Sometimes it's hard to listen to new music and get motivated, because it's elementary to me - no disrespect to new artists, because that's where we started, too. But it's like they're way back there in first grade, and I'm in college.

How did we lose our culture? Black people used to all do the same thing on Saturdays. We all watched "Soul Train" and "American Bandstand", got our fashion and dance tips, and then we emulated it and bought those records that we heard. Now it seems like there is no culture. The school of fish are all separate. Everybody's just randomized, listening to their own thing in their earbuds, and there's no uniformity. That bothers me.

The motivation sometimes comes when you least expect it. I try to keep an open mind.

The parties happen when we book the studio. That's a safe place. Get alcohol, food, girls, homies, and have these small listening parties while I'm recording. And that energy always gets into the music.

To be able to impress, you have to get to this middle ground where you're not too advanced so it goes over people's heads, and you're not too minimalist where people think you're just trying to rob the game and not stretch out.

I look down and see little kids in the audience and I'm like, "Oh man, I hope I'm not poisoning these kids!"

Nowadays you can't tell, watch the crotch, it may swell.