Early in my career, people wanted to hear music about protest, about trying to change things.

If you think about stuff that happened when you were young, it stays with you forever.

I love music. It's freedom, a way to deal with pent-up frustration.

Don't get a movie confused with real life. I'm a well-rounded human being like everyone else.

Most of the problems that we have are brought on by the government and not by music. Music is a mirror of what we're going through, not the cause of what we're going through.

Run DMC brought us out of that underground-only feel. They brought rap above ground and made it respectable as an art form to mainstream music.

I've got a basketball signed by all the greats from Julius Irving to Oscar Robinson. It was at an All Star game I got them all to sign it. So that ain't going nowhere. I'm going to die with that in my casket.