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Tavis: Singer and actor Tyrese has come a long way from his childhood here in the Watts district of L.A. He began modeling as a teenager, and parlayed that early success into a career as an actor, singer, and now a rap artist. Next year, you can catch him in the Steven Spielberg film 'Transformers.' But beginning next week, you can pick up a copy of his latest CD called, there it is, 'Alter Ego.' From the new disc, here is some of the video for 'One.'

Tavis: Reese, that's a nice Bentley, man.

Tyrese: Thank you, sir.

Tavis: (Laugh) How you been, man?

Tyrese: I'm really well, sir. Good to see you.

Tavis: Good to see you. You've done this a thousand and one times now. What's the trick to making a video that resonates?

Tyrese: Good question.

Tavis: That's what I do, man.

Tyrese: Yeah, I see. Just get me thinking straight out the gate. (Laugh) Jesus.

Tavis: I could ask you how you been.

Tyrese: Yeah, I need to be prepped next time for these questions, (laugh) 'cause I need to get mine together.

Tavis: You've got the formula now.

Tyrese: Well, to be honest, man, I think every artist has their own little individual spark to them. And I'm proud to be able to say that I do have a fan base, and so whenever I do a video, I just look forward to the fans just seeing whatever I end up putting in the video. That's kind of it.

Tavis: I wanna get to this project in just a second. To your point now though about having a fan base, what do you think your fan base has come to expect of you? When Tyrese puts out a project, what is it, in whatever words you wanna describe it, do your fan base, those die hard fans, expect to hear on a Tyrese project?

Tyrese: Well, they expect to hear some good singing. They expect to hear music to make them feel good. I've had compliments everywhere from man, I had a six hour trip and it seemed like 30 minutes, 'cause I listened to your albums from top to bottom and the trip was over that fast. I've had people that tell me they got married to my songs, had babies to my music. So they kind of go into it expecting to be able to repeat some of these same things, but with new music.

Tavis: People, I suspect, still love you and recognize you from the Coca-Cola commercial, with all you've done since then.

Tyrese: Oh, man. The Coke commercial is definitely something that I still hear about. I say it on stage every night to all my fans, you all been showing me love ever since my Coke commercial, and they (unintelligible). (Laugh) You would think that that was a full-on music video, man. I did that when I was 16, too, man.

Tavis: That's a long time ago.

Tyrese: So that's a beautiful thing. Yes, sir.

Tavis: Wow, that's amazing. 'Alter Ego.' I know what the title means. You tell me. Tell the audience, I should say. I know what it means, but.

Tyrese: Well, it's a double album. And one whole side is me singing, which my fans are used to. And the other side is me introducing my AKA Black-Ty. I've been rhyming longer than I've been singing, and I kind of pushed the hip-hop thing to the side, because I've never been the one to question the order of God's blessings. So as the singing thing came up first, I just wanted to go out there and give it everything I had in me, you know what I'm saying?

But everything about the temperature of hip-hop was a direct invitation for me to wanna do it now. 'Cause there's records that blow up, but they're real gimmicky, you know what I'm saying? And just the image of hip-hop right now, you know what I'm saying? I look at them, they wearing button-ups, they wearing suit jackets, you know what I'm saying? They in they videos, they got they curly tops popping. The big glasses, you know what I mean? Looking real R&B right now. So I was like, you know what? They in my lane, I'm gonna go ahead and have fun in that lane. (Laugh) The time is now.

Tavis: All right, we know you can sing, no question about that. Tyrese can sing. Can Tyrese rap is the question, and a lot of folk are trying to...

Tyrese: Black-Ty is official.

Tavis: Yeah, yeah.

Tyrese: Black-Ty is definitely official. I've done over 35 collaborations with the realest MCs out there, and what my fans don't have to worry about is I'm not gonna force this Black-Ty thing on nobody. And out of respect for my fans, I love ya'll. Like, stay on the R&B page, it's all good. But you won't be able to deny this Black-Ty thing. And for me, I didn't really look at the fans of being a challenge.

I looked at the industry as being the biggest challenge. And as far as the industry, with the kind of people that I won over, and made the nonbelievers into believers, I feel like I've already sold 10 million records.

