Faith allows me to feel that as long as I'm in line with God everything will be O.K. and that I'll make it through whatever.

I'm giving my fans the songs that they want to hear from me. Why do we love to hear ourselves being downgraded. Why do we love to hear the negative situations that we see in our lives daily? I'm not trying to make sense of it, I'm not giving any solutions, I'm just tossing the question.

Maybe Hell ain't a place meant for us to Burn, maybe Earth is Hell and just a place for us to Learn.

One of the worst things that happened to black people in America historically is integration. People ask me why I say that and I tell them it's because we gave up all of our control.

My passion comes from the things that have historically happened to black people in Mississippi. I can honestly say that most of the things that I've accomplished in my life have come from my spirituality and my belief in God.

Of course the concept is to give people samples to get them hooked, I get that. But to continuously give away our music, that's the reason why you don't see [many] rap award shows anymore, the reason that you don't see rappers in commercials anymore; because we have allowed our music to be devalued.

We get better product when the focus is on the fans and the artists - all artists; musical artists; singers, the graphic designers, the painters, the DJs, I mean everybody, the writers. We can't allow ourselves to feel as if we're not important in the equation when we are everything!