If I were to critique myself - step out of KRS objectively and look at him - I would say that KRS has introduced the concept of being hip-hop, not just doing it. The concept of rap as something we do, while hip-hop is something we live. The concept of living a culture. Don't just look at hip-hop as rap music, see it as a culture.

So you think that hip-hop had it's start out in Queensbridge, If you popped that junk up in the Bronx you might not live.

I make intelligence cool. I make spirituality cool. If we can make one's devotion to God cool, then I think I did a great thing. I can rest in peace.

Don't you think it's time we thought about the future? Whether our children are gonna be winners or losers

You can't expect to be on MTV and critique George Bush. You can't expect to be on BET or the cover of 'The Source' advocating Jesus Christ or Buddha or Hindu Krishna or Moses. As a conscious rap artist, you have to play in the arena that you're supposed to be in. What is that arena? That arena is the college market. The conscious rap artist woos the college market, even though the college market is the wildest, most sexed-out, drug-driven market in the country, possibly the world.

I used to let the olde english 8- suds bubble in the last car of the Franklin Avenue shuttle

If you're a conscious rap artist and you're worried about Billboard charts, you're gonna have a problem.