For anyone that's ever had a musical breakthrough in their career, it's always followed by the departure period right after.

The Chronic represented everything that I hated about hip-hop as a fan, but then later represented everything that I stood for as a musician and engineer.

I think all of this—The Roots and DJing included—was meant to prepare me for The Tonight Show.

I keep moving through time and time keeps moving through me. And through that process, life takes shape. The question is what shape it is. I'm not the first person to ask that question, or to see how absurd it is to think there's a real answer. Maybe life's a circle.

In terms of being a 'sneakerhead,' there was one point where I was obsessively following every sneaker blog. That's the beauty of Twitter: To get the heads up on what's coming out.

I don't think crack happened by accident. I'm part conspiracy theorist, because you can't develop something that dangerous and have it not be planned.

Hip-hop is such a disposable art form from a business standpoint. It never treats its artists as art; it never treats its product as art.