Kids will keep it real. If I've ever had in my life a great anchor, it's them. They get in your head, 'don't get too famous.' If you think you're really famous and think you're really hip, go hang out with your kids for an afternoon. That's about as earthbound as it's going to get.
I'm very down-to-earth. I think I'm still 'street'.
Keeping it real is the key and I don't know how they've done that week after week. I think the key is that everybody can sort of empathize with [The Office].
I'm from the Bronx, so I am looking forward to performing before my homies. I'll keep it live in the house.
I never brag, how real i keep it, cause thats the best secret.
I just think - the Midwest, if you grow up there, you're deathly afraid of putting on airs. Any time a Midwesterner criticizes someone, it's usually involving some form of being too big for your britches.
In hip hop, 'real' has always meant one who represents in actuality what they present in imagery. For instance, once upon a time, if a rapper spoke about being gangsta, they needed to truly be that, or they were 'frontin.'
I live a very simple life. I live away from all the Hollywood hype, and I try to keep it that way.
Richard Pryor was my hero. Richard Pryor was keeping it 100.
I think I avoid stepping into sentimentality by trying to be as truthful as possible with performances.
People so obsessed with being real in hip-hop because they don't want people to think that they're lying.
To be honest, I am a really simple person, and most of my friends are not from the industry. I am most comfortable with them. They don't treat me as an actor, and neither would they tolerate me behaving like one.
I have a whole lot of fun in trying to serve others and just keeping it funky, trying to keep it real, trying to ensure that we are able to be ourselves and get beyond these deodorized discourses and deodorized spaces that put on masks.
People get some success, they get some money, they get some power, and they put themselves on this pedestal above other people. They forget people and try to fit in with their new crews they think they need to be around with. I didn't believe that. I'm still human being.
If you can remain true to the people who know you the best and not be sidetracked by the flashing lights and glimmering of the cameras, it's like, just being down-to-earth and just kind of staying real.
With the success of the last three or so years, when a lot of people start treating you differently, there's a danger that you may start to think of yourself differently. You rely on your friends to say, 'Hey, wake up!'
London keeps me grounded. We don't get praised every time we open our gobs there.
