Maybe love won't let you down. All of your failures are training grounds and just as your back's turned, you'll be surprised... as your solitude subsides.

When you make a solo record, it's you. It's your name. It has to be the right songs for how you feel. It just took me a really long time to get to a place where I felt comfortable with the material and the recording.

I'm a control freak with regards to certain aspects. I think you just have to be when you're making stuff in the world. You have to have a clear idea what you want.

I tend to work well within a deadline. If I know I have to get something in three weeks, I tend to A, enjoy myself a little bit more, and B, really work well.

I felt like hip-hop was my music, it was like my outsider music... but then my mom started answering our phone, 'Yo, what's up.' She was hearing me talk to my friends. I was like, 'No, mom, don't cop the hip-hop talk.

I was born in Las Vegas and my babysitter was a female Elvis Presley impersonator. My first memory is being in her arms and she was fully dressed up as Elvis. She was an avid thrift-shopper so I started going to thrift shops when I was very young. You could put something together for no money at all.

Whenever I have a bunch of tunes written, I always find a kind of uniform that accompanies the songs.