I wasn't making music consciously when I was younger. I was a musician, but that has its own stigmas. Anywhere on the planet, it's one of the more undervalued positions.

When I get older, I will be stronger

I'm not about trying to get and get and get. I feel good when I get, but I kind of feel better when I give.

Hip-hop in Africa has been very often a duplication of an American experience, but in a context that's totally alien to it.

It was not my dream to be an artist. How could it have been? I thought, artist, much like a leader, was something you either were or weren't. Never something you set out to be.

In the time of war, everyone was basically trying to live and manage the best they could. But you also had another period which was not a hard time at all - it was just a beautiful time. I lived in both eras. I got to fully experience and appreciate both the tragedy of Somalia and the beauty of it.

It's not longer 'Look what I can do, I can do it better then you.' It's just I am.