Editing while you're writing is like strangling the baby in the crib.

I improvised my life along the way - I just moved step-by-step. And I knew that if I got better, something would happen.

I was the most subtle person in the world.

I chose the trombone because the trombone players in the marching band got to be up front with the majorettes (because of the slides) and I loved that!

The act of multitrack recording is the act of arranging.

I guess hip-hop has been closer to the pulse of the streets than any music we've had in a long time. It's sociology as well as music, which is in keeping with the tradition of black music in America.

We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.