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With So Solid, we had overnight success and I bought stupid stuff with my money, I bought a 35k car while I was still living in a council flat.
I heard stories about my dad. I wondered why he never protected me. I loved the man and I have still not got over the fact he wasn't there for me.
I grew up part of the MTV generation. I saw Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z on TV and I thought: 'Wow, look at these powerful black people.' I wanted that.
I went to a branch of the City of Westminster College in Maida Vale to do drama, sociology and English literature. I stayed for three or four months.
Politics isn't about helping people, it's about maintaining whatever people have got, whatever it takes to maintain their position at the expense of us.
My son broke his arm. I couldn't do anything, couldn't be there. That's when I knew I was a bad parent. I was doing the same thing my dad had done to me.
Rather than enjoying my success I was stressing about it. Wanting it, but at the same time I couldn't handle the consequences. I was intimidated by people.
My dad had a real big reputation as being the hard man, street fighter, the gangster. My stepdad was quite timid, and I wanted a bit of the gangster in my life.
It was tough: I had to kiss a man, and I got a mixed reaction from the black community. But I have to be ready to play any role, or I can't call myself an actor.
It's important for people to listen and take time to watch what's going on in these shows, especially the ones like 'Top Boy' that are painting an accurate picture.
I have grown up being a father. When my first son was born I was 17. I was a child bringing up a child. I was not capable of understanding what a dad was meant to be.
This game is full of rejection. As an actor, you are being told 'No' an awful lot of the time. You have to keep getting up and carrying on to get to where you want to go.
My dad spent most of my childhood behind bars. He went to jail 17 or 18 times. It was only when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 that we started to have a relationship.
Whatever I want, the next car or the next house, I stick a picture of it to the back of my door, so I can look at it first thing in the morning and dream it into existence.
Once you've been at the top, you're always gonna know what it's like to be at the top. If you've never been at the top, you're not worrying about what it feels like being there.
Drake is involved heavily, and they're kind of working away to find the right home for 'Top Boy,' whether that be Netflix, whether it be on TV, whether it be Amazon, I don't know.
As a rapper, you're taught and you practice being hard all the time. You're not crying on your tracks, you don't sound like Neyo singing an R&B song about what you've lost or whatever.
The strength of 'Small Island' is the fact that it deals with heavy issues in a way that is appealing to watch, and it's a story that people can relate to no matter what colour you are.
Some days it seems I've done as much as I can here and I think I'll go and try my luck in America. But then a call comes from the Globe theatre. They want me for King Lear, playing Edmund.
There was a long period where every time someone was shot or stabbed the BBC would call me. I started to think, 'I'm an actor and a musician, I don't want to be a politician or a spokesperson.'
It would be beautiful to be able to walk up and down Peckham still, because I love it; it's where I grew up. But it just doesn't work. There are a lot of people who love you but there's jealousy too.
A lot of black actors will sit there and go, 'Every role is about being a gangster' - then they get an opportunity to write a script and they write about a gangster. You know... write about a superhero.
I had an inkling that I was going to prison before I actually did, because I'd witnessed my father and my elders going through it. It seemed like that's the way that you got respect, which is a sad thing.
My mum was well-travelled, well-educated and made me understand from books, from my imagination and from just taking me away on holiday once a year, wherever she could, that the world was bigger than Peckham.
I stayed well clear of roles like 'Top Boy' for years before I did it, but I had to do it because the script was amazing. It was the most authentic thing that I've ever read when it comes to that sort of life.
I worked in WH Smiths on Sloane Square and my first boss was a woman called June. My shift was half a day on Saturdays, and nine to six on Sundays. I was in and out of the place and only turned up when I wanted to.
I come from a place where to go to prison is like a rite of passage. It's something that you gain respect for. I used to watch people come out of prison, older cousins and the like, back in the day, and be in awe of them.
I had a good three or four months of mad depression where I thought, I'm not doing this any more, it's brought me nothing but problems, I can't take it. My own label didn't want to touch me. A lot of people just shut doors.
When I was young, I would go to youth clubs after school, run by my teachers and there were places to go where you could talk things out or enjoy sport with kids from different areas so territorial barriers were broken down.
I never wanted my kids to have the experience of not knowing me or where they came from. I never want them to wonder, 'Did he love me?' I want to be there at the pivotal moments, for them to know how proud I am of who they are becoming.
In my opinion, gentrification can sometimes affect what's happening on the ends. You're placing people in different places, moving them around, and you're taking them out of their comfort zone and into places they're not used to being in.
I couldn't take that whole retail thing of being polite to people that are not being polite to you, and showing respect to people when they've got no respect for you. Retail in general is something I just can't do, unless it's my own shop.
I would love to have a chat with Michael Jackson. For the sole purpose of seeing if he has a deep voice or not. A lot of people say he actually had a deep baritone, but then on TV he always had the high pitched squeaky voice. I would love to spend some time with him.
I was driving along and I got a random call on my way to my mother in law's for dinner and it was Drake. He wanted to help and he said he'd do anything to get 'Top Boy' back on screens and then got a call from Netflix, who wanted to do the show. For U.K. culture, it's a huge thing.
I have done a lot of short dramas that are three, four or five episodes and so that makes the filming process similar to the independent film process; it is very intimate, and it is a small cast and a small crew and everyone is there with a common goal and want the best for that project.
The fact that 'Small Island' is 'period' is amazing for me because it's something that I've never been involved with before. Also, half my family is Jamaican and this story is essentially a story about Jamaican people, and it's portraying a part of history that I was not that familiar with myself.
If you haven't got a gun, you can't shoot anyone. We need to look at how these guns are getting into our communities. It's about replacing the negativity with good stuff. Give kids music studios in the community they can use for free and see how they learn to work together. Football and music unify kids.
I woke up one day and there were loads of calls on my phone. My best friend was like: bro, go to Drake's Instagram. So I went and saw my big head on there, a picture and a caption or whatever, and it was 'Top Boy' related. Long story short: we got in contact and had a few conversations about him being a big fan of the show.
From the outside, people think it's drug-related. But wherever you come from, people are driven by a sense of belonging. What I say to kids all the time is you don't own streets. We don't own the paving stones we are fighting over. Instead of fighting each other, you should be fighting the government to make this a better place to live.