It has been almost a year since we saw Terrence Howard on the big screen as Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes in "Iron Man." Now, the Oscar nominee returns with a gritty film about the underground fight world, appropriately titled “Fighting.”  Howard plays an old school hustler, seeking out new talent and comes across Shawn MacArthur, played by Channing Tatum. 

BET.com sat down with a candid Terrence in his Gramercy Park Hotel room in New York City—his guitar only a few feet away from him.  Howard chatted it up about the new film, his nickname on blogs and that “Iron Man 2” and Jamie Foxx drama.

Your character Harvey in "Fighting," I described him as the good version of Don King.  Would that be a fair assessment?
I don't know… I have mixed feelings about Don King. [Laughs] I guess so because Don is an enigma.  Very few people know whether he is the good guy or the bad guy, you never know. That is what I love about Harvey.  For you to make that statement—that is what Harvey is, I guess. He is a little mix between all of that. 

Your character is a street hustler.  What is the biggest hustle you've had to pull in Hollywood?
To convince everybody I'm an actor. 

You don't think people thought you were an actor in the beginning?
No, and I still wonder about it today.  At the end of every project you walk away thinking, "Wow, I fooled them.  They still think I'm somebody.  They still think I know what I'm doing."  You're just making it up as you go.  That hustle continues on.  It's like rolling dice at a crap table.  Your luck runs out.  Everybody's luck runs out.  This is luck for me.  I hope I stay lucky. 

You've made recent jokes about your album not doing well.  Would you ever consider doing a pop-R&B record like some of these actors turned musicians have done?
I don't know how to do that.  It's not my nature.  I have to tell the stories that are sensible to me.

When I interviewed you for "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" you said you weren't a fan of hip hop.
Hip hop is still a beautiful thing.  I was watching Russell Simmons’ “Def Poetry” - that was hip hop. Where we are today—that's pop. I’m still a huge fan of hip hop, but I want hip hop.  I don't want pop.

Do you read the blogs?
Fortunately, I am computer illiterate.  I don't email, I don't do any of that.

Do you know the nickname they have for you on the blogs?
What's that?

Slickback.
Slickback?  Oh wow.

Because of your hair! [Laughs]
I like that!

So what is it—a whole lot of gel, S-curl, perm?
It was a perm!  I like Slickback. [Laughs]

I know you are the old school cat in the film, but how come we didn't see a fighting scene with you in the movie?
You rarely see old lions battle.  Most of the time they just piss a strong enough stench to where everybody stays away.  You fight with people when it's about black eyes and bloody noses, not when it's life or death.  For someone to fight with me even in a movie, it's got to be about life or death for me, not about winning a battle and that's what it reflects.  You see that when you get ready to fight somebody in real life, you know the person that is just sitting there trying to draw blood and the person that wants to draw life. 

"Iron Man 2"—word on the street is that you wanted more money.  What's the real deal with that?
The real deal with that is they wanted Don Cheadle from the very beginning, even for the first one.  Don was the choice, but the people that were in power wanted me to do it.  If I had known Don wanted to do it the first time I wouldn't have done it. Now that Don is doing it I think it's a good move for him.  I look forward to seeing him play that character.  But, we had our contracts in regard to the money; all of that stuff wasn't even up for negotiation.  We did a three-picture deal from the start of it.  I couldn’t have walked away from the movie if I wanted to.  You don't have those options when you're dealing with a billion-dollar franchise.  You know, I can't battle about some money.

Jamie Foxx went on a radio station saying you hated on his music on CNN and he was doing these impressions of you.  How did this beef happen?
It's the same beef that anybody has in school.  It's only a beef because it's being told between 15 different people.  Anytime me and Jamie are around each other, these are the same things we say to each other.  This is just between friends, having a good time with each other and still challenging each other at the same time.  But, when it's told by somebody else - to everybody else we have a beef.  I'm still one of Jamie's biggest fans.  Jamie is still one of my very best friends.  They can call it a beef and maybe it will happen because then maybe me and Jamie might do a project together.  And they'll say, "The beef!"

You don't think he went too far?
No, he said the funniest stuff in the world.  I watched it and laughed! [Laughs]  I really did, but we've played music together.  We respect each other as musicians and artists. 

So you do like Jamie's music?
The music that Jamie has done, some of that stuff is really great.  Just for the record, if I could have a good joke about Jamie—I'd tell it!  I may be quiet now but later on I might say something else, which might be fun because that is just how we are.

If you and Jamie were in a fist fight who would win?
The person that wanted to live longer. 

When is the last time you've been into a fight?
It's been a long time.

Did you win?
Always.  I haven't lost a fight since I was 14. 

 “Fighting” is in theatres today. 

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Clay is a blogger for BET.com's What the Flick.  You can read more of his work at www.claycane.net.