Hip hop has evolved, thankfully. Kids are making music that is important to their lives and outlooks.

Hip hop has evolved, thankfully. Kids are making music that is important to their lives and outlooks.

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

Older generations can sometimes look down on today's hip hop but I refuse that mindset. I remember how hurt I was when older people told me that Run-D.M.C. was jungle music or that it was not music at all. Or that LL Cool J was not art.

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.

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.