I think rap music is brought up, gangster rap in particular, as well as video games, every other thing they try to hang the ills of society on as a scapegoat.

The creative process of making a movie really turned me on. I'd started getting behind the scenes with a camcorder and VHS tape when making music videos.

I love music. It's freedom, a way to deal with pent-up frustration.

Gangsta to us didn't have anything to do with Al Capone and stuff like that. It's just about living your life the way you want to live it. And you're not going to let nothing stop you.

There's things people say in the barbershop they won't even say in their own living room, because it's just one of those zones where nobody's going to judge you too much about your dumb opinion.

That's always been my approach, to expose what's going on and what's not being said. I could go the selfish route, and probably make a whole lot more money, but that's not what it's about, it's about speaking for people who can't speak for themselves.

When I did 'Boyz N The Hood', I never thought how we grew up in South Central was interesting enough for a movie.