...As an artist, you need the naysayers and the nonbelievers to add fuel to your creative fire.

I'm afraid because some police are way out of control. My true feeling with police is this: If they do their job, there's no problem.

The trick with hip-hop-hip-hop is a sport. The only music that's really, really close to a sport. It starts off, "My DJ's better than yours. I can out-rap you, I can out-dance you, my graffiti piece is better than you." It's very competitive.

If you're really a rapper, you can't stop rapping.

I always knew that I had to direct. That was something I'd wanted to do. Finally, I was just looking at the situation and I said, "I wanna document hip-hop, as an art form, seeing how a lot of people don't take it seriously."

There's a point where a cop pulls you out of that car and starts abusing you or beating on you and at that moment he is no longer within the law.

Hollywood has its own way of telling stories. I was just telling stories that I was familiar with. And it's what I want to do in the future: I want to take my audio cinema and put it on the screen.