My mother is black, from Grenada, so my blackness was always there, but It wasn't until I started hanging with the upperclassmen black actors at my high school that I really got my roots in being a black American, which is a distinctly different identity and experience.
You're flawless when you embrace the things about you that you don't necessarily like, but you own them because they're yours.
I'm not hostile. I'm passionate.
I definitely am very secure with my body and my likes and dislikes and the imperfections that some might call flaws. I'm like, 'Those are my thighs; it's just what it is.' I think a lot of that has to do also with... women being a lot more vocal about the fact that, you know, being flawless is false.
I have a theory that when you're lost on the path, go back to the beginning and try the maze again.
Anytime I don't have to wear a bra is a good day.
Wokeness, for what it's worth, is a buzzword that a lot of people are not truly understanding the depth of. I think sometimes things work their way into the zeitgeist, and they lose their weight. And wokeness is one of those words that has reached that point.
As an artist, it's incredible to see folks see you and then be able to give that back and to be able to send two girls to a Black Girls Empowerment camp.
'Smart, Funny and Black' is about celebrating, critiquing and learning about black culture, black history, and the black experience.
Whether you like him or not, hip hop needs Drake.
Ladies and dentists will agree: Iverson has one of the best smiles to ever grin. This is uncontested. No argument! And he was very generous with it as well. Whether during a game, press conference, or photoshoot, Iverson was free with his cheesing.
Whether you agree with Trump or not, you can't deny he looks like a piece of pizza with the cheese off. It's just what it is.
I don't have the proportions for 'hood hot.'
When I speak of diversity, I don't mean replacement of white comics. I don't mean acceptance by white comics. We comics who weren't born into the white guy paradigm of 'funny' don't need a handout. We don't need a PC push. We don't need 'a look.'
My first encounter with Wu-Tang Clan came when I ordered six CDs from those throwback catalog orders, from Columbia House or something, and '36 Chambers' was one of them. It was on from then.
Exactly what I'm doing is what success looks like. I get to create on my own terms, on my own timeline, and I'm able to support myself and my mom and my cat comfortably.
I'm a weirdo and an only child. That comes together to create one-woman shows.
Comedy has allowed me to be my 100-percent-true self, as opposed to other places, where I feel like that's been a hindrance. Whether it's music or poetry or hosting, people want you to be something else: they want you to be packaged in a certain way.
In music, you ain't really got to be able to sing. In comedy, you may be cute, you may be able to add a little extra to your routine, but if you're not funny, no one's really rocking with you - and if you're a black woman, you better be hilarious. As usual, we always have to do the most.
I look to icons like George Carlin, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor on how to present these concepts of social change and subversiveness to an audience in a way that's palatable.
