Quotes About Influence

My mom knew we were going to call me Kiki by birth. I think she had the nickname before she had my name, and she then found the name that would allow that.

Rachel Bilson, Nicole Richie, Vanessa Hudgens... so many of my idols growing up were Bongo girls.

I started really idolizing people like Nicole Holofcener and Whit Stillman.

I am not a father, and the only children that I get close to are my nieces.

My step dad's from Nigeria, so he listened to Highlife music from Africa. He was also into hip-hop and R&B, and from that, I started to listen to music from his collection and liking it, developing my own taste.

Everyone has met or seen or interacted with a Nigerian in America because we leave Nigeria for here. We're your doctors. We're your lawyers. We're your child's best friend. All of the above.

I would find myself being inspired by things that I've heard as a kid: Nigerian music or African music, some French music or some Jamaican music. When it's time for music to be made, it's almost like my ancestors just come into me and then it's them.

Outside of Peruvian rap-rock, few genre tags raise eyebrows quite like the words 'Nigerian disco.'

I am not a practising Jew, and I am not embedded in Nigerian culture, but I have a sense of those things inside me, which is very handy for acting. There are a lot of things I can draw on.

I mean, London has shaped me as a person. My parents are Nigerian so I've had the luxury of blending different cultures together just through my everyday life.

If Confucius wasn't born, the long night would have no bright lamp.

I'm the kind of guy who grew up listening to Three Dog Night and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I used to love those movies, back in the day, like 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Friday the 13th,' 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Shining.' I really liked those kind of movies, and I wanted to be a part of one of those kinds of movies.

My dad's European, so when I was a little kid, I couldn't wear things like Nike, so I grew up wearing Adidas.

I want to be like the Nike or Apple of children's books.

When I was really young, I loved the movie 'White Christmas' - I still do - and I thought Rosemary Clooney was so pretty. When I was, like, nine, I would tell people, 'You know who I kind of look like? Rosemary Clooney.'

When I was around nine years old, I was a fan of Shaun Cassidy's first album.

My parents separated when I was nine, but my father was always around, and he still follows me now. He is always sending me messages.

I couldn't watch '101 Dalmatians' when I was, like, nine because Cruella was too scary.

I was nine. I saw Orson Welles in 'Julius Caesar.' It was involving, emotional, imaginative. I've never forgotten it.

I can't imagine childhood without 'Planet of the Apes.' I was nine or ten when the first one came out.

We all know the films that have affected us from the age of nine onwards, that mean so much to us.

I got my first relaxer when I was nine years old. This was in the '90s, and I convinced my mom to let me perm my hair so I could wear a French roll with the crimps in the front.

I said 'no' nine times when Kanye asked me to work with him because I liked being friends with him. Then he put me in a position where I couldn't say no: He just told everyone I was his manager.