2014 was a terrible year for me. I got a lot of help from psychiatrists, doctors, and my family, but also from group therapy. I met people from so many different backgrounds, and we were all able to relate to each other. It felt like a real community, and I stole that concept for Gurls Talk.
The Animals were a very separate and dissonant group at the time. We came from different backgrounds, different areas - we didn't even come from the same town, basically.
I grew up about 30 minutes north of Boston in a town that was a virtual melting pot - I was exposed to all different backgrounds, cultures, and religions, fueling my personal interests in global issues.
Look, every actor has a different way of preparing or creating a character and yeah, we all are from different backgrounds.
Multiple mergers can be challenging because people come from different backgrounds.
I really want to do the unexpected, and I think that's what I did when I executed 'Long.Live.A$AP.' I wanted people to really see the message and that I'm an artist who not only has the capability of rapping, but of composing great music both for people of my generation and for people with different backgrounds.
It is a rich universe and because people come from different backgrounds, ethos and unique strengths, just because they don't look like us doesn't mean you need to amputate them from your life.
I don't even think places like the National Youth Theatre (NYT) are necessarily about wanting to be an actor when you grow up. They're about meeting people from different backgrounds and different religions and different cultures, and mixing with people that you wouldn't ordinarily meet.
Bias has to be taught. If you hear your parents downgrading women or people of different backgrounds, why, you are going to do that.
We must remember that although we come from different backgrounds and ideologies, we're all part of this great experiment in self-governance. We're all united by common values of liberty, justice, and equality of opportunity, even if we don't always agree on how to achieve them.