The reason I’m not more political is because I have music. And from a young age, I needed it. After prison, my father came to America, joined the Army, fought in Vietnam - and was exposed to Agent Orange. He died a slow, horrible death. Music was my escape.

It's not so much for me where you come from, who you are, what race you are. We're just human beings that are still a work in progress and there's a lot that we've got to overcome, so that we can all be equal.

We must feel the pain before the pleasure, only then can we tell them apart.

My mom was definitely very strict with me.

I'm very appreciative of, and I also, having traveled the world, know that the United States is one of the few places where there really are no limitations. As long as you've got drive and hard work and a good idea and you can get out there and do your thing, there's no social classes, so in a lot of countries there's a big history of regardless of how much money you may make, there's still that little thing where you're not in society. That doesn't exist here.

You don't have to give up who you are to be successful just because you're different.

Sometimes parents, when they have a lot of small children, it's hard because your time's got to get divvied up. There's no other way.