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 used to throw mad parties because I had all this damn money! Some of them got out of hand. People wanted to fight, steal necklaces off of people's necks. A little weird. I had to have armed security at my house. I was young, 21, 22.

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

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.

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.

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.