I didn't have a knee-jerk reaction like some people did to the language and the violence. My stepfather was a history teacher at Lincoln High School in Dallas. So, I was already familiar with the N-word and the brutality of slavery. What I was drawn to was the love story between Django and Broomhilda and how he defends and gets the girl in the end. I thought it was just an amazing and courageous project.

As black folks we're always sensitive. As a black person it's always racial.

Yeah, anytime anybody has a kid, you know how you feel when you have a kid, you look at the world differently because your kid's in the world now. When it's just you, whatever happens happens but now you pay more attention to political things. You pay more attention to things because your daughter or your son has to deal with these circumstances.

I never planned to win an Oscar. When I auditioned for Ray, I was just thinking about what a great project it would be.

I really wanted to just be a musician. I didn't want to be anything else, but I was funny and all that.

Now ballads, I can mess around and get up on somebody on a ballad. People ain't seen it yet, but I can mess around and get up in there. I've had Ruben Studdard up in my house, Brian McKnight, Tank. Every once in a while I throw down with them.

What I've noticed is that when people win huge and they have those huge, huge successes, sometimes they forget about the actual acting of it, and sometimes it's hard to come down from their perch.