Sometimes I feel like what's hard for fashion designers to do is take looks from off the runway and actually put it into existence, into reality. That's really the hard part.

I hate the hype. When 50 Cent came out, people were saying that he was the best rapper alive: "Oh, he got shot nine times, he's better than Tupac, he's better than Biggie." That was all hype.

New York gave me hell for that 'Purple Swag,' man. They didn't respect me until 'Peso.'

My real name's Rakim - my parents named me after the god MC himself.

Probably, violent things I've done when I was younger, was probably the most despicable thing that I've ever done.

I thought highly of myself growing up. I still do. There's not really much somebody can say to me to bring down my confidence or anything.

I really want to do the unexpected, and I think that's what I did when I executed 'Long.Live.A$AP.' I wanted people to really see the message and that I'm an artist who not only has the capability of rapping, but of composing great music both for people of my generation and for people with different backgrounds.