What kind of music do you play?

Want me to play something for you?

Sure.

(Can hear him picking up his acoustic guitar and start strumming, first a fast, jaunty tune and then a ballad. Sings):
Would you marry me
Would you always be
Be my everything?
That I'll ever need
Would you hold me tight
Fill up all my life
'Cos you're my everything
That forever brings
Because you take me
To the very top of the world.

I just make up stuff, have fun.

That was great.

Are you smiling again?

Yeah, I'm smiling. So obviously that's pretty different from crunk, which you had to sing for "Hustle & Flow."

Not too different, man. It's all music.

Did you study Memphis crunk to prepare for your role?

I just hung out and listened to the music. And you allow yourself to be affected by the environment. Like if you're a piano player in a room where there are only trumpets, you're going to have to figure out some form of expression in that language. So it was more like that -- once I understood the language, I could play with it. Remember what Einstein said, about how everything is relative? That transcends the scientific realm. So if you understand one thing about one thing, you understand one thing about all things!

Publicist: This is going to have to be the last question.

Howard: Can we have two more minutes?

Publicist: Yeah, you have two minutes.

Howard: Thank you! (to me): Sorry, I'm making friends!

I have so many more questions to ask you.

Well you have many more opportunities to interview me -- after "Hustle & Flow," depending on how the hype turns out, then for "Four Brothers," then we have "My Life in Idlewild" --

OK, but for this one, let me try to get in a few more. Let's talk about your character in "Hustle & Flow." For a drug dealer and pimp, DJay seems like such a nice, decent guy. I mean, if I were a $20 hooker, I'd want a pimp like that. I have to admit that, as much as I liked DJay, it made me uncomfortable to sympathize with a pimp. Was that part of your or [writer/director] Craig Brewer's intention, or was that just me?

I was just playing his life, and however it was going to be interpreted, it would be interpreted. After I saw [the finished film] I realized, they kept the scene in the church. [In the film, DJay runs into an old friend, Key, a recording engineer, and follows him to a church, where Key records a gospel singer.] And I didn't realize the significance of that scene until it was over. That was the first time DJay had been to church in 20 years, since his father died. And he had cut off all communication and his entire relationship with God and allows himself, this natural child of God, to become something ugly. He became the prodigal son, finding his way back to the stream. And that's why people like him.

You once said, in a 2001 interview with the New York Times Magazine, "If I was white, I would be huge." Now you're getting huge -- so have you cracked the race line, or have the rules of Hollywood changed?

Well, when I said, "If I was white, I would be huge," I meant white as being able to be painted any color, in any picture. And now that they've erased the margins of color for me, as far as having a backdrop, now you can paint anything you want. So I can expand even more now. It's a system of trust -- they learn to trust your work over time.

So you don't think it's just become easier for black actors to --

No, it was never racial. There was no racial tint to it. But I had to learn back then, because I'd make these long-winded statements that fit together as a picture, but someone would just use a small piece from it, and not use the entire picture.

OK. Well, I also read somewhere that you've admitted to being bad with women -- are you getting any practice these days?

No, let the 20-year-olds chase down the women. I spent many years growing up, so I'm just happy to be balanced again with my family.

Ebony magazine called you "Hollywood's 'hottest' heartthrob" -- that's got to have stirred some changes in your love life.

I think the "hottest heartthrob" just might be the sensitivity and the vulnerability that people seem to see in me. And that's what makes the heart move -- sensitivity. And with all the heat and attention being on me right now -- I see it all in a real good, not some sexual, way.

What would be your dream role? Who are you just dying to play next?

I don't know. I'm looking to play a father. Just an average man.

Publicist: OK, thank you.

Well, thanks for talking with me.

Howard: Thank you. And remember, everybody's your friend.

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