Dance has been a driving force in my life for 25 years. From music videos and hip hop, to jazz and musical theater, to ballet and classic modern dance, I have had extensive exposure to a variety of techniques that inspire my own electric style.
There was, when I came to New York in the 1970s, no more profound or moving experience than MoMA, an almost perfect piece of 20th Century modernist expression, existing in an extraordinary balance - modestly, functionally, elegantly - with the extraordinary art it held. This place changed my life. I was transformed by every visit.
I'd always assumed that by 40 I'd have at least a modicum of stability - a steady income, an established career, a bountiful fullness, like a pillow into which I could sink as I entered the second half of my life.
It has been an interesting road, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world, because I feel like all of those instances in my life I felt molded me and strengthened me and made me who I am.
There's a lot of influences that I have from Detroit that are subliminal. I mean, I spent the first 10 years of my life there. My mom and dad were born and raised there, so a lot of that rubbed off on me. When I get angry, sometimes a Detroit accent comes out.
My life used to be governed by that. I would know what day it was because I would be at 'Monday Night Raw' or 'SmackDown' on Tuesday.
I have been insane on the subject of moneymaking all my life.
The Monkees changed my life but ruined my acting career.
No day of my life passes without someone saying the words 'Monty Python' to me. It's not bad.
There were only two times in my life when I've actually felt down about things and gotten myself into a full mental mess. One of the times was in 1982. I had a horrible time for a few months and felt pretty desperate. Then again in 1984, for various reasons, not all of them within my control. Since then, I just wander in and out of black moods.
Song-writing is therapy for me. I'm a very moody person, very difficult to live with. There's a lot going on and a lot of contradictions. My life is always one step away from disaster.
I feel a big obligation to the audience, almost in a moral sense, to say something useful. If I'm going to spend a year of my life on these things, I want something that I feel that strongly about.
The moral values I've learnt in my life I've learnt through football.
If you can draw something from my life that helps, more power to you.
More than anything, that's been the thread through my life - the desire to write, the impulse to write. I mean, it's taken me other places, but it was the impulse to write that led me to singing.
My life has never been defined as Roland Martin, CNN; Roland Martin, TVOne; or Roland Martin, 'Tom Joyner Morning Show.' I'm appreciative of all of those platforms, but I've done all different things. I'm still Roland Martin.
I have never gotten a B in my life. I would honestly be mortified if I got a B. I'm so academically driven.
I want to continue to produce film, television, and theater, and to make the most amazing music that I've made in my life.
I decided very early that I wanted to write. But I didn't think of it as a career. I didn't even think of it as a profession... It was the most exciting thing, the most powerful thing, the most wonderful thing to do with my life.
My first film was a Malayalam film where I played a small character and then my big debut happened in Kannada, which is also my mother tongue, in 2016, 'U-Turn' and since then my life has taken a different turn altogether.
