If you're really a rapper, you can't stop rapping.

Hip-hop is a competition culture. It's based around, "My DJ is better than you. My graffiti artist is better than you."

I'm competitive in that I would like to outsell my last record.

When I got a chance to rap, I just busted my ass. When I got a chance to act, I busted my ass. Anytime I get a chance. I'm not wasting time. I won't do it if I'm not doing it 110 percent. You've got to work hard if you want to play hard. I like to play, but I know I gotta bust my ass.

If one person comes in and says, this is the way life should be, I think you're asking for chaos. I think you gotta let different people live different ways. It's a big world.

What I'm trying to tell people is that police brutality in the 'hood is nothing new. And the thing is that whether this guy, the cop killer in my song, is real or not, believe it, there are people at that point.

Before rap came along, I was, actually, actively in the streets; getting in trouble, doing the wrong thing.