I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs.

I'm just a musician and a record producer.

The only music I don't like is bad music.

Making a record is like painting a school bus with a toothbrush

Every day, my daddy told me the same thing. 'Once a task is just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.'

My dream is to put together a performance of the evolution of black music with Cirque du Soleil . I would also like to do street opera and children's books. But even as I work toward these things, I want to simplify my life.

I started imagining this whole different world. It was a society of musicians, a family I hoped I could belong to one day.