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.

All of a sudden it became that hip hop didn't used to be about partying; hip hop used to be about putting out a message.

What I'm trying to do is make music that people relate to, that talks about ideas that are personal but also make that connection to trying to make revolutionary change, and I don't need to change my music to get to a certain audience.

I am a person who always feels like I am not doing the right thing because there's always so many things that need to get done.

I wanted to be part of changing the world. I don't want to just stand by and watch it be however it is.

I wanted to write a song about sexism, but I didn't want to do it in a mechanical way and be like, "Don't be sexist!" because that's not how I talk in regular life.

A lot of what we say and do are regurgitated things that have to do with what we think we're supposed to be saying and doing.