Even if you can sing or even if you can write a song, it takes a lot of determination, it takes some kind of thick skin, because you got to persevere despite the fact that people tell you you shouldn't do this or you shouldn't do that or you're not good enough or your style's too different. I've heard all of that stuff.

I was the front man of the choir and then when I was 12 and I was the leadsinger of my highschool groups.

But in my mind I've always been a solo artist- I've just been working with a lot of great people like Kanye and Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

For me, no matter how much money you want to make off of singing, no matter what kind of fame you want to make, achieve, the most important thing to me is making music that you're proud of, making music that comes from you, comes from an authentic place in you.

The struggle for freedom and justice is now.

I was in an a cappella group in school, so it particularly helped me keep my piano chops up.

Hip-hop and R&B are especially fertile bases of collaboration. It always makes good records and good music.