I always write knowing that people will hear it, but also hoping they'll see it. So a lot of times I make lyrical decisions based on what looks better. Also I write based on what I saw for a video. I obsess over lyrics in the hopes that they'll endure in different ways. I'm very precious about it.

Becoming a father made me a lot more sentimental than I ever was before. I never cried at movies before I became a parent. I feel music more intensely. I think of my political ideas as ideas about how I want to interact with other human beings as opposed to abstract theories about how the world should be.

A lot of us don’t get a sense of our personal power. I know the vast difference that one person can make in changing things.

I lived in Detroit until I was six. My older sister was living with us, and she listened to the Ohio Players and Stevie Wonder, so I grew up listening to stuff like that.

I just make music based on what I believe.

Sometimes it takes time to get into what ideas actually mean to you. Even when you're not writing a song, it's like that.

In high school, everybody rapped. You just pounded on the table.