[Image via Variety]
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Katie
Halper recently interviewed Pras
Michel of The Fugees, about his latest project, Skid Row,
a documentary in which Pras goes undercover for nine days and nights as a
homeless person in downtown L.A.’s notorious Skid Row. Katie met up with Pras
in a hotel lobby in Manhattan to discuss the film. Pras discussed Muhammed Ali,
why he likes Obama and doesn’t go for Bill Cosby, how Oprah and Snoop could
help the “lost African-American generation” by meeting face to face, and why
we’re in a “transitional moment.” But it was only when she asked Pras about
what surprised him most about Skid Row, that they started talking about sex.
Sex talk and the Skid Row trailer, after the jump.
Katie: What surprised
you most about Skid Row?
Pras: I met someone who
said he hadn't been distracted by women in three years. That's how he stayed
clean. Any little distraction and he would have slipped back. In my world, I
think about sex -- I mean I don't think I think about sex like the average man
does --
Which is 24/7?
Which is 24/7, I'm probably like ...
22/6?
22/6
No really, more like 22/7 right?
Yeah ... I can't lie to you -- sex was nowhere on my mind. Maybe because I was
getting acclimated. But if I was there longer, I probably would have adapted.
And I surprised myself.
When you're homeless a lot of things go out the window because it's all about
survival. I had to do certain things I don't do. Like I'm not one of those
people who smiles. It doesn't mean I'm not happy. It's just not part of my
temperament. I never had to do that before. But on Skid Row, when I was looking
for money, a guy said to "smile". He was gay. I'm not homophobic, far
from it. Most guys would get offended. I wouldn't get offended, I just wouldn't
smile. But on Skid Row when this guy offered me $5 to smile, I'm thinking, I
have to eat. So I smiled for him. And another woman said to me, "Come on
brother, it can't be that bad. Smile." And I smiled for her too.
See the Scanner
post here, and read the full interview on AlterNet.
