I've been writing songs since I was 10 years old and always had a penchant for rhyming. I started listening to hip hop through my friends and fell in love with it.

It's easy to choose doing what you love when there are people out there supporting you.

I think my music is born out of the music that I personally like to listen to. I love amazing singer-songwriters and diverse artists but it's important to know your strengths.

I try not to listen to a lot of music when I'm starting the recording process, because it can be so subtly influential.

I've basically been able to do everything, I basically run my own career and the decisions I make - whether it's how I'm gonna roll out music, how I'm gonna play on tours, different strategies for releasing and marketing things - and that comes from being college educated and someone who's interested in that side of the business rather than only the music. If anything I think that's where the biggest direct influence comes from.

I think experimentation with other stuff is great. My real focus has been more-so trying to create a sound that I can build upon and get really comfortable with. I think almost everything is experimentation 'til you find what it is that your sound is.

I feel like I have a very unique perspective especially for someone in the hip-hop genre. I'm not afraid to explore it, and how my upbringing then shapes my music and being a New York kid and all of that stuff...that's really the most unique thing I can offer to the music in general.