DX: If every actor was to have a perfect role that was made for them, would Omar be yours?
MKW: Omar is definitely my breakout character. I think everything I was doing up until The Wire was preparing me for The Wire. However, I would like to think that my best work is still in front of me. [Laughs] But Omar and The Wire and the cast members and especially the city of Baltimore will always have a very special place in my heart. I will never be mad or get tired of somebody calling me Omar down the street like “Oh my God, Omar!” It’s a blessing, I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of something that dynamic, and who am I to get tired of that?  But I will say this much though, I think it will be a cold day in hell before I have a group of cast members, especially African American cast members, on a TV show, as much as we got along, and as much as we supported each other. There was never no drama, there will never be a behind the scenes “The Real Wire,” it was nothing but love from day one to the very end, and I don’t think I’ll get that level of love and family vibe on a set. Maybe, who knows, but it was real special.  

DX: I heard you had a rap project in the works called Omar Comin…
MKW: Yeah, I got permission from HBO. The late great Jam Master Jay, we had a mutual friend, and [JMJ] encouraged me to work on learning how to spit and I got with our mutual friend, a dude who’s really heavy into music, and we’ve been working on it for the past five years.  I think it’s ready now. Who knows what tomorrow holds, but I think it’s ready. I think the world is ready to hear Omar’s mind on wax. I don’t want to take it out the box. Whatever Omar’s about on that TV show is what that music will reflect, I’m not going to play to the radio, not going to be popping bottles and rims spinning and making it rain.  

DX: Just toting the sawed off?
MKW: Bingo, sawed off and huntin’. But you gonna also feel his heart the way you do on the show. I want this record to really reflect who this dude is, or at least my interpretation of who this dude is. He may not have had all the education, but he’s extremely smart, and he’s thoughtful, he’s gentle at times, he has love for his people, all of that kind of comes out in different songs on this record that I’m working on.

DX: What other projects do you have on the horizon?
MKW: I just came back from Tuscany, Italy where I working with Spike Lee on his new joint, The Miracle at St. Anna, it’s the story of the buffalo soldiers of the 92nd infantry, and has a star studded cast, a really great group of guys. That’s coming out sometime in ’08. I just wrapped up The Hulk 2 with Ed Norton, who wrote it and starred in it, and I go in March to start working on this new project called The Road with Charlize Theron.