Cheo Hodari Coker Quotes

I'm a huge Bob Marley fan; I remember going to Jamaica for the first time when I was a kid and I got so obsessed with the steel drums.

Music was always heavily involved with my spirit. My entire family is Jamaican. It's nothing but reggae music and those kinds of vibes.

My parents are from Jamaica, and I love reggae music.

I'm an island boy, so I love my reggae and soca music.

I grew up with reggae music.

Out of all the places in the world, Jamaica is my favorite place.

I'm from the Caribbean, and I love the dance hall sound.

I love Jamaica so much. I've been there so much, and I think it would be great if we could shoot a movie there.

Jamaica actually had a pretty big influence on my life.

As kids, we all thought Bob Marley was Maori.

I don't have a religion, you know. This is what I am. I am a Rastaman; so this is not religion. This is life.

Reggae, oh man. It's the ultimate music. The positivity. The musicality. The whole cultural expressionism of it. The danceability. Just the cool factor. The melody factor. Some of it comes from a religious place. If there were a competition of who makes the best religious music, it would definitely be the Rastafarian reggae.

Today, I'd like to talk to Bob Marley. I'd just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don't know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from 'Redemption Song' to 'Is This Love?' and 'I Shot the Sheriff.'

I can't even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it's so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It's very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven't been to paradise if you haven't been to Hawaii.

Rastafari not a culture, it's a reality.

I don't know how you can go your whole life and not listen once to Bob Marley - what's the point?

Reggae is definitely a natural influence. Even living in Southern California, near the water, you get that reggae feel.

I don't think you could pull one Bob Marley song that didn't have quotes from the Torah or the Old Testament.

One of the first places where I started to respond to song lyrics was in reggae music. A lot of what I was responding to were references to the Old Testament. It was not that I had to adapt the lyrics to the sound. Reggae and the Old Testament are bound up together. There wasn't anything that I had to do.

My mom's a secret Rastafarian.

To me, our music is like Jamaican stuff - if they can't hear it, they're not supposed to hear it. It's not for them if they can't understand it.

My father is from Jamaica, and as a child I spent many holidays there. I remember the weight and drenching wetness of that hot rain, as I experienced it in my childhood, not only for itself, but for what it represented for me.

I would like to work with anyone in the business who wants to give respect back to the Jamaican vibe.

I wanted a picture of Jamaica that isn't in books, and certainly not in novels.

A lot of what Trinidad is about is the feeling of the place, the atmosphere of the place, particularly at night, and the mystery of the forest.