A lot of people say I tried to emulate Tupac, but when I look back at my career, we're very different artists. I took pages out of Pac's book, of course, and lots of other rappers - Biggie, Nas - of course you take pages out of those books, but you eventually make it your own thing. And I think I did a good job of that.

After doing two years in prison, trust me, I've seen a lot of tough guys pray. They're not just praying for themselves; they're praying for their family and the people they've let down.

Because you know, we live in an era now where everything is pushed. We live in a push world where everything gets pushed to you. It's like, I don't have to wait for you to send it to me, I'll go get it off the Internet. So it was difficult to be back in that sort of situation. But it was cool.

We, as artists, we have the right to express ourselves. That is our first amendment, freedom of speech. But I also believe that we have an obligation to the youth to be somewhat responsible in what we say on records. But I think that comes with age. I think that comes with artists growing up and becoming assured of who they are as people.

I knew I wanted to be successful in some form or fashion. My first dreams and aspirations of being successful was probably that I wanted to be a successful drug dealer. I wanted to be Nino Brown. That was my first dream.

Every religion there's something foul going on.

Film and TV and stuff like that was something that I wanted to do when I was really, really little; like, I remember I used to do these plays with my cousins. We used to do Michael Jackson performances, and I would be Michael.