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

At the end of the day, I don't release any records that I'm not proud to put my name on. I never got to that point.

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

I want to be as healthy as I can be so I can make it past 50; make it past 60 and make it past 70.

Classical music requires an immense amount of concentration, and I don't know if I would've been that committed to that particular life.

I was born at a very crucial time. I consider 1968 to be the Mason Dixon line between pre- and post-civil rights generation ideas, whereas a lot of people born before '68 they kind of went into that Moses mentality. Like, I'm not going to make it, you know, I don't have any hope.