It’s easier to hold onto your own stereotypes and misconceptions, it makes you feel justified in your own ignorance. That’s America. So the challenge for us is, are we ready for change?

For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.

Rap was forbidden with the people who were interviewing us and the shows that I was getting [booked on], and I had kind of crossed over. So Jerry [Heller, who managed N.W.A.] would tell me, 'Do not say you're a rapper, always say you're R&B.'

My daughters are the heart of my heart and the center of my world

I had to survive a lot. I didn't premeditate my life. Life just happened as it did. And I had to figure it out as I went along.

Then instead of introducing Dre as the guy from N.W.A., Jerry Heller would say Dre was my producer! Dre would come to my interviews with me - he'd come to all these places that would never have had the guy from N.W.A. Wasn't it genius?

It felt like love to me. It embraced me. I accepted it and thought, "Well, this is how [Dre] loves." I got that from my mother and from my grandmother, who were abused.