We're trying to do what Miles Davis would have wanted us to do, which is approach it as artists with his life as the canvas.

And it's not just black people. That's the other thing about this issue, it's conflated with just black and white and it's not that at all. It's diversity, it's something that looks more like the landscape of the country. And it's not about then we get the statues we deserve, it's not that. It's that everyone should be able to participate in this silly contest, which is how I feel about it.

I've never been a part of a film before that offers such a platform into real issues, that raises social awareness and has the potential to change things.

President Obama inherited a broken country mired in two wars, a financial crisis, a mortgage mess and more than we all probably even know about and has in my opinion brought us back from the brink. But I still see my friends in no better shape and the gap widening.

I imagine it was much different in the 1970s. That was the Renaissance for black actors, albeit in blaxploitation movies. There was a much greater preponderance of work then than there is now.

I used to record but just in my own studio or in my friend's back when I toyed with the idea of being a rapper.

Living by example - that's always a better teacher than trying to preach.