I always say the movie came out good if they want another one. That always tells me that people really liked the movie.

Nobody I know got killed in South Central LA. Today was a good day.

Embrace what makes up you. Some stereotypes are true - I love chicken, but that's a stereotype, I love f**king basketball, but that's a stereotype, too. But who cares? Embrace it. Be who you are, and don't be ashamed of what that is.

I think that my "Let's get it done! Let's have fun! Let's make a great movie!" attitude helped. I rarely have problems on my movies with egos and attitudes.

The police don't look at you as long when they drive past. Sometimes they don't look at you at all. In South Central, you've got them looking and lurking. I think it's basic harassment. It's part of their tactics to have everybody nervous of them. In the valley, at least I don't feel it the same way.

I've got a basketball signed by all the greats from Julius Irving to Oscar Robinson. It was at an All Star game I got them all to sign it. So that ain't going nowhere. I'm going to die with that in my casket.

The '80s was brand new. It was AIDS. It was gangbanging. It was starting to become big dope-dealing, and crack was starting to flood the neighborhoods. And then you had hip hop, which was something new, other than what we were doing, which was sports, playing football, basketball, baseball. And I was excited.