Fatherhood is something that is personal to me because I didn't grow up around my father.

It's much easier to talk about racism when you're able to use mutants as a metaphor. People would much rather talk about Charles Xavier and Magneto than they would about Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.

All black art, post-slavery, has always tried to prove in its own way that a black life is the equivalent of anyone else's.

Our Luke Cage is a black hero, not a hero who happens to be black.

People underestimate hip-hop the way they have sometimes underestimated comic books.

Hip-hop is as much an attitude and perspective as it is a music form.

The first time that I met B.I.G. was in 1994, summer of '94 - I believe it was August. I think it was right after 'Ready to Die' came out.

One of my favorite comic books of all-time is the graphic novel 'God Loves, Man Kills.'

All Blaxploitation is, is the opportunity for an African-American cast or lead actor or actress to do the same things that a white action hero gets to do.

The reason that Shaft has a dominant theme song is because James Bond has a dominant theme song.

Honestly, what 'Luke Cage' is - it's a hip-hop Western. And you have Luke Cage as the sheriff of Harlem.

To me, Harlem is one of the most important places on the earth, particularly when it comes to talking about African Americans.

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

'The Wire' is, by far, my favorite television show of all time. And I've always said that my aspirations for 'Luke Cage' was that it would be 'The Wire' of the Marvel television universe.

One of my biggest influences, of course, is David Simon and his work on 'The Wire.'

I'm not going to be one of those people who says, 'I'm a showrunner; I'm not a black showrunner.' I'm black when I go to sleep. I'm black when I wake up, period. It doesn't affect my perspective on everything, but at the same time, it's who I am, and I'm proud of it.

The difference between a Marvel superhero and a DC superhero is that we place Marvel superheroes in the real world that we recognize and that we know.

Alfre Woodard is a powerhouse, master actor, but she's also someone that you want to interact with, someone that you want to talk to.

That's the thing about TV: it gives you so much time to tell your story; it's comparable to comics.

If you're a black person in America, it's really hard to avoid being black. And what I mean is that the reality of your cultural history, regardless of whether or not you talk about it, it's there.

I wanted Luke Cage to very much be an African American superhero rather than a superhero that happens to be black. I felt it was important to give him that cultural grounding but also show that it doesn't make him an obtuse or one-sided character.

It's important to for your kids to see themselves in their superheroes. Really, it's important for all of us.

Black writers seldom get the opportunity to write superhero stories.

My mom and dad met at U. Conn., and their lives couldn't have been more different in terms of their upbringing.

Television has power.

Even though I've got this really brawny, masculine reputation, I'm a Shondaland Thursdays kind of guy.

I'm a hip-hop showrunner.

For me, hip-hop has always been black superhero music.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was when the original 'Secret Wars' came out with the debut of the black costume for Spider-Man. I remember I couldn't wait to get home to read it, and I was like, 'Oh, my God, I've been waiting for this comic to come out. I hope, God forbid, nothing happens to me before I get home to read it.'

Police officers see everything, and they experience everything, and they don't always act correctly.

When you're writing about cops from the perspective of cops, that level of sarcasm about their job and how they treat people will color the writing to a certain extent.

The only thing police patrol cops - in certain situations - are expert at is spotting anomalies. When you are a black person that is driving in a place that you stick out, that's all they're going to see.

The thing that all police officers decide when they wake up in the morning is that they're going home.

I think the fact that 'Black Lightning,' 'Luke Cage' and 'Black Panther' have each made noise in their own way will only lead to different superheroes and different genres.

The Caribbean is such a rich place, and Jamaica, personally, is one of my favorite places in the world. I've been lucky to, on various projects, to have spent a lot of time down there.

Netflix likes critical attention, and they like their analytics.

I come from hip-hop - meaning that I don't mind if you come at me. In fact, I prefer it. But I prefer that you come at the show with credible critique.

Because I'm a former critic, I view criticism differently than most do. I can take criticism, but if you're going to eviscerate us, be specific.

Sometimes you have to take the risk that somebody will consider what you're making is noise, but if you don't try it, then nothing will move forward. I'd rather people hate something than just go 'meh.'

You have to tell a super story that has some fantastical element, but the human element is what's going to keep people watching.

If a superhero is a community superhero, then is he going to protect his community by controlling everything? If he decides to control crime, does that make him a crime boss? Does that make him a criminal?

In the imagination, Harlem will always be the spiritual capital of black excellence in America.

I really think that Steven Caple, Jr. is going to be a great addition to the 'Rocky' director pantheon.

Really, the arc for the first season of 'Luke Cage' is 'hero.' How does one become a hero? What does one feel about being a hero? How does one live their life and eventually go through the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross stages of grief until the acceptance is, 'Fine, I'm a hero.' This is what it is.

When you're a black superhero, you can't erase the notion that you're black. If you're black, living in the community, and you want to change things, there are going to be things that happen. That's true of anybody. I mean, you could use celebrity as a similar metaphor.

What Peter Jackson proved with 'Lord Of The Rings' movies is that you could make various changes, and you could pull things around, but as long as it was in the spirit of the storytelling, and because he made The Shire so real, the fans forgave him for the changes.

'Southland' was really where I learned so much about drama.

It's better to write a pilot rather than write a spec show. In some cases, you have to do both, but more often, writing a pilot and having an original voice is more important.

I can't turn hip-hop off, just like I can't turn comic books off. It blends into everything for me.

Harlem has always been the nexus of music, politics, culture, criminal figures.