Quotes from Rick Famuyiwa

I'm a first-generation American. My parents are from Nigeria. I had this weird last name that looked Japanese, and then people would see me and go, 'Oh. You're not Japanese.'

Nineties hip-hop in particular really shaped what became the common pop cultural language that we all speak.

There are so many instances where kids who have talent and intellect have to navigate the world of low expectations and resources. We have to nurture those gifts more.

I feel like geek is about obsession. I feel like I geek out on certain things and that just means it's a mad devotion or obsession to something.

I wanted to try and change the idea of what we call mainstream. So many times what we call mainstream is upper middle class white suburbia. And anything outside of that is considered niche.

When you're young, you sort of have an idea that this is how it's always gonna be as a filmmaker. And then you have the ups and downs of trying to get your art created in an industry that doesn't traditionally make films with you and people that look like you behind the camera.

The biggest part of what Anita Hill did was take away the stigma of coming forward, and it took a lot for her to do that. We don't have these conversations, because of the fear that people won't believe you or you'll get attacked if you come forward. She came forward anyway and continued to tell her story.

DC is the foundation of what we all know about comic books and heroes. They've had great storytellers, great illustrates, as a part of that tradition.

Comedy opens you up to ideas that a straight-up drama doesn't. You resist those messages when they come to you earnestly or dramatically.

I was always this weird outcast kid.

I remember growing up watching John Hughes movies and watching these white kids from suburban Chicago. I connected to them even though I didn't live in their environment.

The thing you gotta understand about L.A. is that everything is suburbia. Los Angeles isn't set up like San Francisco or New York.

I always say it's hard to cast an African-American film sometimes because those kinds of actors just aren't out there.

I don't know if I've seen in the Constitution where it says if there's an election year, then we take a break until after for us to do the business of the American people.

I've been a fan of Wendell Pierce for a very long time. He was in one of my early movies and he brings such a level of heart and humanity to his roles.

You might go into 'Dope' feeling you already know what this movie is because, all right, there's kids, they're from Inglewood, oh, it's drugs.

For me, I think of 'Dope' as an album. There may be a love song and there may be a party song, but it's all coming from one artist.

It wasn't that long ago that I was coming up, but it feels almost ancient that you had to go to the library and you had 'World Book Encyclopedias.'

I consider 'Dope' a part of the new mainstream.