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.

Until the lion learns to speak, the tales of hunting will be weak.

You have to let the world speak to you and then you speak, you know, so I'm in that moment now where I'm finding the world's voice.

I'm writing from a place of - a center of authenticity, somewhere that only I know how to write from.

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.

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

I faced quite a few challenging times, and in front of those, I was more positive than some people not facing those conditions. I'm actually of the belief now that it is that struggle that offers you that open-hearted hope.