Rap music is a combination of many different arts to make something new. There's always been a stigma that its existence would be short and only appeal to a certain group - but it's the biggest music in the world.

I'm light skinned, and I used to lean on that because that's something a lot of black people pride themselves on, and it's weird.

For me, performing is the biggest part of being a rapper. There's nothing like the feeling of screaming your story to people.

A cool & diversified version of a mix tape. The BreakBeat Poets is a thorough and complete summation of Golden Era writers who continue to build the scene of literary and performance poetry.

The weird thing about rap is that you don't get compared in the same way that athletes do, even though it's probably the most competitive sport in music. In basketball, they look at a player and say: 'This guy was the best in his prime at this sport.' But in rap it's not until you're dead or retired that people think about it like that.

Kanye took me from a kid who listened to music to a kid who lived music.

I think even before I knew I wanted to be a rapper, I wanted to be an entertainer. I was really into Michael Jackson as a kid.