I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.
I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions.
But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.
I don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent.
It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people.