Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if you're lucky, build you up again.

A spine to my films that's become more evident to me is that many are about the choices people make, and the reverberations of those choices. You go this way, or that way, and either way, there's going to be consequences.

I always give the example, if you turn on the radio today, black radio, Lenny Kravitz is not black. Bob Marley wasn't black: in the beginning, only white college stations played Bob Marley.

People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world.

If you can't take a hit, you're not going to last long, that's for sure.

A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.

Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner.