I was 15 when I read the script for 'Earth to Echo.' I thought it was amazing, and I couldn't think of turning it down. It's awesome for a kid from Brooklyn to have an opportunity to be on the big screen. And I had a great experience learning what the movie business is like. So, I'm glad I did it.

I know I'm going to be the next big hip-hop artist. I just want to save hip-hop... that's my job.

I don't want music to be a job for me; I want it to be something I'm doing for fun. As long it's not a job, then you're straight.

It's always been fun for me to play somebody else. I did drama class when I was younger. It kind of just happened. I never said, 'I want to act.' I just auditioned for the role, I got it. I was blessed with this opportunity to be in 'Earth to Echo.' It's fun for me; it's cool to do.

I chose a time in the century which had the greatest moments for novels - the late '30s and World War II.

I was one of those children forced into fighting at the age of 13, in my country Sierra Leone, a war that claimed the lives of my mother, father and two brothers. I know too well the emotional, psychological and physical burden that comes with being exposed to violence as a child or at any age for that matter.

The tsar of War and Peace, especially in the BBC version, is a complete popinjay and a useless character. The real tsar, Alexander I, had an amazing career.

I was so happy that it filmed in New York not only because it's an amazing city, but also because a lot of people across the world somehow started to think about New York as a dangerous place to be and envisioned it as some war zone after that happened.