“I’m living on this positive mind frame where I’m only attracting positive things. I’m controlling my energy, I’m eating right, I’m meditating, I’m in the gym, I’m doing all this stuff I’m supposed to be doing. I’m past that young, immature way of thinking. I just want to be great.”
“I got my ears pierced when I was 12. I looked up to my older cousin, and he had earrings. Will Smith on ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ had the left earring. So I started with the left earring, and then two years later, I got the other one pierced.”
“I had sent out 100 audition tapes within 365 days, and then I got the ‘Dope’ audition. When I sent that out, two days later my manager called me and said they wanted to fly me out to L.A. to audition.”
“30058 is the ZIP Code I grew up in in Atlanta, so the music represents where I’m from, and the mindset of ‘30058.’ It’s got a touch of reggae and a hip-hop feel. It’s soothing, I think.”
“The feeling of the early ’90s… I think it was more… It was real. It was gutter. It was more entertaining.”
“I was the one that was always dancing and got along with everybody, but I also spoke my mind. If I didn’t agree with something the teacher would say, I’d tell her, so I would get in trouble for things like that. I’ve always been a good/bad boy.”
“My lyrics are for strong, independent women who are both smart and fashionable.”
“Everything about the movie ‘Dope’ is real artistry, and everybody put their full hearts and souls into it. It’s a passion project; it’s not one of those things everybody got paid a million dollars to do. Everybody on there wanted to do it. Everybody there believed in the project, and we just went for it. We all love each other.”
“When I went to auditions, if I didn’t know the lines, I wasn’t getting the job. If I knew my lines, if I knew what I was supposed to be doing, I got the job. And it was always like that – if I’m working hard, I get the result that I’m looking for.”
“I have the most respect for Rick. You’re always going to see a Shameik Moore and Rick Famuyiwa film.”
“All these interviews I’m doing – this is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about doing when I was younger. I was praying for people to want to write about me. I wanted people to hear my music. I wanted to perform. I wanted to be on billboards.”
“Meak’s World is the world I created when I was 12, when I got into the industry. I said, ‘I have to do it myself. It’s not going to be given to me. It has to be Meak’s World.’”
“For, like, 98 percent of my life, I’m not nervous. But as soon as I’m nervous, I start shaking or something, and I lose my cool.”
“I can’t assume that people see me the way I see myself. I have to show them. But I can’t do it in a way where it’s too much, where it’s rude. I feel like when you’re a king, you lead. And I just see myself as a king, or as something more than just a regular human being.”
“Music was always heavily involved with my spirit. My entire family is Jamaican. It’s nothing but reggae music and those kinds of vibes.”
“I’m working to be the best – the very best. There are a lot of people in this industry, and I’m trying to be the best. I’m working to affect history in a positive way.”
“Pharrell is a person who has influenced the world. I see myself in him, so I said, ‘You’re an alpha, and I’m an alpha, and I want to be able to express myself in every way, like you do.’”
“Everything I do, I put my full heart into. I don’t want to be just another actor, another singer, another artist. I want to invent history.”
“Musically, I have my project, ‘30058.’ It’s seven songs, like an EP or mixtape, but I call it a soundtrack because I feel like my life is a movie, and all the songs are moments in my life.”
“As I get older, I’m starting to find myself liking clean, fitted outfits, so I like a button-down. I’m seeing supermodels and what fashion is really like in real life. There’s more than just Atlanta with the saggy pants.”
“As I’m starting to grow up, and things are happening, I’m going to have to take off my pants, and I want to have on some attractive underwear. When it says Versace on your underwear, people will say, ‘Man, he’s fresh to his undies.’”
“My whole thing is I want to affect history in a positive way. I want the timeline to be, 100 years from now, when we look back, it’s going to be like, the world was like this, and then Shameik Moore hit the world, and everything changed for the better. It was a new light. Something special.”
“I keep my head up. I’m comfortable in my skin. I want to see progression in life, with myself and with others around me.”
“I love watching action movies. I love 007.”
“I don’t like going to the movies with people that talk a lot. They want to have a conversation or something.”
“I’m from a neighborhood that isn’t amazing – it’s not the worst, either – and I was happy. But Atlanta is just one area of a country. There’s a world out there I wanna touch.”
“Pharrell’s affected everyone through music. To work with someone like that – it’s a gift. You ever meet somebody you can learn so much from, and all you have to do is be quiet and watch? That’s what it was like. I took in how he moves, speaks, how he creates, the whole nine.”
“I record myself talking. I have a journal. And when I listen back, I remember why I wanted certain things. I listen to me at 16, saying ‘I really wanna be on TV… I want a movie, a huge movie…’ and I’m just like, ‘Yo, I’m humbled. I’m living a life I imagined.’”
“I’m not some crazy party animal. That’s OK. If you say you want to be the best, you have to do what the best do – train, research, eat right, take care of yourself, and be. Don’t pretend.”
“In middle school, I saw Chris Brown live, and I thought, ‘I can do that.’ And these girls are screaming for him.”
“My auntie and uncle live in Inglewood, and I used to stay with them when I would come to L.A. to audition for pilot season and other things like that.”
“I think it speaks to people in 2015, right now. We address real situations. It’s real life! Everything that happens in ‘Dope’ could happen today.”
“I have a lot of friends who are in love the ’90s. Girls, boys. ’90s music? That’s Tupac. That’s Biggie. That’s TLC. That’s Aaliyah. I still listen to Aaliyah. I still listen to Tupac and Biggie. There’s people who are really heavy on that culture.”
“I feel it’s important for the geeks to have a voice. ‘Dope’ is going to give a lot of people a new perspective.”
“When I was 12, my dad took me to see ‘You Got Served.’ I walked out a whole different person.”
“Every morning, I wake up and think about 10 different things I’m thankful for, and I continue to spread that love throughout the day, always visualizing, meditating, and growing.”
Leave a Reply