I want everybody to find meaning in whatever they do. That's the only purpose to life, actually. Let that meaning be so strong that you can't not wake up every day and be like, "Yep, this is what I gotta do, let's keep it moving" and not be disgruntled about it, and start using other people as excuses for why you're not creating a better life for yourself.

I'm a hip-hop kind of guy, but to be honest with you, I could listen to R&B all day. Give me some slow jams, and I'm a happy person.

The manipulation of what's actually portrayed in the media, through the legal system, is pretty shocking, actually. You can see how someone you would never know can make a public figure look like a bad guy or a good guy just from the little information they let you know. My advice is to research everything. Don't just hide behind your Facebook posts. Research everything.

I feel like if we stopped pushing people away in trying to get to the top, we could work together. My goal is to start with my family and my friends, progressively get better and create opportunities for them to express themselves and become happy people, then have them affect the people they're around. [I want to] create this growing effect of positivity and inspired a willingness to overcome any obstacles that are in front of you, whether it be from our government or from our daily lives.

You always gotta continue to hunger. If you're gonna continue in any kind of industry whether music or the film industry or athletics, that drive to become better is what will eventually make you into that superstar everybody else will see.

The compliment that I like more than anything is when my family tells me I'm the same Ryan. I never want to become a celeb who forgets about anybody or has a big head about himself.

We're all trying to be artists making our own unique statements. I think the only real way to do that is through failure.