" When I look out into the audience , and into people ’ s eyes , a strong connection is built . That ’ s the same heart that I use to fight for human life . That ’ s what keeps me going "
What do you believe draws people to your music ? I ’ ve had a lot of people respond to the messages of my songs . “ Hold Up Wait A Minute ” is definitely one that a lot of girls , especially ones dealing cheating , respond to . A lot of women that have heard my song “ Higher ” have said to me , “ Oh my God that song spoke to me because when we ’ re in a relationship , we want clarity .” The questions that we ’ re asking are not bad questions . When you say , “ Where is this going ? How do you feel about me ? What are your goals for the future ? Where do you see us ?” All those questions are valid questions that we could use answers to , but the guys just run . You start asking them questions and all they are thinking is :
What drew me to the characters that I chose were the layers , being able to play around with layers , being able to have different emotions in a single character and not just necessarily focus on “ one thing .” Especially in Notorious and Yelling to the Sky , which is a movie with me , Zoë Kravitz , Gabourey Sidibe and Jason Clarke available on Netflix . That ’ s one of my favorite roles that I have ever done . There are so many layers and everyone is going to get to see the complexity of the characters in Luke Cage . I can ’ t tell you what the layers are going to be , but I ’ m a detective , Detective Nandi Tyler , and I come in having a past history with Misty Knight and you get to see how that plays out . On Chicago P . D ., I ’ m a different kind
How so ? We have a right to clean air and water , but there are people in what we call “ sacrifice zones .” They ’ re generally poor people and people of color living where a lot of pollution is dumped . Millions of people are dying from illnesses caused by pollution every year and it ’ s something that isn ’ t talked about enough . Pollution is also causing climate change , which will give us future problems . I think climate change is the reason a lot of these super storms are happening . A lot of people are losing their lives in the super storms . You also have kids in L . A . living right in front of an oil-drilling site . Imagine looking outside your window and seeing people working in hazmat suits , only you don ’ t have a
" When I look out into the audience , and into people ’ s eyes , a strong connection is built . That ’ s the same heart that I use to fight for human life . That ’ s what keeps me going "
“ I gotta get out of here .” That ’ s not what we ’ re trying to do ; we ’ re trying to get closer . The fear of commitment for some guys makes you want to approach the situation differently . “ Higher ” talks about how to deal and approach these issues differently . “ All We Really Have Is Now ” is another one that everyone responds to because we tend to get caught up in meaningless stuff and end up missing out on the things that are important . I actually listen to that song every day . I need to listen to my own songs because I need them too . I get wrapped up in what my next project is , or worried about something that didn ’ t go well , but all we really have is now .
You have played strong female characters most notably Faith Evans in Notorious and Tanya in Deuces and now Detective Nandi Tyler in Marvel ’ s Luke Cage . What draws you to these roles and how do you approach them ? of detective . When you see them both , you will notice a severe difference between the two detective roles I ’ m playing .
Can you reveal anything about Season Two of Luke Cage ? What I can say about it is y ’ all not even ready for season two . This season is so crazy and it ’ s incredibly elevated from the first season . Season one was amazing , but season two is “ Whoa !” Everybody on the show , the whole cast and crew , were so nice . Everyone couldn ’ t wait to get to work . We were all having so much fun every day and I think that translates on screen . Everyone loved being on set and doing what they ’ re doing . I think that is another reason why the final product is going to be great . Everyone there was just happy . It was a happy , loving environment .
You are a strong advocate for climate justice and human rights . You say climate change is a civil right issue ? hazmat suit . It ’ s really crazy and every area has different issues . In Chicago , there ’ s a whole area called a food desert where you have to go miles to get fresh food . There ’ s also a huge long wall with names on it and I initially thought the names were of people that maybe died from gun violence in Chicago , but it ’ s not . It ’ s a wall of people ’ s names that have died from illnesses due to the pollution in this one apartment complex , built on an old landfill . It ’ s unbelievable . But , every sacrifice zone has different problems . In Flint , it ’ s water . It ’ s a universal problem that we all have to fix . I ’ m on the board of Mark Ruffalo ’ s Water Defense and I work with a lot of other organizations like The Hip Hop Caucus and 350 . org . I just want to help people and help save lives . To me , there is nothing more important than human life . Period . And we see a lot of profits over www . clichemag . com 31