Tavis: There's a danger in that, though, Tyrese. I say this respectfully. The danger is that what you do, you do extremely well. You sing extremely well, your acting is getting better and better with every project. The rap thing is not something you have to do. For whatever reason, you wanna do it and you think the timing is right. But you don't have to do this.

So what happens if you push yourself, push yourself in that lane, and it doesn't hit in that lane the way you want it to hit and people say, 'You know what? You need to leave this alone. Leave this to us, you do the acting, you do the singing.'

Tyrese: Oh, no. The thing is this. The rappers that live, breathe, and eat, sleep hip-hop have embraced me as an MC. So for me, I know that people tend to associate what you do the first week in sales and (unintelligible), and what you do overall in your sales, but for me, like I said, the industry is who create the stars. The industry is who has the buzz and creates the momentum for the fans to fall into.

So if Snoop - the momentum for the fans to fall into - so if Snoop, Game, Manny Fresh, David Banner, Lil Scrappy, Jay Z, Corrupt, every rapper that all of these rap, hip-hop fans respect and love have embraced me as a MC, then I look at that and I say, it might not happen fast, but they did me no favors in giving it up for me as an MC. They just heard it, and they believed in it after they heard it. Most of them can't even believe it's me.

Tavis: How does this new genre, this new Black-Ty project, how does that change a Tyrese concert? So is this something you want to...

Tyrese: It doesn't change it at all.

Tavis: Doesn't change it.

Tyrese: What I do is I come out, and I give them what they're used to. And then I have about 10 minutes of Black-Ty. Then I end the concert with what they're used to, you know what I'm saying? At this point, me making my rounds has been more about introducing people to it. 'Cause they won't be able - nobody in the country won't be able to see they haven't heard it.

My last mix tape that I did called 'Ghetto Royalty,' I'm up to 450,000 downloads, and it's only been about a month. You know what I'm saying? So it's one of them things where, like, even from this interview, the fact that we talking about it, people are at least curious to hear it. So ya'll can go to Headquarter Entertainment.com. (Laugh) Headquarter Entertainment.com, and download it all you want.

Tavis: He's learned a whole lot since that bus ride in that Coke commercial.

Tyrese: You better believe it.

Tavis: (Laugh) Knows how to do this now. Speaking of a long way from the bus ride in the Coke commercial, tell me about - I've been hearing about this, I don't know much about it, it but I've been hearing about this 'Transformers' project with Mr. Spielberg. I just know that you're working with Steven Spielberg. You done come up.

Tyrese: It's big. It's big. Michael Bay actually directed it, who did 'Bad Boys' one and two, 'Armageddon,' 'Pearl Harbor,' huge director, one of my favorites. And Steven Spielberg produced it. So I'm looking at this, you're looking at the best of both worlds, you know what I'm saying? He's a full-on action director, Spielberg is, too. Special effects and CG, and it's just crazy. The budget on this film was just astronomical, and there wasn't one day that...

Tavis: Your biggest budget film so far?

Tyrese: Hands down.

Tavis: Hands down, okay.

Tyrese: You better believe it. (Laugh) So Fourth of July, 2007 is gonna be the day that 'Transformers' is released. And I'm right now just trying to focus on my music. Because when it comes for the 'Transformer' mode to come around, I just feel like my life is gonna change. So I'm just trying to get the music thing popping, and give it everything I got to get this double album off the ground.

But I do want people to know this. Because I've established myself as an R&B singer, I don't want nobody at all to believe that the whole hip-hop thing was easy for me, you know what I'm saying? I got a lot of friction from the record label when I brought this concept to the table, and because of the power of hip-hop and all of these hip-hop heads and DJs and mix shows embracing me with this Black-Ty thing, they were forced to pay attention to what this momentum is.

Because you can't pay people to go out and start promoting how nice you are on the mic. You can't pay them. So they either believe or they don't. So I don't want people to believe that I just oops, fell into it. And I'm not doing it for any financial gain. It's just passion.

Tavis: Well, as they say, the proof's in the pudding, or in the CD packet. 'Alter Ego,' the new project from singer, actor, and now rapper Black-Ty, better known as Tyrese. The audience is listening, and they will be the judge. And if they sound off on this the way they do on your other stuff, you gonna have some more ice the next time I see you.

Tyrese: For the people. (Laugh)

Tavis: Yes, for the people. (Laugh) That's our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. Catch you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.