La Fantascienza

I would put on headphones and listen to these playlists I made (Omar’s had Tupac, Nas, Biggie, and Lauryn Hill) that tapped into memories, emotions, places I wanted to access inside myself.

The scene was the one where me and my lover, Brandon, are followed into the graveyard by Detectives McNulty and Greggs. (I wore that exact same outfit when we shot the scene.) The scene shows Omar’s power because even though the cops are following him, he’s the one who leads them there. He knows they’re tailing him and brings them there to have a parlay—on his own terms. I was channeling Robin there, her bravado, the ease with which she did not give a fuck. In later years, I loved telling people that one of the inspirations for Omar was a beautiful lesbian girl from the hood.

I love reading The Wire BTS book because I get the satisfaction knowing David Simon and Ed Burns are two weirdos I can understand in some weird ways.