's Dito Montiel's film with Channing Tatum, who's great. I'll also be touring for the next couple years; you can check my myspace.
Anything else you want to tell Babble readers?
Yeah. I taught my children one thing: If they want to know what I would say about something and I'm not there for them to ask me, if they want to know what I would think, I tell them ABC. Always be comfortable, always be calm. If you're not comfortable in a circumstance, if you're not calm, turn around and walk away. Say no. You know in your heart what's right, and that's all you need to know.
©2008 Tammy La Gorce and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Tammy La Gorce is a freelance entertainment writer living in New Jersey with her son and daughter. Her work regularly appears in The New York Times, GRAMMY and other magazines. |
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