I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective. People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.

If it brings me to my knees, it's a bad religion

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

If someone breaks your heart, just punch them in the face. Seriously. Punch them in the face and go get some ice cream.

It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story and all kinds of sonic goodness.

It's not always easy to be transparent about your emotions and sometimes the music can get heavy.

It's just really about trying to do whatever it is I do at a level of excellence. That's really all I'm trying to do while I'm here.