When I Was A Kid,

I See These Other Actors Come Up With This Tough-guy Personas And Now When They're On Talk Shows They're All... But That's Not Really The Way They Are. I Probably Could Have Used A Little Bit Of That. At One Point I Was Labeled "the King Of Dumb White Guys." I Was Offended By That When I Was Younger, But I Understand What That's From, So I Was Like, "only A Genius Can Play A Fool." But I'm Very Aware Of That, And I'll Play Into It And Use It However I Need To Use It.

I Grew Up In New York City In The '80s, And It Was The Epicenter Of Hip-hop. There Was No Internet. Cable Television Wasn't As Broad. I Would Listen To The Radio, Hear Cars Pass By Playing A Song, Or Tape Songs Off Of The Radio. At That Time, There Was Such An Excitement Around Hip-hop Music.

The Effect Hip-hop Had On Me Was Enormous. I Was Exposed To It By Happenstance. My Father Worked At A Radio Station In New York Called Wktu Disco 92. It Was The First Radio Station In New York City To Play Disco In The Late '70s.

Socially, Hip-hop Has Done More For Racial Camaraderie In This Country Than Any One Thing. 'cause Guys Like Me, My Kids - Everyone Under 45 Either Grew Up Loving Hip-hop Or Hating Hip-hop, But Everyone Under 45 Grew Up Very Aware Of Hip-hop. So When You're A White Kid And You're Listening To This Music And You're Being Exposed To It Every Day On Mtv, Black People Become Less Frightening. This Is Just A Reality. What Hip-hop Has Done Bringing People Together Is Enormous.

Being A Good Rapper Is Hard To Do. I'm A Good Rapaport, But That's About It.