I do not think good art comes from comfort. While from a humanistic standpoint I would have much rather been at my home that I own, surrounded by friends and family and controlling my environment completely.

I'm very ambitious, musically - I want to create great things, not mediocre work.

You get one chance to make an impression and coasting through is a disservice.

Hip-hop has been the guiding light of my life as a musician and a music fan. It's the one common thread through all of it from the time I bought my first record probably. It's always been there.

My favorite records are not easy - they're not records that reveal everything to you the first time out.

Its always important to fall back on your instincts and core beliefs and that was pretty hard for me to do but trusting in my self the way I trusted that if I were to sit at a piano for two hours and I was going learn something, that trust I'd put in myself really helped me get through it. For five to six months I just wrote songs and believed they would turn out to be things I could be proud of and be happy.

I want to talk about things that are tangible and real to me, but I also want to do them in a way that's poetic and artistic.