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Tyrese, Martin Luther King: Singer Channels Leader in 'A Dreamer's Dream' -- Exclusive

Posted Feb 22nd 2012 5:20PM by Contessa Gayles
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Tyrese Martin Luther King Getty Images | AFP/Getty Images

A few years ago, singer-actor Tyrese Gibson was in the running to portray Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Lee Daniels-directed movie 'Selma.' When the film was shut down in the pre-production stages, Tyrese threw himself into research on the late civil rights icon, determined to produce an MLK project of his own.

"Over the past four years, I've traveled to eight states, I've stood at every podium Dr. King has stood at," Gibson tells The BoomBox. "I met his family, his best friends; I met with people who were literally on the balcony when he was assassinated," he added of his research.

Four years later, the entertainer has teamed up with fellow singer Jill Scott and actor Blair Underwood for an audio-visual short that investigates what Dr. King might have to say about the state of black America today. Would the leader be proud of our nation's progress when it comes to race relations? What about the state of our schools and prisons?

These are some of the questions explored in Tyrese's 'A Dreamer's Dream.' Gibson plays Dr. King, Jill Scott voices his wife Coretta Scott King and Blair Underwood appears as himself, interviewing King in the current age of Obama.

"The question is always, 'If Dr. King were still here, what would he have to say about today's world?' I covered some of those thoughts that I think Dr. King would share today," Tyrese explains.

In addition to voicing Dr. King, Gibson wrote and produced the entire project under his own Voltron Recordz.

Watch 'A Dreamer's Dream' below, and stay tuned for The BoomBox's extended interview with Tyrese.