The greatest fear people have is that of being themselves. They want to be 50 Cent or someone else. They do what everyone else does even if it doesn’t fit where and who they are. But you get nowhere that way; your energy is weak and no one pays attention to you. You’re running away from the one thing that you own – what makes you different. I lost that fear. And once I felt the power that I had by showing the world I didn’t care about being like other people, I could never go back.

I think either you're creative or you're not. In general, I don't think you need to be in pain to actually be creative unless you're writing love songs. Then you might need to have some ups and downs within your emotions to start to capture that.

A Recession is predominantly for the middle class. Where I come from the majority of people have always lived in a recession.

I think it's impossible to actually be a role model. I think on some level, you'll have your flaws or defects of character, regardless.

Your fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action. The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live.

Even the toughest guys are afraid to be anything outside of the toughest guys.

My son is the reason why I write music. He's the reason why everything is different for me.