i caught up with the tulsa, oklahoma, aetnaive in new york city where we talked about the ups and downsw he almost lost it all, including his life, and the new life and death battle he's fighting for himself and others. charlie wilson, good to see you, man. >> good to see you, too, man. >> before we get into the history of charlie wilson the singer and all of what we have, i want to ask you something, and i mean this with all due respect. you are no longer a spring chicken. now this new album. >> yes. >> really is contemporary music. >> yes. >> there are a lot of guys who at your age could not pull this off. what makes charlie wilson able to do that? >> first of all, i never stopped believing in myself. that's number one, and i have always had a dream, and i believe in my dreams and i go for my dreams, you know what i'm saying? and hip-hop has embraced me and has been that for me for many years. so i've been able to transcend and bridge gaps since 1995. >> hip-hop has embraced wilson. in fact, there's an entire generation that cites him as an influence from snoop dog to r. kelly, many p