Sometimes you do have to bank on yourself. You do have to believe in your ideas enough to really get out there and fight for it despite what people think of some young kids from the hood.

Having a belief in God, being able to find joy, despite your circumstances or put yourself outside of yourself, and stop looking inwards and look outwards a little bit really helps to carry through tough times. Giving makes you feel better.

Business is fun. Controlling your own destiny is fun. Creating an idea and turning it into a movie; finding an artist and guiding their career and bringing them to some type of status - there's joy in that.

The good thing about movies is that they're subjective. You can connect to different themes depending on your own perspective.

I came from a crew, and to me, all the guys I rapped with were better than me, so I was surprised when I was the breakout one. It was definitely a cool thing.

There are two things I wear. One is a Curvation undergarment over my whole body, and then maybe I'll also put on some Spanx. They're so great. They have a way of smoothing everything out, and then you can just put on whatever you want. It accents you and makes you feel pretty.

I enjoy just being me. I don't need to be Queen Latifah, the brand, 24 hours a day.