I take jobs with people I admire, people with incredible talent who aren't necessarily big sellers.

I first fell in love with music when I was a little boy. When I first heard music, I felt the beauty in it. Then, being able to tap along on a table top and box was great, but my favorite thing to do was to watch records spin. I would almost get hypnotized by it. These things are what drew me in initially.

There's nothing more exciting than playing live for the people. Just play it, just do it.

I think it's artist's role to give and to receive and the people to give it, hear it, vibe on it, and give it back around again.

I'm known for being a good listener. Most people need a lot of love and encouragement and I'm more than willing to give a person all the encouragement and time they need.

To be a superstar is incredible pressure. And also in our country, I'm going to speak about this, America. We have a way of kind of making it hard on our superstars. I don't sense it when I go to Europe or I go to Japan.

White people couldn't do black music back in the day because they weren't funky or bad enough. They weren't from the ghettoes, but hip-hop and R&B changed all of that because white kids want to be down with it. They wanted to learn it so they studied the culture. It's kind of a cool thing because we shouldn't be so separate.