William Shatner: Singer-Rapper

Is it true you like Hip-Hop music?

I never liked Hip-Hop music to begin with. Then the more I heard it, and I did one once, I did a Hip-Hop thing on Julius Caesar. I worked with a Hip-Hop artist, OK, rated R. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but I thought I'll do, "Friends, Romans and Countrymen'" in Hip-Hop.

How did you come up with the rap song 'No Tears For Caesar'?

So I met -- I haven't told this story in a long time -- so I met with a rap group. I said, "Well, let me explain to you what this Shakespeare play was about, and what this guy was doing, what this guy, Mark Antony, was doing over the funeral of his friend who was killed, and the enemy is all around, and he's got to give a eulogy, and he doesn't know what to do, and how is he going to say these words over the body of the man he loved without invoking his own death, and death and destruction, and it was a very touchy time." The guy said, "I got it. I got it. No tears for Caesar." Great title. And this artist, this kid off the street, starts writing furiously. I'm looking at what he's writing, and he's got words, and it's just exactly what I had said about poetry. He, without having studied -- I presume -- having studied poetry, but having the knowledge. He had the knowledge in his soul. He's writing furiously, and we sort of practiced around, and sometime later he had written a rap version of "Friends, Romans, and Countrymen". It goes into "No Tears for Caesar". The title of the song was called "No Tears for Caesar".

How did singer-songwriter Ben Folds help you create your album 'Has Been'?

Ben Folds called about something. I think he called about a performance he was going to come and do in Los Angeles and wanted me to do something with him. And I said, "Wait a minute, Ben, I want you to produce my record." And these guys said, "Oh, we would love to have Ben Folds." And I said, "Ben, would you do it?" And he said, "I would love to do it." And in that moment a record was born. So when I said, "Ben, now what am I going to do? What do I...? How do I...?" And he said, "Well, why don't you write some songs and tell the truth."

How do you use your acting experience to help write songs?

Poetry at its best distills the thing you want to say to the minimum number of words. If you can find the essence in a word, if you can say one word that conveys your meaning. You're doing minimal work like an actor. Does a lot of stuff in rehearsal, and then gradually he sees that he doesn't need to do all that. And finally does the thing that conveys everything as simply and efficiently as possible.