Everyone's been on the "hip-hop is dead" campaign for years, and now it's the most unsure-of-itself genre ever.

Everyone's been on the "hip-hop is dead" campaign for years, and now it's the most unsure-of-itself genre ever.

For a guy who didn't expect a fan base whatsoever, I'm pretty stoked. People say they don't understand it, and I say that's okay. I don't think anyone can argue that I'm not trying to do my own thing at least.

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'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.

You can't get someone to like something they aren't feeling. After you press play, there isn't anything you can do.