There are certain fans who want me to rap about the same exact thing, but it's time to grow up.

It would be crazy for me to come out now talking about selling drugs and doing all this stuff I never did for the sake of A&R or records or trying to keep the street buzz or whatever.

The streets and the industry are two different things. You could be one super-hot artist in the streets, and you could walk into a corporate building, and people would be like, "Who are you?"

I think a lot of people feel like they still have something to prove, because when you get in and you're chasing success, you always feel like you have something to prove. But at this point, I feel like an underdog, and I actually like being in that position.

If nobody wants to buy your album, who's going to buy your clothes?

You have to have a balance, and I think that people get upset about Hip-Hop and say that it's dead because there is no balance. It's just all this simple-minded music, and it doesn't seem to be any content, and the dance club music outnumbers the little content there is.

I'll step in an airport just now, and people will recognize me. I'm in Harlem on 144th and whatever, and people are coming up to me like, "What's up, Chamillionaire?" And seeing it grow is, nothing turning into something, that feeling is a really good feeling.