Remember “Bruce Leroy” from the ’80s movie, The Last Dragon? Well you probably never knew his real name, but almost all old schoolers know his face. His name is Taimak and nope there is no last name…it’s just Taimak. Well, dude is back on the scene after taking a long hiatus from the movie industry. He’s part of the cast of Twelve Angry Men and lately, he’s been making his rounds promoting the new project, as well as his upcoming autobiography, Taimak: The Last Dragon.
In a 2015 “Breakfast Club” interview (prior to Vanity’s passing), Taimak chatted it up with co-hosts, Angela Yee, Charlamagne the God, and DJ Envy. During the interview, they asked him to confirm some inside information they’d heard about himself; the beloved late Vanity 6 lead singer, Denise “Vanity” Matthews; and Motown creator (and executive producer of The Last Dragon), Berry Gordy. Taimak tried his best to be modest and play it cool, but he ultimately answered the questions as honestly as he could at that time.
Basically what he revealed was that while Berry Gordy and the rest of the production team for The Last Dragon were still casting for the roles in the film, Gordy asked Taimak in a more explicit way, ‘What entertainer would Taimak like to get with’ (get with, as in have sexual relations of some sort), because that’s who Gordy would then attempt to cast as “Bruce Leroy’s” love interest. Taimak confessed that he’d told Gordy he had a thing for Vanity and as you can see, Gordy pulled some strings and made it happen.
Now, here’s where the interview got even more interesting – aside from learning that Mr. Gordy is obviously a lil’ more raw than we publicly know him to be – when they tried to get more info out of Taimak, he very politely implied that he and Vanity did, in fact, end up “getting with” each other. When Charlamagne directly asked Taimak if he and Vanity took things to that next level, Taimak tried to avoid the question. However, after more pressing by Charlamagne, Taimak finally confessed, “Well…I’m gonna leave it as…we were affectionate.”
It would have been cool to see Taimak and Denise “Vanity” Matthews continue a relationship after the film, they probably would’ve made a good couple.
Taimak also touched on the topic of being in Janet Jackson’s video for “Let’s Wait A While” and how it was “awkward” because her husband at the time, Rene’ Elizondo, was all in his grill and standing about six feet from the camera throughout the entire process. Geesh, Rene’ wasn’t trying to let nobody get next to his woman!
Interestingly, The Breakfast Club has removed Taimak’s interview from their Youtube channel, but not before many media outlets were able to grab the Old School gems he’d already divulged. He later discussed some of these topics in a Vlad TV interview as well.
