For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton... It's crazy. It's mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians, by America in general.

No matter where you go you are what you are player and you can try to change but that's just the top layer man you was who you was before you got here

My life after childhood has two main stories: the story of the hustler and the story of the rapper, and the two overlap as much as they diverge. I was on the streets for more than half of my life from the time I was thirteen years old. People sometimes say that now I'm so far away from that life - now that I've got businesses and Grammys and magazine covers - that I have no right to rap about it. But how distant is the story of your own life ever going to be? The feelings I had during that part of my life were burned into me like a brand. It was life during wartime.

Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I'm a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best?

My brands are an extension of me. They're close to me. It's not like running GM, where there's no emotional attachment.

Driving Benzes with no benefits, not bad huh, for some immigrants?

The genius thing that we did was, we didn't give up.