Mahershala Ali credited as playing...
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Koko, this ain't PS 154. You ain't gotta raise your hand, man.
- Koko: I been reading this book...
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: [Mockingly] Huh. You readin' now?
- Koko: Yeah. It's a it's a book on politics and the social conditions that created hip-hop. The Dodgers left Brooklyn, Robert Moses created the Cross Bronx Expressway, and white folks went running for the suburbs. This cat named Moynihan went and hollered at Nixon, and told the prez that maybe the inner city could benefit from the benign neglect...
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Benign what?
- Koko: It's... it's the benign neglect. What it means is this: Maybe if we just leave that Luke Cage cat alone, give him his side of the street, we take ours.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: [Cottonmouth shoots Koko] Benign neglect
- [laughs]
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: This dishwasher thinks he can prove Harlem don't need me. Let's see how bad he really wants to wear the crown. You hit the boulevard and squeeze 'em hard. And when they start crying, talking about, "Why? Why?" You tell them to go talk to Luke Cage down at the barber shop. They're paying a Luke Cage stupidity tax.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: There he is. Dishwasher Lazarus. You want your old job back? Costs to be a savior. Ask Jesus.
- Luke Cage: You started all this. This is me finishing it.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: You want Harlem? It's expensive.
- Luke Cage: I don't want Harlem. I just want you to stop messing with it.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: There he is. Dishwasher Lazarus. You want your old job back? It costs to be a savior. Ask Jesus.
- Luke Cage: You started all this. This is me finishing it.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: You want Harlem, it's expensive.
- Luke Cage: I don't want Harlem. I just want you to stop messing with it.
- Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: It's my home. You don't know a damn thing about it.