Kids don't even realize what they're up against.

It mattered what someone did to allow you to have the forum to do what you're doing.

There's a need for pop. There's a need for radio. There's also a need to understand the brilliance and the depth of jazz and soul - and what hip-hop can be at its most brilliant and what hip-hop can be at its most simplistic.

Radio makes it appear like you can get some sounds in a laptop and be the next dude. Those careers don't really last.

New York City gritty committee pity the fool that act shitty in the midst of the calm, the witty.

The battle thing is very important in hip-hop, but at the same time, I want to sit down and have a beer and listen to Rakim.

When new artists come out and they're not being cosigned or some company doesn't have a stake in it, or someone's not getting paid under the table to produce the whole record or bring it to video, the artist really suffers.