In a time where everything's a flavor of the month, and it's hard to have any sort of longevity, I've been able to sell records still. I want to be the guy that stands out there and says thank you personally to everyone. And I try after my shows and kick it because I want to genuinely say thanks.

Honestly, I don't feel pressure to live up to anything I've done because I tend to not listen to my work once a year passes.

I've learned I don't like being around people too much. It's hard to stand around and make conversation with people I've learned. But I do want to be the guy that can do it easily.

If I had interesting things to say, I would have been a speechwriter. I think it gets to musicians' heads a lot of the time. Just because people like your records doesn't mean what you have to say is going to be interesting.

People are very adamant about maintaining a certain sound or a certain era, like, "There were three years of rap that were great, so let's just keep doing that." The genre itself is just stuck in place. It's been treading water for a while.

I started freestyling with friends about eight or nine years ago. I started writing also around the same time, but didn't meet blockhead until about '94. I started making beats not until about '96.

The alleycats manipulate the blocks with gutter magic