MTV: You recently finished shooting your first film, "Finding Forrester." Tell us about it.

Zane: The film is about four young guys from the Bronx. They're not bad kids or hoodlums; they're just kids that are growing up in a rough neighborhood. One of us gets a scholarship to go to a prep school to play basketball. That's the lead character, Jamal. It goes through the trials and tribulations of us being his friends, and it shows [Jamal's] trials and tribulations of trying to fit in. I play the best friend of the main character: Damon. Sean Connery plays a [reclusive] guy named William Forrester, who was a writer. We dare Jamal to go up in the house and find out what he looks like, and [Forrester] finds out that Jamal is smart and Jamal writes poetry. There's a lot of interracial relationships in there; Jamal goes to school and starts to like this Caucasian female named Claire that's real smart and all that, but he's just as smart as her. He's in the school trying to fit in, she's helping him to fit in, and a lot of people get jealous. Teachers, even, are getting jealous and start hating on him. And Busta Rhymes plays Jamal's brother. It's a cool movie, man. People are gonna love it.

MTV: Did you want the role of Damon, or did you get that after trying out for the lead?

Zane: They offered me the lead role, but being that I was doing the album, they didn't want the schedules to combine. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. It's a lot of pressure and a lot of work, doing that acting thing. I'm not one of those actors [who thinks], "Oh, I can do it all." I wanted to give it a shot. I'd rather have a small part in a big movie than have a big part in a small movie. There's a lot of critics out there, and my main focus is rap.

MTV: Do you have to take a tutor on the road with you or anything like that?

Zane: I was in school at first, but it got to the point to where it was distracting the other kids, so they put me in a tutoring system. On the road, I have the work sent to me. When I'm in Atlanta, I do my tutoring at home. Should've been graduating this year, but I just got unfocused for a minute -- wanted to do the music so bad that I thought music came before school. Then after I got the music deal and started writing for people, I noticed I was still missing something. I'm like, "Hold up. I'm doing the music. I'm on TV. I'm doing everything I want to do." But the first question [interviewers] ask is, "What school are you going to? Are you graduating?" No, I don't want to be like one of them kids. So I went back, and that was the right thing to do, 'cause my mom wasn't happy. If I drop out and make millions, [other kids] are gonna think they can drop out of school and make millions. Enrolled myself back in school, and I'm still getting through it.

MTV: You have two younger brothers and a sister. Do you think they'll get into music too?

Zane: My little brother looks just like me. He's so talented; he's 11. Cries for his keyboard every day: "Fix my keyboard!" I just got his keyboard fixed. He's just like me when I was younger. He plays basketball, plays football, does music. My little brother Mike, he just surprised me. He starts writing these poems that he turns into raps, and he's real talented with his words. My pops was an author and a writer -- got his name from the author Zane Gray, which he then named me. I think [my brothers are] going to get into it. My sister is more like a dancer. She is probably going to be a little lawyer or investigator; she's always telling on somebody. So she might not do the music, but she's gonna do something. I got some good little brothers and sisters. They're in school. They're good kids. They're bad, but they're good kids. [RealVideo]

MTV: What's your motto?

Zane: There's no "I" in "we," baby. No "I" in "we." If we all work together as a whole in our communities, in our states, just as people, if we come together as one and just start looking out for each other and caring about each other more, then we can be one. "United we stand, together we ball." We're gonna stand up together, and when we get money and good things happen, we can all celebrate together. That's what it means. Me and my clique or in my family, we always go as we, baby. It relates to everything. Say we're all sitting in the living room. You're like, "I'm going to go to the store to get me a drink." You come back with one drink, and there are six of us in the house. We're like, "You're thinking for yourself. You didn't even ask nobody. You didn't even care." We're going to the stage and [running] late and everybody's in the limo and I'm the last one, everybody's like, "Everybody's here! What are you doing?" I mean it. We come together, we leave together. You might see me, but best believe it's an us [RealVideo], it's a we. There's always a man behind the man.

I am serious about these kids, man. There are kids out here that don't have nothing to do and they need family, and we're a family for 'em. We're opening up doors. When you see us, if you're by yourself or if you're with ten people, you're with us. If I go to the club and I can get everybody outside in, I'm going to get them in. I'll pay for as many people as I can 'til the doorman says forget it. We go to every state and show love. We go to schools and we bring the kids together. We go to mothers-and-daughters functions. There was a women's committee I did called WSR, it's the Women's Southern Region, and basically what it's for abused women, young women. I went there, talked to the women, let them know that Lil' Z feels them. I took one of the young women to the prom -- her boyfriend dumped her on her birthday, so I took her to the prom to show love. Atlanta wanted to see that, and that's what happened.

I want to change the industry. That's the goal: change the industry. Just change it to where people can smile. I don't set out to be a role model, but I get the job, 'cause I know that this is what the media is feeding your kids, so I just try to be the best. All the entertainers out there, if you've got brothers or sisters or kids, just know that you've got to set an example. I mean, keep it real with 'em. Write that raw stuff. My stuff is raw; I ain't no angel, but at the same time, I know the difference. I know when to be the rapper, I know when to be the leader, I know when to be the teacher. I'm trying to teach myself and the youth. That's what I do.

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