Our CulturePlay column turns 50 — kinda

CulturePlay is not your average Q&A — thanks to quirky questions about everything from courage to refrigerator contents to real estate to championship spirit, we’ve dug up some interesting things about the now 50 (!) creatives who have joined in. From Kevin Hart to Rick Ross. Skylar Diggins to Elvis Dumervil to Jerome Bettis. John David Washington to Cardi B. The Undefeated has asked serious and goofy and enlightening questions of comedians, an NFL Hall of Famer, a jazz singer, the best ballerina ever, Steph Curry’s favorite rapper, a pro wrestler, Hollywood royalty (and icons of young Hollywood), a a political pundit, and literary upstarts. The answers will surprise you. Regarding the questions? We are always taking suggestions. A look back as we prep to move forward.

Athletes

Misty Copeland “I can connect with the Warriors on so many levels … being an underdog, working from the ground up, finally getting that due respect.”

• Skylar Diggins – “I can get you in tic-tac-toe. I know how to reel ‘em in.”
• Brandon Marshall – “I love listening to Jay Z before games … I kind of almost take his energy, his swag.”
• Derrick Jones Jr. – “I ain’t got no agenda, but if anybody wanna test me, I don’t care who it is. I go for the biggest, for real for real.”
• Aqib Talib – “I watch a bunch of reality TV shows due to my wife—all the housewives of everywhere.”
• George Foreman – “If I had anything to do over, I would’ve been happier about everything that has happened to me.”
• Maya Moore – “I have a little dramatic side. I enjoy performing and acting, just making people laugh.”
• Elvis Dumervil – “I own like 300 multifamilies … I’m big into real estate in the Miami market.”
• James Ennis – “I love video games — Call of Duty and Gears of War.”
• Andre Ward – “I was sleep-deprived and up late last night and I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to spell the word ‘scowl,’ so I Googled it.”
• Jerome Bettis – “My goal was one day to be in the electrical engineering space. If I would’ve had the time, I would have gone into engineering.”
• Ramon Foster – “I want to get good at golf just to be able to play golf in Maui. It is so beautiful.”
• Roman Reigns – “It’s flattering to have women who are attracted to you and like what you do, but at the end of the day, it only takes one woman to make your life right.”

Authors

Iyanla Vanzant “I know a football is pointed and a basketball is round. Other than that, I have no knowledge whatsoever!”

• Luvvie Ajayi – “I am a huge fan of self-care and not feeling guilty about it.”
• Angela Flournoy – “I come from, as Kanye calls it, a big auntie team.”

Musical Artists

Rick Ross “The dream collaboration would be with Lionel Richie.”

• Joey Bada$$ – “I realized that I was really good at rapping when I was 16 years old.”
• Andra Day – “My last Google search is ‘12 most powerful X-Men.’”
• Ty Dolla $ign – “I’m the champion of doing my own thing and making my own sounds and when people copy those sounds I come with a new sound.”
• Cardi B. – “There was a time I was infatuated with presidents and only presidents, until I got into high school and saw that presidents don’t have as much power now as they used to before.”
• Cynthia Erivo – “One of my favorite books is Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks.”
• Jazmine Sullivan – “I was having a Beatles day. Today, I was just in my zone and listening to the catalog and how great they were.”
• Lecrae – “I had an apple for the first time in my life last year.”
• Vince Staples – “I wear the same s— every day for the most part. I have like 10 pairs of the same jeans.”
• Jermaine Dupri – “I’ve always been a champion of overcoming. I cry when I see people do things that I can feel others saying is impossible.”
• Terrace Martin – “I pray heavily and I ask God to clear my throat.”
• Birdman – “I’ve been on my Alexander McQueen scarves a lot lately. And my Cartier glasses. I’m always on my jewelry game.”

Showbiz

Kevin Hart “I’m a clothes whore, so I can’t just pick one particular thing. I go for it all.”

• Rick Fox – “I don’t really get embarrassed about stuff. I don’t take myself too seriously.”
• Wood Harris – “There’s no TV but basketball and sports. I don’t watch acting.”
• Will Packer – “The thing I like about sports — it is true competition. You line somebody up next to somebody else and you say, ‘We are going to run a specific distance.’ And the person who gets there first, wins.”
• Joy Bryant – “I’m just trying to return texts and emails in a timely fashion.”
• Omar Epps – “I got bit by a dog. I never thought that’d happen.”
• Morris Chestnut – “I’ve played sports ever since I was a child. I love the competition, the camaraderie. It’s been a huge part of my life ever since I can remember.”
• Jay Ellis – “I feel like a grown man shouldn’t be driving around listening to Justin Bieber, but, whatever.”
• Shameik Moore – “If a girl is sliding in my DMs and she’s beautiful, I’m going to give her a rose emoji.”
• Serayah – “[Yoga’s] a good workout and it’s a great stress reliever and I like to center my mind.”
• John David Washington – “I got OutKast on repeat. I got Lenny Kravitz always playing.”
• Zoe Saldana – “I’m treating myself with love. Not by eating cheeseburgers, but just giving my body a little bit of happiness.”
• Marc Lamont Hill – “I’m like the one black man who doesn’t wear Jordans just because everybody else does.”
• Samuel L. Jackson – “Golf’s the perfect game. I’m an only child, and when you play team sports, when you lose, somebody always blames somebody.”
• Jerrod Carmichael – “When I can, when I have time, I’ll go to Barnes & Noble and just get lost.”
• Logan Browning – “I love cartoons. Like Hey Arnold!, Arthur, even Family Guy.”
• Mike Epps – “That song ‘Laffy Taffy.’ Man, what a horrible song. But I liked it!”
• Woody the Great – “My favorite team for basketball is wherever LeBron James goes.”
• Mack Wilds – “Sports speak to me because it’s the one place that you can be competitive — and then, at the end, shake hands and everything is all right.”
• Michael K. Williams – “My mom always said, ‘Some are for a reason, some are for a season.’”
• Elise Neal – “My mission is to make sure that women of all ages feel better and look better, and be their best selves.”
• Lorraine Toussaint – “We really are being forced to reach across the aisle. That’s going to be really exciting. I think Donald’s going to bring out the best in us.”