Sixshot.com:  You're multitalented and have been singing since the beginning of your career.  So was the music the first way you had hoped to introduce yourself to the public as opposed through comedy?

Wayne Brady:  Well I think yeah, music would have been an incredible introduction.  I think everything happened the way that it was meant to be in the way that I've been introduced.  Now years later I can now say oh by the way I also do this.

Sixshot.com:  Was going from comedy to serious music a concern in regards to how your fans and potential new fans would perceive you?

Wayne Brady:  It's definitely a concern but in my mind I say that Jamie Foxx did it.  It's a concern for anyone with a multi hyphenate, being a comedian, actor, and singer.  How are you gonna get over that hurdle?  The best thing I can do is put out a good project and do as much press as I can, and perform as much as I can, and hope that people gravitate to it.  At the end of the day I can't make anybody like it.  I can definitely hope.  I'm lucky enough that the singing won't catch people too sideways 'cause like I said earlier the comedy I've done is based in music.  It isn't all of a sudden Chris Rock or Chris Tucker coming out with a hip-hop album—like what the hell.

Sixshot.com:  I read a piece on BET.com and the writer mentioned that you have a shaky relationship with Black America perhaps because you're too mainstream.  How do you take that criticism?

Wayne Brady:  That's not a criticism, that's a compliment.  That's why I have a big a** house in Hollywood.  That may sound cocky but I get irritated hearing ridiculous s*** like that.  Anytime that you create something-even you as a writer right now-I'm pretty certain that when you decided to pursue journalism you didn't say I cannot wait for 15 people to read this article; this will be the best thing that 4 people have ever seen; I can't wait for my next door neighbor to be the only person to recognize my journalism.  No, you say I've got something inside of me, I know I can do this thing, I can't wait for as many people to hear it.  That's just how I came up.  So I want Black folk to like it, I want White folks to like it, I want Cherokee Indians to laugh, and I want Portuguese people to think I'm the funniest thing in Portuguese.  That's my aim so if being liked by too many people is a bad thing then I'm over that.  I want to be liked by as many people because that's the purpose of it all.  You want to get your art out and perform for anyone that will watch or sing for anyone that will listen.  I cannot apologize for who likes me and who doesn't.

Sixshot.com:  Do you feel like you're a target sometimes for Black press—like you don't get a fair shot?

Wayne Brady:  Oh you know what, I could b**** and moan about that.  Sometimes maybe, but it isn't like I'm hated and I'm vilified.  So sometimes the writer will have something smart a** to say and that's just the beats to me.  That's the price you pay for achieving certain successes.  Not everyone is gonna like it and not everyone likes Tom Hanks and he is the most liked person in Hollywood.  He's loved.  I love Tom Hanks but of course there will always be someone that has something to say.  So you take it on the chin and keep on rolling.  As far as I know there are brothers and sisters who love what I do, and think I'm a positive person and dig my comedy.  Hopefully they'll like my music.

Sixshot.com:  Do you ever feel like with all your different talents that maybe you're not giving your all to one thing?

Wayne Brady:  There really isn't any juggling.  I told a friend earlier that whenever I feel overwhelmed—like maybe I should do this or that I think to myself I don't work in a coal mine and I don't work in McDonald's.  I'm doing something that I completely love.  So when I say that it falls into focus and I know that I'm enjoying it.  So I think everything gets my rapt attention.

Sixshot.com:  So you're not concerned that you might be seen more as a jack of all trades and master of none?

Wayne Brady:  No, no because I don't see the master of none happening.  Anyone that would say that can't do what I do.  So they would need to become  a jack of one of the things that I do before they can question it.  I don't even consider myself a master.  I just consider myself to be good at what I do.

Sixshot.com:  You sing a lot of love songs on the album and you wrote a couple of them.  Did that help you channel the emotions of your recent divorce?

Wayne Brady:  Yeah there is a song called, "You and Me," which you don't hear everyday.  Usually it's you did me wrong, I hate you, I want you back so it's none of that.  It says maybe this thing didn't work out but because of the daughter that we have there will always be a link to me always.

Sixshot.com:  You seem to be very private.  Does that come from your upbringing?

Wayne Brady:  I like it that way.  I was taught to be very respectful of people and women, which is sad that the love and equality I was raised with—that I try to even in this day and age—isn't there.  These are the things that some of the people in the Black press that you talk about make fun of me for 'cause I don't talk like this or that.  If that's the case then yeah I'm definitely not gonna call a woman out her name or call her b**** and treat her like trash, or denigrate another man.  That's just not the way I was raised.  So I keep to myself and I like that.  That's why you don't hear too much about me. 

Sixshot.com:  Any final words?

Wayne Brady:  To any potential haters with a full time hater badge just give it a chance.  You might be surprised.  I would hope that my track record—I've done a lot of funny stuff and I've gotten awards for it and rewarded handsomely for it—so I wouldn't do something that would make me look like an a**hole.  So just give it a chance.  You actually might like it.