My earliest influence was Quincy Jones. I thought 'The Wiz' soundtrack was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. It was my first record and you had Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell and Diana Ross on it. I even took it to show and tell in third grade!

Anytime you share life stories with other people, you know, you are acknowledging their humanity and kind of accessing some things about yourself, and other people start to expect things about themselves. It's kind of like a fellowship.

I don't write on demand - I wait for inspiration to come.

Saturday Night Live is a show that I think I could have a lot of fun on, just being different characters and maybe singing, too.

There are repercussions to everything, even advancement and success. And I think that the repercussions to my success was the loss of my marriage.

I've been enjoying playing with fashion - gold grills and diamond grills have just become a part of that.

Heartbreak was the impetus to me writing poems and music in the first place. Over the years, I had my heart broken so badly that if I didn't find a way to get all the pain out, I was going to lose my mind. I was crazy! Like, wanting to slash tires and smash car windows. Crazy! I was so hurt that I had to write.