Isaac Keys Talks Power Book IV: Force, Attending A HBCU and Football.
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St. Louis native Isaac Keys gives us an exclusive on his journey from playing professional football to joining Power Universe as Diamond on Power Book IV: Force.
Photographs by Marq Newman
You're a Morehouse man. How important was it for you to attend an HBCU?
Honestly, I think it was more important to my father at first. My father wanted my older sister to attend an HBCU, and she wasn't feeling it and chose a different route. In my first year of college, I went to the University of North Alabama. My father showed me a pamphlet of Morehouse, he told me it was an all-male school, and I was like, ' I'm not going to an all-male school for college.' That was my initial thought; that wasn't college to me. So I went to the University of North Alabama because I was still pursuing football, and after my first year there, it didn't feel like college to me. I didn't feel a sense of unity. I didn't see enough black people at the school, so I started looking at HBCUs like Moris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University, and I got into Morehouse. From that point on, it was like a straight shot. I felt a sense of community, pride and black men pushed in a position of power and leadership when I got to Morehouse. That was important to me.
You played Professional football for several years, both here in the states and overseas. What skills from football did to bring to acting?
There were a few skills I took take from football to acting. One was discipline as far as being up and somewhere by a certain time. You have to train mentally and physically. The resiliency of dealing with adversity, rejection, being critiqued. With the transition to acting, you have to be a resilient actor. You're not just going to get your first job --that's very rare. You have to build, have discipline and keep working on your craft, getting into acting classes surrounding yourself with other actors. You deal with the rejection of not getting life-changing roles that you want so bad. Football helped me a lot and was a part me of getting into acting.
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Post football, you spent about ten years pursuing acting as a new career. Where did you learn patience?
Life! I think life taught me patience. My mom was a very patient person. She would sit back and listen and then make her moves from there. I would watch that, and she taught me that too. As life progressed, it taught me patience. With football, I would think, 'Why am I not starting? Why am I not making this play or put into this position?' I would pray on it, and It wouldn't necessarily happen the way I wanted, and it taught me patience. The same goes for acting. I was going for roles and wasn't getting them, and I had to learn what's for me is for me. That allowed me to put myself in the space of patience but still push the envelope on working on me.
What was that moment like when you got the call to join the Power Book IV: Force cast?
That moment was surreal. My agent called me and put me on the phone with my other agent, and they said, 'you got the part on Power Book IV: Force.' There was silence. Then there were a lot of curse words and fist pumps. It reminded me of the first time I signed Minnesota Vikings as a free agent when I came out of college. I called my mom and dad and said, 'I wanted to let yall know I signed a free-agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings.' It was silence then the tears started to flow. Getting the call for Power Book IV: Force reminded me of that because even though I've done a lot of acting, I knew this was the big one because Power Universe is just different. I knew it would take off in a way that would be unexplainable, and it's still unexplainable now. The reception of everything is so overwhelmingly great, and I'm receiving it and taking my moments.
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What challenges did you face as you were developing Diamond's character?
I think the challenges I faced were one, filming outside in the cold of Chicago, and being able to say your line and to be present at the moment. With Diamond, I wanted to make sure I encapsulated the part of him being incarnated and coming out of prison. I wanted formerly incarnated people looking at that scene to say, 'yup, that's how I felt, that's what I went through.' There's a scene showing Diamond in the condo, and he wakes up sleeping on the side of the bed. Formerly incarnated people understand getting reacclimated to a soft bed and a big mattress. The challenge was tapping into Diamond, and him being a part of me, what I could pull from my own life.
Have you learned anything new about yourself since joining Power Book IV: Force and being a part of the Power Universe now that the show is out?
That's a good question. I've learned to be in the moment. I've had friends tell me to be in the moment because I'm a thinker; I'm an analyzer, sometimes that takes away from my enjoyment. But, when I deal with Diamond, these scenes, and these amazing actors, it makes me say, 'hey, just be in the moment.’ If I'm in the moment, I'm more present and more involved with the scenes, which helps with the character.
In episode two of Power Book IV: Force, Diamond, and Tommy get "kidnapped" to sell drugs for a rival gang. In that scene, a police officer approaches Diamond as he's sitting in the driver's seat of Tommy's parked car, and things get tense. A lot of black men can relate to that scene. Were you channeling energy from personal experience, and how do you decompress from acting scenes that is so different from your regular life?
That scene when the cop came up was important to me. It was a part of my audition process, and I knew when we shot that scene I wanted to get it right for the culture. For black men, the majority of us have been in that situation before. I had to portray that scene from Diamond's perspective, someone who just got out of jail and doing something that could send him back, having drugs in the car. And he's not trying to go back to prison. I was able to pull from my own experiences of getting pulled over by a cop. Back in St. Louis, we couldn't ride in the car with four or five black men because you'd get pulled over. You couldn't walk around with a du-rag on your head because you'd get profiled. When I had hair, my mom would say, don't you leave this house wearing that durag? She understood what could happen and would be scared every time I left the house. Also, I wanted the scene to show what black men go through. Yes, Diamond was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, but so many of us are innocent black men, not doing anything wrong. And shout out to Courtney Kemp and Robert Munic in the writing room because it was also significant for them to show when you see Tommy come in how the demeanor changes towards him versus Diamond. I'm honored this scene was able to come across like that.
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How much does Diamond want to be out of the game?
I think Diamond is in a conflicted state. It's like someone saying they want to lose weight, but they're not changing their diet or working out. I think Diamond is saying, I've evolved, but at the same time, he's in a lifestyle that sometimes deems physical authority or to kill someone. I think Diamond has evolved, but he's still involved with a lifestyle that would require him to do the things he used to do. As the season unfolds, you'll see the challenges he's facing trying to live this new lifestyle.
What kind of acting roles are you manifesting for your future?
I think I'm manifesting more work, but also more range. I want to step out and do some things in comedy or playing a love interest. Playing more authentic characters that people can relate to and challenge me, keep me going, and keep me sharp.
Photographer: Marq Newman @marqnewman
Styling: Nigel Isaiah @nigel_isaiah
Grooming: Crystal R. Smith @locdinstyle
Location: The 9 Studio