In the 2000s, I became an artist. I started preserving and educating. I became more obsessed with making iPod playlists for people.

I don't bask in the awards I've won, read my bank statements, I refuse. To me, that's how you start losing the hunger.

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.

Working with the artist elite can be like banging your head against the wall.

I don't believe in good music and bad music anymore. I'm through with that phase of my life. Sometimes I just wanna feel good, so I put on a good record. But mostly I'm more of a businessman than a music fan, so I'm listening to music in terms of, is this effective or not effective?

What I'm slowly realizing is that I believe that most of us felt that we could relax a little bit after November 2, 2008, because of the progress and the spirit that it took to get Barack Obama in The White House. And what we didn't realize, is that was really the beginning. That was really the beginning of the struggle and not the end of a struggle, to come from colonial times through slavery, through the Jim Crowe Laws, through the civil rights period to The White House as, like a point A/point B journey. Point B of course being the end.

I feel like the downfall of any person is the second an artist starts celebrating their work themselves, that becomes problematic.