I didn't really realize how big I was 'til I started to tour, because being in your own neighborhood, people don't actually give you full props.

It's like a paradox. For one side, being popularized rap got better and the other side of it got worse. It's very pop and it's very different now. When you make it as pop and as soft as it is, it lacks its integrity. It lacks its accountability. It lacks a lot of other things that came from that dangerous time in hip hop.

A lot of people play single to work some angle. I'm always about keeping it real. If that's how I'm living, that's how I'm living.

You know, I say in my lyrics, "Every word I write will be analyzed by somebody white." It's just that I know that this sh*t is just not gonna fall on deaf ears.

That's basically the gangster code. Just be yourself. Just be you, dog. The easiest way to get your card plucked around a gangster is to be a fake. If we feel like you're trying too hard, if you're trying to act like you're from the street, you're in trouble.

If you believe that I'm a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut.

When the President (of the United States) mentions your name in anger, you know the sh*t has hit the fan!