One of the things that's really the cornerstone of '90s hip-hop is sampling.

I've just never seen a live event [like Oscar] where the emotional swings - it was just stunning.And it was interesting because, on one hand, Moonlight is one of these, like, generational pictures that you wanted to see win. But at the same time, if La La Land had won, I completely understood.

The one thing you'll notice when you're walking through Harlem is every single passing car is playing different music and there's also music that's being played out of windows.

I mean, we should only be talking about the merits of film [Moonlight] because one of the great things about the visual language is that it is the great equalizer.

75%-90% of the murders that occur in black and Latino communities are solvable. Everybody knows who did it or somebody knows. The reason nobody talks is because snitches get stitches and people aren't bulletproof.

That's one thing that you notice in New York that you don't notice in LA is how much music is all over the place.

I was just really happy to see Barry [Jenkins] and Mahershala [Ali] and everyone else involved with Moonlight get their moment.

I know now it's a hashtag and people have various feelings about it, but really if you look at all black art, even in hip-hop, it's all about that I exist and these are my feelings and this is what I feel about the world. It's always been an undercurrent.

When you're a black superhero you can't erase the notion that you're black.