Nick Cannon Interview

6 June 2007

For someone his age he has achieved a whole lot. He has bounced back from over publicized break ups in his personal life and like many of his contemporaries; Nick Cannon exudes a confidence that may be mistaken for arrogance. Yet when you talk to him as he takes a break from shooting a movie you understand that he has every reason to be confident.As a fully fledged entrepreneur he has his hands in pretty much every pie he can, music, movies and TV. Heading up his own record label is obviously something he is extremely excited about, just another brick laid in his multi faceted foundations.Of course now Nick Cannon has found a queen to share his empire with. Model Selita Ebanks was overjoyed when the mogul proposed to her early last month in true flamboyant style; a billboard in New Yorks Times Square. You could say life has never been better for him.

You are excelling in all your fields. Just talking about Kanye West and I know you have a management deal going with Blue Williams, do you make a point of surrounding yourself with successful people to encourage your career?

Nick Cannon: Yeah, I mean it is always good to surround yourself around strong creative people because you bounce ideas off each other and you want to be around the type of people that you strive to be. So, I surround myself with greatness if I am trying to achieve greatness.

How do you balance everything, with so much going on?

Nick Cannon: No sleep, I just take naps, that's my motto.B

ehind you though, to do what you do, your team has got to be on point.

Nick Cannon: Yeah, I have a strong team behind me, but the management is everything. Having people that believe in your vision, that is a beautiful thing. Like with Motown/Universal, having Sylvia Rhone and Tone from the Trackmasters and having that great support system and even having MTV behind me for "Wild 'N Out" and all the different directors with the films, that's all support systems. Then, having the key people in place -- like you said, the Blue Williams -- that really step up and help you out.

You have been on the scene since '93...

Nick Cannon: Yeah, I mean, I have been doing stand up comedy for a long time. But, the first thing I probably did was '97.

You see a lot of these teen stars from back in the day fall off due to external factors -- drugs, alcohol, unable to handle the fame and what comes a long with it. How have you kept yourself on the right track?

Nick Cannon: Man, my family keeps me grounded. My grandmother is like my personal support system. When she doesn't approve of something that she can't show the ladies at church, then I stay away from it. I mean, I was pretty much grown by the time that I actually had money. I lived a regular childhood and went to school like a regular kid, and I think that a lot of that stuff...when kids miss out on their childhood, they become the breadwinner and no one can tell them what to do, that is when things start going wrong. But, my parents never had to pop me upside my head.

Do you like to party?

Nick Cannon: Man, I love to party and I party hard where ever I am at. I like to roll with a lot of women, you know that's the best way.

You are very grounded, humble even, how do you maintain that with all the success you have achieved?

Nick Cannon: Well to me, it is just a career. It is not my life. This is what I do 9 to 5. I am still the same cat and the only thing that is different is my jewelry costs a bit more. I still visit my grandmother and sleep on the same bed and take out the trash. I haven't really changed and I think if you look at it that way, you enjoy it more and you can appreciate it for what it is, instead of starting to believe your own hype and all that. To me, that stuff is silly. This is what I do for a living. I have been given a chance to live out my dreams, which is pretty cool.