First, you have stereotypes, and that will be the black drug dealer, the east Asian kung fu master, the Middle Eastern terrorist in ‘True Lies.’ Then you have stuff that takes place on culturally specific...

My parents, man, they’re just the most loving, encouraging… They’re like those people who define themselves through their role as parents before people in their own rights.

The only people who have doubts about the sincerity of my music are people who come to it relatively late, off the back of having seen me in a film. Acting is about being other...

No-one gets a job at 16 and stays in it until 60 any more; we’re connected to more people simultaneously than ever before, whether online or on our phones. We wear so many different hats...

I think that with piracy and tighter funds being around, people are realising that the game to play is to try and win people’s respect with bold film making and then win a special place...

The music I make and the process of acting, for me, are both about trying to understand people and get inside what makes us tick. That’s the main thing that excites me. Our sense of...

I’m not trying to project any persona. Often people don’t know where to put me. I don’t fit comfortably under banners, and that’s fine. I’m not worried about not making sense to people. That’s probably...

What’s interesting about the U.K. is that it celebrates an alternative voice. It’s up for telling new stories.

Bandwagons roll through our lives. It’s up to you whether you jump on them unquestioningly or jump on them to overturn them and subvert them.

I like the idea of being caught between things, always being a bit of an outsider, having an outside eye on things – almost like a Shakespearean fool.

I don’t think any of us like to be reduced to just one label.

In terms of negotiating a career – I’ve always grown up being an insider and an outsider to different worlds, across different classes and cultures, so I have always naturally liked making films or music...

I have always been restless, had a lot of energy.

The camera or the microphone in the booth is merciless. If you don’t believe what you’re saying, it hears it. If you don’t believe it, it sees it in your eyes, it hears it in...

My music is a very personal reflection of me, whereas, acting a role, that’s a reflection of another character.

I’m always trying to slip out of those labels everyone tries to put round your neck. We all have multiple selves.

I go to a lot of stand-up comedy. I find more inspiration from observational stuff than from rap.

The fact is, I’ve been releasing records longer than I’ve been releasing films, or at least exactly as long.

I don’t feel that any kind of narrow stereotypes are representative of the work I’ve done, nor the range of the audience that work has found. I’ve played lots of different roles, and they’ve connected...

I think that in an Internet age, content is content. As long as you can stand up on the merits of what you’re doing right at that moment and aren’t just relying on your success...