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

Hip-hop is so much about character and caricature that people just see you as a character. Very rarely are you flesh and bone to people.

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.

At 25, my idea of success may have been more vain, like, "I'll be good the day that there's $20 million in my account and I have this particular house and the wife and 2.5 kids." But at 40 - and I know it's kind of silly telling you guys this - but as long as my Metacritic rating stays above 80, that's all I care about.

I think the music comes first, then comes the fashion, and thus, the lifestyle. I believe it starts with music, and then the person delivering it delivers the lifestyle, the fashion. Madonna is a great example of that.

We have to get back to "we." It's important to get back to "we" not just "I."

There's no such thing as success on an isolated level.