Exclusive: J. Alphonse Nicholson Talks Playing Lil Murda In Starz’s Erotic Series ‘P-Valley’

Currently playing on Starz is its erotic new series “P-Valley,” which airs on Sundays at 8pm.

Based on her play Pussy Valley, creator Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) serves as showrunner as well as executive producer.

Down deep in the Mississippi Delta lies an oasis of grit and glitter in a rough patch of human existence where beauty can be hard to find. This southern-fried, hour-long drama tells the kaleidoscopic story of a little-strip-club-that-could and the big characters who come through its doors—the hopeful, the lost, the broken, the ballers, the beautiful, and the damned. Trap music meets film noir in this lyrical and atmospheric series that dares to ask what happens when small-town folk dream beyond the boundaries of the Piggly Wiggly and the pawnshop.

For J. Alphonse Nicholson, who plays the rapper Lil Murda on the series, this is his first role as a series regular. In the last few years, he’s amassed some good stage, film and TV credits such as Just Mercy (Warner Bros.), "Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker" (Netflix), "Blue Bloods" (CBS), Season 2 of "Mr. Robot" (USA), "Shots Fired" (FOX), Marvel's "Luke Cage" (Netflix), "Tales" (BET), "The Blacklist" (NBC) and "Chicago P.D." (NBC). He also appeared on Broadway in "A Soldier's Play"(as Private C.J. Memphis) and Off-Broadway with Signature Theatre’s "Paradise Blue" (as Blue).

BlackFilmandTV.com spoke with J. Alphonse Nicholson about his character Lil Murda and bringing him to life.

What attracted you to taking on this series?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: The thing that attracted me was the opportunity to work with Katori Hall. I'm sure you know, just like the rest of New York Community and internationally and also across America, that Katori is a legend when it comes to stage plays. To have the opportunity to now work with her as a TV show runner, as well as a writer is just amazing. I'm just grateful for the opportunity, grateful that she wrote stories about the untold. I'm glad that I can bring a Lil Murda to life for her. Millions of people will see this story and hopefully be affected by some really positive ways.

There are a lot of colorful characters in this series and each one has their own personalities. How would you define yours?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: Lil Murda is that every man who's trying to put the puzzle together, trying to find the missing pieces and press down on some of the pieces that needs to be flagged down. He’s trying to create his own sound, create his own wave and be respected for who he is as an individual, and who he is just as a human being.

Is there any of Lil Murda’s character traits that you can relate with?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: Well, I'm a musician. Music just runs through my veins. Lil Murda is as a rapper and I've always enjoyed freestyling and having that fun with my friends, but also just having that musical ears. I'm musically inclined and that was the part that I really resonated with the most. Being cut from a certain cloth and knowing what that's like being around certain people, and understanding the elements that come with the culture, I will say that's part of me as well.

As an actor, you've done other projects but with this particular series, you get to do a lot. You can say Lil Murda is grinding, and we see it through the episodes without giving any spoilers. When you read how far your character goes, what were your thoughts?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: P-Valley is definitely the largest project or the largest milestone in my career thus far. Although I've had an incredible stage career, and I've been able to tell many stories, this one in particular just feels the most important thus far; and having the opportunity to show my range and the grind that comes with it all throughout every episode for eight episodes is amazing. It's a blessing and everything I've gone through, everything I've worked for, definitely comes to a head with this moment. I feel it's really just another milestone. I hope we get many more seasons of P-Valley and after P-Valley I will continue to push my career far in a really great way. 

Most of your scenes are with Nicco Annan, who’s the only cast member from the stage production. How was working with him?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: It’s a true blessing to have someone who's been with the project from beginning and to see it go to the presentation, getting it greenlit and now on TV. It was amazing. You can ask him any question basically about any character and he will give you some type of through lines that connect you to what you need to know. We all I think leaned on Nicco in that sense. 

And then as far as being able to play opposite of Nicco, he is such a wonderful actor. He brought Uncle Clifford to life. She's in a beautiful, amazing character that he's created. So to be able to tell this story alongside him is a true privilege, and a true pleasure and honor. I'm hoping that people see the hard work that he's put into this as well, and understands what it takes to build that character. It seemed like he needed those ten years to make something so amazing. It just happened the universe made it happen at the right time. I happen to have the right scene partner to make the storytelling believable and sincere and genuine, and hopefully the way Katori wanted it to be.

You talked earlier about being a musician, but did you do research on strip clubs and the atmosphere?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: While working in Atlanta, we definitely had spent a fair time in strip clubs and not only researching, but just enjoying the culture and enjoying the environment and taking it in.

With the rest of the cast, how was the chemistry? Did you get together before or after the production?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: Before we even had our first table read Starz had this amazing dinner for us. I remember that very specifically. I was having this amazing dinner when we first got to Atlanta, and then every three weeks or so when we would get done with the episode we will have a reading for the next episode. So that was our time. We all got to see each other in the room. In episode one, that's really the episode where all of us are in the same building. So there were times when I got a chance to interact with other cast members in between scenes and it was great.

As a theater actor as well, what are your thoughts when you heard that Broadway would be shut down for a great deal of time?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: The fact the black revolution is happening right now even on Broadway makes me excited. The fact that I could be a part of that petition to says that black Broadway artists are not accepting the racism that comes with Broadway anymore was something I'm very proud of. So I think it took this moment for that to happen. But it's also very hard. It's also very saddening that we won’t be able to be on stage for a while is going to be harder to tell these stories in front of a large audience. I'm grateful for some of these platforms that we're finding, and I do think it's going to come back really strong. The black theatre community in particular is going to come back stronger than ever. We'll have our own Broadway houses and we'll be moving and telling our stories in larger capacities and in bigger ways than we had before.

What goes into saying yes to the characters that you play?

J. Alphonse Nicholson: Being that I'm still early in my career, sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes it's opportunities that come along or an opportunity you want to jump on, maybe because of financial reasons, but then the characters just don't line up. But as far as the stories that I've been, I've just been blessed to have good auditions coming in front of me. When it comes time to saying yes, it’s no question because ’Self Made’ was about a black woman who was the first millionaire. Even though my character was kind of a slimy guy,  I had to be a part of this story and help uplift this character. The same goes for P-Valley. I have to be a part of uplifting these black women stories, Lil Murda's story and Clifford's story.

Although all these characters have their flaws, which I consider to be just great blessings to have. It's great to have some flaws. You don't want to be a perfect person. Any character can have some time complexity to it and still serve this purpose that allows me to say yes. If you saw Just Mercy, you know that I was only on screen for maybe five minutes. I have this great scene with Michael B. Jordan. What made me say yes, for that opportunity, not only because Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx and Warner Brothers, but because this story was so important, and something that goes alive into the characters that I say yes to the things that come across my desk. That’s the energy I want to put out. I want my characters to have some type of impact.