If you want to speak about different ethnicities and diversity, rap and hip-hop are all over the planet. Every country, from Turkey to Australia, now has tons of hip-hop artists. The music and artistry have moved way faster than the corporatization of the music. You do need organization and opportunity for these artists to express themselves, and I don't think it has to come from a corporate co-signing.

I'm not a U.S. citizen. I mean, I'm an earth-izen. Borderline policies are crap to me.

I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

I have to be conscious of what I'm sayin' because people are gonna come at me about this sh*t.

One side of the street is a Church; across the road is a liquor store. Both of 'em keepin us poor.

You can actually take your pain and processes it into some kind of form of art. So I mean, I've easily always been able to do that, but also I've always been able to give myself perspective - or, you know, older people always give you perspective.

Someone like Jay-Z does have a timeless quality, but it's much different than ours. You can look back at something like "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors or the music that was on American Bandstand in the 1950s-'60s.