It's no doubt that there's a connection (between the blues and hip-hop). Hip-hop is definitely a child of the blues. And I think you gotta know the roots to really grow. It's like knowing your parents, it's like knowing your culture, so you could be proud of that culture and take it to the world.

I felt like I had experienced a lot of things in the first chapter of my life, and I wanted it to inspire and motivate people, so I just started writing.

I bathe in basslines, rinse in riffs, dry in drums

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.

I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but instead was given a bullet.

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

When you have style, it doesn't matter what other people are saying.