People underestimate the complexity of comic books.

When I was a critic, I reviewed Public Enemy's 'Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age' - this is back in '94 - and I called it a 'Dante-esque spiral of the hip-hop hell.' I idolized Chuck D, but I just hated that record, and I did not hold back. Chuck didn't freeze me out. Every time I met Chuck, he always treated me with the utmost respect.

Some people, when they get criticism, they shy away from it.

For me, I was never really obsessed with Luke Cage. My obsession was Wolverine.

For 'Luke Cage,' of course, I was familiar with Power Man and Iron Fist. I read the comics. That was really more stuff that you read for fun. It wasn't that you read either of those comics for profound moments, although they have profound moments.

With 'Luke Cage,' we all, as a collective wanted to tell the truest story that we could but, at the same time, also be very true to the comic book genre.

I'm not ashamed of comic books. You have some people that are like, 'We're trying to elevate comic books.' Comic books have always told great dramatic stories.

There aren't a lot of African-American superheroes. I've been reading comics since I was eight or nine years old. Luke Cage stood out.

Muhammed Ali is my favorite boxer, and the reason that I love Ali is because he's not undefeated. It's because of the fact that he risked it all at times and lost - but then came back.

'Clockers' - as much as it is a very focused crime drama, it sprawls.

The thing about Luke Cage that makes him different is - on the surface is he's a hero for hire; Luke Cage wants to get paid. Luke Cage in the comic books is like, 'I'm doing this stuff. It's all well and good, but I gotta make a dollar.'

Bushmaster was such a great adversary, and Mustafa Shakir, just the way that he embodies him in terms of the power of the voice, the stillness, and then, at the same time, when they do get after it, when he does fight, just how kinetic he was. He just brought a great dynamic and being able to explore his history in making the character Jamaican.

I don't see female characters as different or inferior to male characters.

In reality, black women, women of color, are powerful, bold, dynamic, and self-assured, so there's no reason their TV counterparts shouldn't be as such.

Rosario Dawson is such a resourceful, intelligent actress that you can do anything with her.

The only thing that's different about doing a superhero show is that you can have your hero do things that a normal cop in a procedural can't do. But the structure of the storytelling is universal.

I was a huge fan of comics: not necessarily 'Luke Cage.' I was more of an 'X-Men' head. I was always more Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, John Byrne.

I always respected Luke Cage and thought that he was interesting, and I really liked what Brian Michael Bendis did in his update of the character in 'Alias,' the comic.

My private joke about 'Luke Cage' is that it's a bulletproof version of 'Lemonade,' and that, essentially, it's a concept album that has a video component.

I wanted Season 2 of Luke Cage to be Ice Cube's 'Death Certificate,' or Fugees' 'The Score,' or Public Enemy's 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,' or my favorite, 'The Low End Theory' by A Tribe Called Quest.

When I was a journalist, I didn't care how many people talked to Ice Cube before I talked Ice Cube. I just knew that when I talked to Ice Cube, it was going to be different than what anybody else had done, and it was the same with any group.

Spike Lee is one of my biggest influences. What I love about Spike, other than he's just a fun guy to hang around, is that Spike is fearless. As much as people talk about him being politically outspoken, let's not forget that he's one of the best screenwriters, ever, in addition to being a visual master.

The thing is, so much of the African American experience is about the redefinition of roots because of slavery. We were uprooted, and there's so much about our whole legacy that was stolen and that we lost in the Transatlantic slave trade that we'll never find out.

When you're dealing with African Americans, family is everything. Because we spend so much time talking about how one treats one's family. Telling a black person that you haven't talked to your mother in a week is probably different than it is with other races because people will look at you different.

I will always get a certain thrill of watching bullets bounce off Luke Cage.

Bob Marley was always ready to deal with the politics of what was happening in the world but, at the same time, not lose sight of the fact that he's a musician.

If there's one thing that I've learned from both Spike Lee and Tarantino, it's that you can wear your influences on your sleeve but at the same time invoke new energy and new flavor.

This is a country that I love and that I believe in, but at the same time also believe that you should, as a part of this country, have the right to be able to talk very clearly about the issues that are happening, going on.

Sometimes it's harder to untrain somebody with dance experience than it is to teach somebody with a new skill.

At the end of the day, dancing is something that brings people together.

Listen, you can never take the bedazzle away from me.

By the way I also don't know anybody, so I would have to Google almost every single partner of mine - other than Ian Ziering because I used to watch '90210.'

Because I have been bullied and attacked about my body, body image has always been an issue for me.

You don't have to be a size zero to be beautiful.

You have to embrace your body, whether it's curvy or whatever you may be. You have to embrace who you are. Beauty comes from the inside not out.

I lived in a bubble as a kid.

I'd like to maybe be a judge. I could be pregnant and judge. I just can't be pregnant and dancing!

I've been lucky enough that some designers let me borrow their dresses to wear to events. And companies such as So Low and Tart have given me items to wear to rehearse in. I wish I could take more credit for the clothes that I get to wear!

I don't necessarily view myself as a 'famous' person, I look at like Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts and think to myself, now that's a celebrity.

I have two sisters and neither one of them are dancers.

I actually don't really like shopping but I do love clothes!

I'm not one of those girls that's like, 'I have to be married by the time I'm 35 and I have to have six babies when I'm 38.' No, I'm just fine it's all good.

I want to try new things and just see what's out there.

There are all different types of people out there who are going to say all kinds of things, online and in real life. The important thing is to know which ones to listen to.

I've been so unlucky with dates for myself. So why not have someone else pick them for me?

It sounds crazy, but I'm so married to my work that I rarely meet new people.

It's tough... My real father - I have my stepdad, my mom remarried - but my real father lived in Thailand, so I barely saw him as it is. So it was really hard for me to go back there and just, I feel like I have a lot of unanswered questions.

There's not one second that I don't think about my dad.

After doing 'Dance Moms,' I've been super inspired and motivated to work with girls.

I know I'm not fat, but when people keep telling you that, you have to think about it.