5. XELKOM

In the past maybe year and a half, one thing I’ve realized is this idea of my reluctance to own my kingdom. Oftentimes, reluctant heroes like to stay in their Clark Kent mode. I also think with a lot of black people in my field, there’s a survivor’s guilt, because a lot of us come from the opposite side of life, but you still have to face people you grew up with who maybe haven’t had a chance to rise up into a place of safety, if you will.

Where I shoot “The Tonight Show,” I can tell who’s in the highest tax bracket of anyone working at 30 Rockefeller Plaza based on how they wear their jacket. I can tell a millionaire instantly if they still have a Blackberry and drape their coat over themselves.

But I went from making fun of all that to finally maybe owning up to the fact that I don’t have to stay a 22-year-old struggling artist. I’m far from that now. I told you that entire story to tell you that there’s this designer XELKOM. He makes these jewelry pieces and — I won’t say they’re capes and they’re not ponchos — they’re really hip princely sort of robe type things. For me at least, his pieces feel very royal. I guess you could say I’m reluctantly or slowly easing into a royal kind of stance.

6. Dee and Ricky Crown

Dee and Ricky are twin designers from Brooklyn that make me those Lego hearts that I wear all the time. But they also make crowns. And, again, thought it was silly, like, ha ha, wearing a crown. But I was complaining one day that I never get to wear baseball caps or those porkpie caps, none of the iconic hats. No cowboy hats, nothing. So these guys were like, we’ve got the perfect idea for you, and this could fit your Afro. So they made me a crown. It’s a cloth crown. It looks like a headband, but it is indeed a crown. Again, I felt silly at first, but then I got used to it. I’m owning my kingdom.

7. Toyota 2004 Scion xB

I had agreed to do a commercial for the Toyota Scion back when they first came out. I joked that I liked the car because it was Afro-friendly. I was tired of getting out of cars and the top of my Afro was flat. But still, right before I shot the commercial, they were like, “We need your license and your insurance card.” I was like, “Oh, I don’t have a license.” And so, that was problematic. They might have been a little angry. They were like, “Who would agree to doing a car commercial without a license?” I got defensive. I was like, “Well, who would give me all that money up front without verifying if I was a licensed driver? So, we’re both stuck here, pal.”

They found a clever way to execute this within the bounds of the law: They made a film about me going to driving school and getting my license. They were like, “You’re not getting this car until you get a license. So we’re going to film you getting your license.” And that’s how I got my first car.