Jason Mitchell Quotes

Why be boring? Have some fun. Rock shows should be like movies: I don't go to a movie hoping it'll change my life.

I took the part in 'Mr. Holland's Opus' because no one had ever asked me to play 'a life' before. I get to age through 30 years. The idea really challenged me.

I seldom read anything that is not of a factual nature because I want to invest my time wisely in the things that will improve my life. Don't misunderstand; there is nothing wrong with reading purely for the joy of it. Novels have their place, but biographies of famous men and women contain information that can change lives.

Hip-hop is ever changing but you'll always have the pack. And you'll always have those people who are separated from the pack.

When I auditioned for '21 Jump Street,' it was a last minute thing. I had one of the worst flus that I've ever experienced in my life, and I was forced to go to the audition, the screen test.

I grew up in Chicago, so hip-hop has always been a part of my life.

Hip-hop saved my life, man. It's the only thing I've ever been even decent at. I don't know how to do anything else.

Back in the day, if someone said that hip hop and rap was a fad, that was a joke to me because they just didn't know what they were talking about. In reality, there were so many people who didn't know what they were talking about it.

I was about 12 when I heard my first Lenny Bruce record. He was already dead. But it changed my life and really did change the world.

After my first year on 'Gossip Girl,' everybody said, 'You've got to do a big commercial movie, ride this wave.'

The roles... the deep roles that I've gotten to play have turned my course. They've changed my life experience.

When Attenborough asked me to do Gandhi it was almost like stepping off one boat and stepping on to another, even though both boats are going at 60 miles per hour.

The song, 'Life is Better,' is about hip-hop. It's about my love for hip-hop. And, you know, I go through all the artists from the beginning to the end, you know. And, well, not to the end, but since the beginning to now, you know.

My partner, Danny Strong, came to me with this idea of telling a story about my life and merging that with music and the hip-hop world. He wrote 'The Butler' and originally wanted to do 'Empire' also as a movie.

I really love hip hop. My cousin Nas came out with an album 'Life Is Good,' and I love that album, but I also love Maroon 5.

Hip-hop is a way of life. It isn't a genre in truth in 'American Idol.'

Diamond Dallas saved my life. He didn't have to, but that's the kind of guy he is. He's helped so many people with his DDP Yoga. It's just incredible with the lives he's changing, the lives he's affecting. I am so honored to be part of that.

I think people like to see the lives of artists that are legends. They always go through the dark periods and I think just as humans we like to see that and them coming out of it. I love those kinds of movies.

There's a great documentary on Tupac called 'Resurrection' about the last few years of Tupac's life and how he transformed. And, ironically, how this East Coast rapper became this West Coast icon, back when all that Death Row/Sean Combs stuff was going on.

You see things through a different lens when you have a child.

It's so ridiculous how you just get a call one day and go on an audition that can easily change your life for the next several years.

Tupac is my favorite artist, and he had mad style.

Everybody has the Tupac that they admire. Certain people love the hip-hop person, the rapper. Strictly just the rapper. A lot of people, the newfound Tupac fans... they're into Death Row-era Tupac. But that was only nine months!

In a lot of places Jay-Z is considered God, Philly, our hometown being one of them.

I've never been a mega-star. I'm more of a tastemaker of hip-hop. I try to be more of an ambassador for the era of hip-hop that I came in.