If you were a young kid, 19, 20 years old who has two children and a third one on the way and refuses to leave them. A kid who was on welfare, because he refused to steal anybody's property or take anybody's money. You found life a lot tougher.

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

I woke up one morning, went downstairs, said 'Good morning' to my mother and nearly scared both of us to death.'

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

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.

I didn't mind working in the clubs, but I resented it being a club where pimps hang out. Because the music that I create is of a higher intellect than that. It not only encompasses pimps, but whores, ballplayers, executives... everybody.

When I commit, I commit with my whole heart, my whole being. I know the Bible like the back of my hand.