You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, "This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day."

There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists.

Hip-hop is the last true folk art.

To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming.

I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about.

I know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that.

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.