My past is my shadow, it follows me everywhere I go. Well, all those things come from when I had no other choice. They put my back against the wall. I do what I gotta do.

Sleep is for those people who are broke. I don't sleep. I've got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality.

I feel a huge gratification out of being right. To see my projects connect in a way in which the audience is passionate is a huge compliment. For me it's like, if a person is ambitious enough, they run in a tunnel that doesn't end...And I learn things about myself all the time.

If you are ambitious, you are running in a tunnel that never ends. You will always find something new to go after. [...] I got high for the first time with Get Rich or Die Tryin' and I have been trying to achieve that feeling again since then, all the time.

When I fell in love with hip-hop, there was a terminology at the time called "battling." All that was just battling with other artists, but after Tupac and those incidents when it spilled into the street and turned into a negative situation, battling turned into a beef. A whole new dynamic.

I have received 16 Grammy nominations and I have no trophies, because I chose to write the harsh realities. I stayed true to myself and I've taken a little beating behind it.

When I reached the top in business, I adjusted to my new position – I became bolder and crazier than before. And I listened even less to people who tried to slow me down.