Awkwafina Quotes

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

I viewed black musicals before 'Jelly' as a form of cultural strip mining. The exterior remained, but all the culture that signified where the people had come from and their connection to the earth was absent.

Black culture has been a huge influence in my life.

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form.

American music culture is black culture.

I do consider myself part of black history.

There is a distinctive African American culture that has roots in Africa and evolved on American soil.

People don't want rap to be anything other than it is. But genres expand. My contributions, no matter how they sound, will always be rap, because they'll always be black.

I wanted to explore black culture, and I wanted that culture to be a revelation.

I am not afraid of European influences. The point is to use them, as Ellington did, as part of my life as an American Negro.

There is no monolithic black culture. It's completely different for someone born in Harlem to someone born in Houston or London with one exception, which is that people contributing to black culture have the experience of being black.

As long as black people preserve their culture in Harlem, Harlem will always be alive.

You can't just say in one sentence what is blackness or what is black culture or what makes you who you are.

I grew up listening to hip hop and embracing black culture, probably because it was 'outsider art.'

Jazz is a word they use to sell our music, but to me that word does not exist.

As a child, I experienced black culture as many people did in America: on the TV, radio, and stages.

Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'

There's no question that I'm African-American. OK? I'm a black man. We're not going to escape that.

Hip-hop is a cultural expression - it's embracing.

I am proud of my black roots and of the black blood that runs in my veins.

Hip-hop has globalized a conception of blackness that has had a political impact, whether or not it had a political intent.

So when you enjoy the beats, the rock music - maybe even toned down with an orchestra - you are enjoying the spirit of the black race. And that's what I emphasize to the students.

I don't know what gives me more pleasure: watching my story unfold or going in and watching a room full of black people talking for me and writing words for black people.

Society wants to categorize everything, but to me it's all African-American music.

I think all in all, one thing a lot of plays seem to be saying is that we need to, as black Americans, to make a connection with our past in order to determine the kind of future we're going to have. In other words, we simply need to know who we are in relation to our historical presence in America.