God I hear you giving me an earfull but I'm gonna cruise in 5th gear until I'm near you.

Success to me is self-determined, the life I live today, to come from a kid strung out on angel dust, homeless, at some points sleeping in the street. No money, not knowing where the next meal was coming from. No sex, no relationships, people that didn't love me, didn't care about me, to where I am today... that's successful. When I signed my record deal I always wanted to be respected by my peers for my ability and my skill level.

I'm not in a competition with any other artist, anything that's goin' on - I'm strictly competing with myself.

Why try to fit in when you a stand out?

I know that I'm kind of a big deal online, but I think that some of that is starting to seep into the streets, and you want to kind of continue to make sure it does that.

It is a different world, the underground. When you hit mainstream, you hit a saturation level and that turns some people off. When you are on more low-key stuff, it works to your advantage and it creates a buzz on the streets. At that point, the sky is the limit.

If I'm trading bars with somebody, it certainly is not because I have a release coming. Joe Budden prides himself on the music and not the sales aspect.