There's the gift, there's the spirit, and there's the work-all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.

I never ask for nothin' I don't demand of myself. Honesty, loyalty, friends and then wealth

People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it's good water. But they're okay paying for it. It's just the mindset right now.

Screamin' 'Carpe Diem!' until I'm a Dead Poet.

You put the right artist on the right track in the studio and leave the door open to let God in.

I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air.

Hip-hop gave a generation a common ground that didn't require either race to lose anything; everyone gained.