I have a four year old and I'm telling you we did Nickelodeon last night and he embarrassed me. It was like one of those moments when I couldn't believe my kid is acting like this. I just had to just like walk away from him because he was really pushing my buttons.

I try to do the same thing when I'm with young actors who are new and unsure. I try to do the same thing for them that I saw Laurence [Fishburne] and Angela [Dasset]do for all of us on Boyz n the Hood.

I think every family has that moment when the parents realize they need help and think, Oh my gosh. We cannot do this all alone. Every woman has that panic at some point in motherhood when you feel completely overwhelmed and constantly tired.

I've always been raised to love everyone, to accept everyone for their differences, and to just be open. But at a young, a very young age, I realized what racism was all about.

Marriage is not a priority for me. I'm not saying I'll never do it. It's just not where we are as a family . . . I'll be at home with my man, having a perfectly loving time, and I'll see all these comments on some site about how wrong I am for not being married. I don't feel less loved or less loving because I'm not married.

Americans are in need of very objective information, and sometimes it's easier to absorb the message through entertainment and through a great story than through the news outlets [where] everything is sensationalized. Not only are you getting information that sort of defies stereotypes, but you're also getting a wonderful story with hopefully good performances.

Directing music videos is all about capturing images.