Onsite! caught up with members from the cast of Power Book III: Raising Kanan to discuss season 3 and what’s in store for the upcoming season. Hailey Kilgore, London Brown, and Malcolm Mays discussed the character development the audience can expect to see in the new season as well as how they were able to perfect their New York accent on a personal level.
Brown revealed that he drew inspiration from Denzel Washington, reflecting on his training working with a dialect coach.
Brown, who portrayed Marvin Thomas in the hit series confessed,
“Just my little version of the New York accent developed from me being a fan of Denzel. I would do an impersonation of Denzel, so I kind of had the idea of it. But then, also, we had a great dialect coach and he really kind of like, I think, fine tuned whatever we kind of came in with.”
“And then of course, you listen as much as you can,”
he added.
Kilgore, who played Laverne Thomas also known as Jukebox, chimed in on the discussion giving credit to Nicki Minaj as the inspiration behind her New York accent despite the dialect coach advising the cast against everyone sounding like the Southside Jamaica, Queens rapper.
The actress revealed,
“I did the opposite of what Doug, our vocal dialogue coach told us to do. He gave us examples and was like whatever you do, I cannot have everybody sounding like Nicki Minaj. Honestly, like, watching her documentary and stuff, that’s how I like, it was, the speech pattern. Not only is it like the dialect but it’s also like a pattern.”
She went on to thank Minaj for the inspiration.
Mays, who played Lou-Lou in the Starz series, delve deep into the conversation as he differentiated the accents of each borough in the state.
He said, adding to Kilgore’s statement,
“As Hailey said, there’s a rhythm to how you sound. I think we got blessed because the Queens accent is so specific, and some of the other regions or other boroughs they have their own accents but they’ve evolved over time.”
“Queen, Brooklyn, y’all sh-t kind of entrenched. It’s been like that for like 20 years.”
Brown chimed in adding that the Bronx’s accent is profound, in which Mays agreed, saying,
“The Bronx is heavy but because of the Spanish influx. Everybody’s immigrant influence, whoever’s moved into that space changes the inflection.”
“A lot of mob dudes [were] in queens, so if you notice, Queens dudes kind of speak a little slower than other boroughs. Harlem talks really fast, Brooklyn, their register is a little lower, the Bronx sound like they just [have] gravel in their body, it’s different,”
the actor continued.
Noting the slight difficulty on being able hone in and differentiate the dialect from each borough, Mays expressed gratitude for the amount of support the cast has gotten.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan season 3 premieres on Dec 1 only on Starz.
#Clique, are y’all tuning in?
