Cheo Hodari Coker

The Academy Awards for people in Hollywood is like the Super Bowl, the presidential inauguration and winning the NBA championship rolled up…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

My mom and dad met at U. Conn., and their lives couldn't have been more different in terms of their upbringing.

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The reason I keep making so many musical metaphors with 'Luke Cage' is that I don't view it as much a television…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

As long as black people preserve their culture in Harlem, Harlem will always be alive.

— Cheo Hodari Coker

All Blaxploitation is, is the opportunity for an African-American cast or lead actor or actress to do the same things that a…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Alfre Woodard is a powerhouse, master actor, but she's also someone that you want to interact with, someone that you want to…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I mean, we should only be talking about the merits of film ["Moonlight"] because one of the great things about the visual…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

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…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

'The Wire' is, by far, my favorite television show of all time. And I've always said that my aspirations for 'Luke Cage'…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

This is a country that I love and that I believe in, but at the same time also believe that you should,…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The Luke Cage you saw in Season One was a reluctant hero. He was trying to figure out if he wanted to…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The only thing that's different about doing a superhero show is that you can have your hero do things that a normal…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

If you're black living in the community and you want to change things, there are going to be things that happen. That's…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The thing that was fascinating and frustrating about Pac was that he clearly knew better than to go down the gangster road…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I always respected Luke Cage and thought that he was interesting, and I really liked what Brian Michael Bendis did in his…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The thing about being black in a mostly white industry, particularly as a black male, is you can't lose your temper in…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

People underestimate hip-hop the way they have sometimes underestimated comic books.

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The difference between a Marvel superhero and a DC superhero is that we place Marvel superheroes in the real world that we…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I wanted Luke Cage to very much be an African American superhero rather than a superhero that happens to be black. I…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I know now it's a hashtag and people have various feelings about it, but really if you look at all black art,…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Really, the arc for the first season of 'Luke Cage' is 'hero.' How does one become a hero? What does one feel…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

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…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Spike Lee is one of my biggest influences. What I love about Spike, other than he's just a fun guy to hang…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

When I was a critic, I reviewed Public Enemy's 'Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age' - this is back in '94 - and I…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

All black art is always judged to illuminate our experience and prove that our stories and our history and our lives matter.…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

If a superhero is a community superhero, then is he going to protect his community by controlling everything? If he decides to…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I think the fact that 'Black Lightning,' 'Luke Cage' and 'Black Panther' have each made noise in their own way will only…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The Caribbean is such a rich place, and Jamaica, personally, is one of my favorite places in the world. I've been lucky…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The one thing you'll notice when you're walking through Harlem is every single passing car is playing different music and there's also…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

If you're a black person in America, it's really hard to avoid being black. And what I mean is that the reality…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Even though my approach is slightly different, the Luke Cage of 'Jessica Jones' is no stranger to the Luke Cage of Marvel's…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

When you're writing about cops from the perspective of cops, that level of sarcasm about their job and how they treat people…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

I'm not going to be one of those people who says, 'I'm a showrunner; I'm not a black showrunner.' I'm black when…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Hip hop fans are obsessed, and they're geeks about hip hop. Comic book fans are also geeks, and when you can meld…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

75%-90% of the murders that occur in black and Latino communities are solvable. Everybody knows who did it or somebody knows. The…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Sometimes you have to take the risk that somebody will consider what you're making is noise, but if you don't try it,…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

The thing about Luke Cage that makes him different is - on the surface is he's a hero for hire; Luke Cage…

— Cheo Hodari Coker