We had everything. We were young kids. We were driving cars our parents couldn't afford, living in big houses. For me to sit here and say, "Oh my God, I didn't enjoy any of it" - no, I did. Of course I did.
I call his ['Straight Outta Compton'] story a Disneyland because it's an illusion. It is how he wanted it to be remembered, so that is how he portrayed it. And he had every right to do that. As did I.
Do you see how Jerry Heller made it work? That is how he combined what we did to make the rap music into mass music. That's exactly how it happened.
Then instead of introducing Dre as the guy from N.W.A., Jerry Heller would say Dre was my producer! Dre would come to my interviews with me - he'd come to all these places that would never have had the guy from N.W.A. Wasn't it genius?
For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country ... not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change,” she said. “I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment.
I'm grateful. But Dre could not have done it without me. And I could not have done it without them.
It's one of many ways that Barack shows me and the girls how special we are. And that's the thing that touches me about him. I don't care what's on his plate. I don't care what he's struggling with. When he steps off that elevator into our residence he is Barack and dad. And there's just those little things that you do that remind you, that you know, I still got ya.
One of the things that attracted me to Barack was his emotional honesty. Right off the bat he said what he felt. There are no games with him—he is who he appears to be. I feel fortunate as a woman to have a husband who loves me and shows me in every way.
For me, surviving Compton is surviving the men, because Suge and Dre are from Compton. So in my world, in my mind, I survived their mentality.
What I notice about men, all men, is that their order is me, my family, God is in there somewhere, but me is first.
My most important title is still “mom-in-chief.
Doing reality TV is hard. You get lost. You are shooting three months before anybody sees it. So you are past [the emotions]. Then when it airs and the public sees it, they react and it drags you back. It feels you have grown, but then you suddenly feel like you haven't moved at all.
I was appearing on the reality show R&B Divas and when I started to fall apart it was very public. But I am glad that it happened that way. It made me see myself. And it made me transparent.
We have this window of opportunity; we have a chance to make something real happen. Something possible happen, to live beyond our fear, think about that, and help us. Help lift us up, help us fight this fight to change, - transform - this country in a fundamental way. This chance won't come around again.
I know in the movie it looks like my grandmother is condoning it, but she really wasn't. But back in those days, men beat women. She was trying to tell me something without being judgmental, trying to help me understand that's what men do.
There is still a lot of hard work that we as a country need to do. They can't look to any one individual, whether it's Barack or it's the next new hope that's going to appear to be that savior.
I think the first time [Dre] did [biten me]. We cried together. I assumed he did. I assumed that would be the first and last time. I learned that it wasn't.
