You know the things I went through as a youngster, coming into the business, all the good, the bad and the ugly that came. I'd had a rough life. I grew up single parent. My mom, she was like a father to me.

Ghost tells me every few years, Yo, you showed me this style ... I'm like, man, we the same style. At the end of the day, he's one of my favorite rappers, I'm one of his favorite rappers, and we just do it.

Soul music has so many great artists who put their thing down. That's important.

I never been a hater of these other cats, who never really had nothing, being successful. That's not my problem.

The main thing I look at is: Is it from the heart? If I know that you down with me, then we always gonna be down through whatever the thick and thin.

I could never say Rza's trash. But he didn't come with the right formula on '8 Diagrams.' I think 'Cuban Linx 2' will have the Clan back where they need to be, but then it's up for the Clan to be back where they need to be, too. 'Cos it ain't just the album, you know what I mean? It's everything.

The better you get, the more your legacy shines. I always just try to go hard. If you don't want do it for real, don't do it at all.