The worst thing about that kind of prejudice... is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.

It doesn't matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings. That's my stick.

I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.

I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.

It's a good time for black people to be alive.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

I believe in racial memory too. I'm sure I've got ancient African blood in me that has something to do with what I am.