Whether the people in Haiti, the young kids in Chicago that [are] going through violence, or whether you're in Atlanta or L.A. or Europe - it's not even color barriers for me - I go to where I know there's a lot of turmoil and pain.

Yeah, we try to get the best musicians possible, and Justin [Robinson] is a great musician, man, a great player. You must have been surprised to see him out there, then.

When I did the album Electric Circus, not only was it not commercially received. But even the critics and hip-hop community was like "What is this?" At that moment, I could've been written off. But I had to believe because I really love what I do. I'm passionate about it. If 12 million recognize it, that's beautiful. If 12,000 do, that's beautiful. But I'm always going to put my heart and soul in it and I'm going to shoot for the stars and go for the highest levels of recognition and creativity. I definitely doubted myself at the time. But it always come back to believing what I do.

Don't believe in role models, but if I do, then I'm mine

One of the great aspects about [Barack Obama] is who he is as a human.

The human being that I strive to be is a great human being, like a loving human being, but as an actor, you take on roles that are not you and that's the fun part for me as far as acting goes. You really get to learn about other human beings and not judge.

God is my guide, so I try to not judge myself too much, knowing that at the end of the day, my greatest judge will be Jehovah God.