Music was my life...It was everything to me, even though I was in school majoring in English. I was still very focused on music and always finding ways to perform, so that was what set me up to want to become a recording artist.

I always felt that rap didn't cause crime; it just reflected it.

I was a busy kid in high school - a little bit of an overachiever, I guess. Prom king was kind of silly, but the rest of the stuff was important to me.

The fun part about collaborating is that you naturally just bounce off each other's energy and learn off each other.

In the 1970s, for all the Stevie Wonders, I'm sure there were five artists that were making forgettable music.

There's a lot of hurry up and wait. But it gives you time to write a song.

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