Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Broadway was weird.
History is about who tells it.
I have a recognizable silhouette.
I call myself a nerd all the time.
I didn't aspire to be on Broadway.
Daveed Diggs is a very nervous person.
I think this idea of a big break is a lie.
I'm fascinated with the regionality of rap music.
I'm from the Bay Area, so I know a lot about granola.
I went to Hebrew school but opted out of a bar mitzvah.
I'm an artist, so days don't start on any regular time.
Being on stage, I know my function. I just do the thing.
I can jump really high, yeah. I'm proud of that. I'll take it.
At some point, I'll do more McDonald's commercials if I have to.
I majored in theater. I did plays. But musicals were not my thing.
Everybody from the Bay has a superiority complex because we're dope.
I think people understand I'm not actually the real Thomas Jefferson.
Learning how to get a point across is pretty useful in any situation.
Acting is about finding truth and finding the way to convey the truth.
Neither of my parents live in Oakland anymore. They both got priced out.
That's the great thing about being a teenager. You think you're a genius.
I make the energy to go out. You can't let the Broadway schedule run you.
I warm up a lot harder for a Clipping show than I ever did for 'Hamilton.'
As more doors open for me, I try to always bring people who I know through.
I've always gravitated toward technical music in general. I love jazz fusion.
Being an emcee onstage is mostly about crowd control, about monitoring energy levels.
Being multiracial has allowed me to feel comfortable walking in all different circles.
I'm aware that not everybody gets that feeling of ease walking through the world that I have.
Being with a bunch of people who never take a day off means that you're not taking a day off.
Recording vocals has the same kind of physical demands as you experience a lot in theater work.
I was so stressed, man. When I was 17, I was so worried about what the hell was going to happen.
I felt so loved and taken care of, and that's a huge part of the reason I'm able to do what I do.
Hip-hop was indifferent to Broadway. We didn't need Broadway, but I think Broadway needed hip-hop.
To be rapping in a musical on Broadway is just - that sentence doesn't make any sense in my brain.
Using something that is really painful, generally, as the percussive element for a beat, I think is cool.
There's this thing about authenticity when you rap, right? Whether or not it's real, it has to feel real.
The fact that rap has a strict meter and stays to a click means that you have to make your thoughts concise.
I've always been very supported. I've never really been sad. I've just been broke. They are very different things.
If a project feels good to you, say yes. And do it with everything that you have and hope that the outcome is good.
I didn't know a single musical soundtrack, really, growing up. Nobody listened to musicals. That wasn't a thing I did.
I was really aware, even while it was happening, that the discovery of arts education in my life sort of saved my life.
As a kid, you don't have a ton of spaces where you are honored, where what you think is honored and what you say is revered.
The way we make history exciting to learn about is by breaking down the barriers that are already set up between these people.
Typically, my advice to young artists is not to wait for someone to allow you to do the thing. Just do the thing, and they'll catch up.
I think rappers spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is new. 'How can I say this in a way that no one has ever said it before?'
The act of being nice to somebody at Starbucks is actually a huge thing. It's a real change you can effect in somebody's life every day.
I love that 'Black-ish' is a pretty traditional sitcom, structurally. It functions like the sitcoms from the '80s and '90s that I grew up with.
That's the great thing about how 'SVU' works. They work with so many Broadway actors, they are very used to getting us out in time for the show.
If you do enough rap shows, you get a pretty good sense of an audience. You start to develop this sense of what a feeling of a room or a group is.
That's what hip-hop is - it's about meeting the music where you are, and then you add on top of that. It's about coming at it with your full self.