There are songs and artists now who are trying to do the same thing: be honest to their experiences.

If you see yourself reflected in art, you feel validated.

We need to do stuff we've always done, even though you might not like it.

There are songs and artists now who are trying to do the same thing: be honest to their experiences.

All the songs are pieces to the puzzle. They each represent something different. So it's really difficult to say one song represents the album.

The things Nas' Illmatic was saying were sometimes hard realities but it was done on such a high level, I felt I could point to him as a representative. Someone who put my struggle and my worldview into poetry.

Nas' Illmatic blew my mind when I first heard it. The poetry was done on such a high level that in a way, it validated our existence, our culture. He used the language of the street at the time and made it art. Art tends to be validating.