I wanted 'Formation' to be a woman empowerment song, but Beyonce made it into a culture empowerment song.

It started off with me being all the way influenced by Atlanta and southern music but I knew my sound had to grow - I started learning melodies.

A lot of times, older people don't get the new generation.

Me and Future, we did 'Dirty Sprite,' 'Ain't No Way Around It,' 'Turn on the Lights.' Every time we record, we're setting bars.

The Word of God is active, energizing, sharp and powerful like a two-edged sword.

Clearly, a large number of African-Americans don't have faith that the laws are being executed fairly in Ferguson, and that's a problem... We need to ensure Africans-Americans feel confident in the rule of law.

In Western lands there is a distinct division between the religious and the secular life. There is one rule of conduct for laymen and another for clergymen. This distinction has never found its place in the life of the people of India. There, all of life is included in the word 'religion.'

My heroes were people like Jim Jarmusch. Scorsese was my god. Spike Lee was exciting, doing exactly what we thought we were going to do: personal movies based in, and about, New York. My heroes were all participating in an economic model that was collapsing as I was finishing film school.