I came back to the hood and got in those streets and started doing whatever it took for me to provide.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Anyway, I lived on the streets and did pretty good until I got caught stealing, what was it? I kicked in a restaurant window, went in and took all the food that I wanted, and while coming out I was grabbed.
I rode with four street-clothes cops in the East Village. I spent six weeks riding with them every day - in street clothes, with a vest underneath.
I definitely ran with a pack of hoodlums, that's for sure.
As of late, 'Boyz n the Hood' really impacted me because I grew up in that same neighborhood. It was the first time I saw a true reflection of me, my neighborhood and my surroundings.
I was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South.
I reprimand people, even those working with me, for littering the roads.
Sometimes I put on a ski mask and dress in old clothes, go out on the streets and beg for quarters.
It's good that I managed to hoodwink so many people. I am actually not that nice a person.
I grew up in a very nice house in Houston, went to private school all my life and I've never even been to the 'hood. Not that there's anything wrong with the 'hood.
As I got older, I got into all kinds of things in the streets - but for some reason, I never got caught up with the gangs growing up. Everybody dug me, man. I never had problems.