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The word 'Chicano' was originally a derisive term from Mexicans to other Mexicans living in the United States.

To me, you have to declare yourself a Chicano in order to be a Chicano. That makes a Chicano a Mexican-American with a defiant political attitude that centers on his or her right to self-definition. I'm a Chicano because I say I am.

I was interested in a lot of subjects from very early on. And that's uniquely Chicano because every Chicano I knew always had three jobs.

Being a Chicano in Hollywood, my experience is that you're not given credit for any sophistication... You're just kind of some guy that just crossed the border, you know, on the back of a truck and that's it.

Cubans have no bar to being legalized once they are in America. All other Hispanics - with the exception of Puerto Ricans - have to go through a broken, dysfunctional process. One group is American from day one. And all the rest are trying to be.

It is interesting that both Chicano and Puerto Rican art in the United States form an important part of the Civil Rights legacy and dialog.

I don't want to be considered 'the Latino rapper.'

The minority of Mexicans who are aware of their own selves do not make up a closed or unchanging class. They are the only active group, in comparison with the Indian-Spanish inertia of the rest, and ever day they are shaping the country more and more into their own image.