Hip-hop has permeated pop culture for decades. For a long time, though, it seemed to permeate it in a such a way that it never really got its just due. Now, hip-hop seems to be getting that recognition and is more widely accepted, which is great.

When you're composing for somebody, that means you have a boss. You have to do what it takes to, at the end of the day, appease them.

When you get above the line, you're above the line. So my thing is I just want to make music where I am always above that line.

The easy answer is to say that it's a part for black people to see black heroes, but to me it's important to young Mexican kids to see a black hero.

What really, really inspires me is that you don't see many black superheroes on television.

Blaxploitation films were black films targeting black people. They were films made to appeal to a culture in a way that was supposed to be unfiltered.

I think that being a film composer, someone that gets it and actually applies the music, it allows you to open up a spectrum of feeling. You're now allowed to approach the music from an audio visual perspective.