Adult Swim: Celeb-Nerdy with Michael Jai White

What's the difference between a regular nerd and a famous nerd? This ancient riddle's answer is very simple: the famous ones are famous! In Celeb-Nerdy, we study these celebrity nerds much more closely, by asking rock stars, directors, and beloved spokespeople to geek out and fess up to hobbies or interests that they once tried to keep a secret. In this edition, we talk to Michael Jai White (Spawn, plus cameos in The Boondocks and Kill Bill Vol. 2), the star of both Black Dynamite and the coming Adult Swim animated series based upon the blaxploitation-parody film, about his undying love of '70s rockers that would put any baby boomer to shame.

Black Dynamite Movie Trailer

What, to you, defines '70s rock?

It's just kinda a wholesome era. Maybe "wholesome" isn't the right word, because I don't know where '70s rock would be without LSD. To me it's just a music that has spoken to me ever since I was a kid. I would be in rural Brooklyn or the mean streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut and was a closet rock listener. [Laughs.] That was R&B and hip-hop central. Nobody knows that I'm listening to The Eagles.

What lengths did you go to to hide your musical tastes?

I always had my tapes and stuff, and if my window's open and I'm in the projects, I'd change my tape. Maybe I might put on some Public Enemy, but if my windows are up I'm listening to Jackson Browne.

“Maybe I might put on some Public Enemy, but if my windows are up I'm listening to Jackson Browne.”

What was the first band from that era you remember clicking with?

Aerosmith? I don't know if I could pick one specifically, but I know I was listening to Christopher Cross and Harry Chapin and Jim Croce. I was into lyrics. I couldn't not hear the lyrics. When Rock & Roll Jeopardy! would be on, I'd sit there and I swear I'd beat most of the people. I'd sit at home, watch, and know it all. Even little obscure things.

I don't hide it nowadays. I have a son who grew up with it and he's listening to Helen Reddy and stuff. [Laughs.] It's normal to him just to know these things, Electric Light Orchestra, and all that type of stuff. That's the stuff I listen to at home, but that's not what my badass persona would indicate.

Did you ever have fantasies of starting a '70s-style rock band?

I did! I play the piano and if I wanted to impress people I'd play Al Stewart's "Year Of The Cat."

Al Stewart – Year of the Cat

What's the most obscure record or most expensive bootleg you tracked down?

When Time-Life offers '70s rock compilations, there was a point where I'd look into those things and be like, "Well, I have everything." I would transfer it from actual recordings to tape and from tape to digital and all that type of stuff. I got Legends Of '70s Rock and all those collections just to make sure I got 'em all. People are always surprised when I know the lyrics. I can go toe-to-toe with any 50-year-old white woman and she'd be shocked. I knew all the lyrics to "Both Sides Now" at 17. The woman might not know all the lyrics, but I do.

“I can go toe-to-toe with any 50-year-old white woman and she'd be shocked.”

I have another collection called Singers And Songwriters, with Bob Dylan and stuff. That, to me, is the best music. Somebody with ears, I don't know how they can't hear how the lyrics and the melodies, and how unique they are -- and how they dared to make songs about things that are so vast. They covered a lot of ground, really describing about every part of the human condition.

Do you have a standby song you usually play for people who insist they don't like '70s rock?

I'll defend it to the hilt. I'll challenge people to listen to the lyrics, you know? Listen to the lyrics of "Born To Run" or "The Logical Song." "The Logical Song," really, come on. It applies to everybody. How applicable is that today? How can you deny that? I'll defend it, and I'll point out when there are some R&B songs that are borrowing from there. Like John Legend had a song that totally stole from the Classics IV, "Stormy." It's like the same song. Most people in R&B don't know that song, and I'm like, "Wait a minute! That's 'Stormy!'"

Classics IV - Stormy

I DJed for a while, and I would do these mash-up things before they were popular. I would mash up a lot of '70s rock with hip-hop records. One real popular one was a lot of stuff with Gary Wright songs.

Do you still follow the acts from that era that are still active today?

Yeah, it's funny. The house that my wife and I live in was owned first by a member of the Steve Miller Band. [Asks wife which member used to own the house.] Yeah, Kenny Lee Lewis.

Did you know that going in, or was it an added bonus for buying?

[Laughs.] It was an added thing. I know it freaks him out that I know his music -- I just don't look like I would.

What's the prize of your collection?

I think I've found every song. Once in a while there might be one that slips by me that I don't have in my collection, but I pretty much have quite a bit of them. I would wake up to "Diamond Girl" a lot of times. That was set on my clock radio. Now my two-year-old, in her morning playlist I have a lot of those songs. She knows a lot of them.

Seals and Crofts – Diamond Girl

I'm pretty eclectic with the music, and the teenagers have turned me onto a lot of music. I have my other side, my '80s music with Depeche Mode and The Cure. I was a big fan of that. But the kids have turned me onto a lot of stuff, most recently this dubstep stuff. I listen to that for about 40 minutes. But a lot of these different obscure bands, like She Wants Revenge, who really remind me of Bauhaus.

Were there any '70s bands you didn't embrace?

I had an issue with AC/DC, the sound of the lead singer. It sounds like he's a little too constipated. It seemed like he was doing a voice. It was really proven when the other guy who replaced him sounded exactly like the other guy. Not a lot of people even realized it was two different guys singing. It was kinda like Darrin in Bewitched. [Laughs.]

“I had an issue with AC/DC, the sound of the lead singer. It sounds like he's a little too constipated.”

You're clearly very enthusiastic about '70s rock, but was there ever a point where you might have turned your back on it or lost interest?

No, because I feel the same way when I listen to these songs today. I probably appreciate them even more now. It's like still my favorite playlist. I have a classic-rock playlist of my own in my iPod -- to me the songs don't sound alike. No two bands really sound alike. In the '80s there was a little more of that because they started with the whole electronic thing, but in the '70s, even the funk era, people didn't sound alike. The material had its own character.

I was aware that I was a young black kid and I didn't accept that I was supposed to act like a typical young black kid. I hope young black kids and young white kids can think outside of the box and not conform to what's expected. It's helped me in such a way that I just completed directing a movie, my directorial debut. It's really about these post-teen white kids and in a strange way I was a post-teen white kid. [Laughs.]

“I hope young black kids and young white kids can think outside of the box and not conform to what's expected.”

Dolly Parton – Coat of Many Colors

I never bound myself by the color of my skin, so as a result other people didn't do it. I look at myself as an individual first. Of course I didn't go blasting that through the projects because I didn't want to get shot or confuse people too much. [Laughs.] But there have been times I did it for shock value. I'd blast Dolly Parton going through the basketball court just to freak people out. I would get away with a lot of things because I was known as the "dangerous" guy, so I had license to be weird. But you can't say anything about The Eagles, come on.