I don't know if it's my music, my lyrics, my sound and knowing the music business the way I do - all I can say is, my career has lasted way longer than I expected.

Blacks own so little of the music business, it's pathetic. But I see that changing soon. Black artists, black businessmen and women will unite.

I'm very happy with this new record. It's dealing with different aspects of love-it's me making a statement about people doing something with their lives. It is about caring for others.

There's a time when people give their words to each other it has to mean something. I'm a street cat. I've belonged in gangs and when you had a partner, you went down with your partner whether you won the fight or lost it. You went down together.

We are all gods, all forces of nature. We can destroy, we can build. We are like oceans and like fires.

As a boy, I believed freedom for America meant freedom for me. There was a time I believed every word spoken.

Everyone to me has to pick a subject to talk about in music if you're going to be a writer.