I actually don't like hip hop much; the music is too clichéd, the subculture, especially the macho strutting of gangsta rappers, isn't my thing. But, at the same time, rap is a simple, direct and strong musical language.

I was a very devout boy and one day I heard the music of an Egyptian Koran singer in the mosque. The melancholy of this music touched me so deeply that it brought me to tears.

Fundamentalists can't take a joke. Ever. They want us to blindly obey, parrot everything they do, and believe in their dogmas.

Iran is hard to understand. Although it is ruled in an authoritarian manner, it's not a state in which everything is controlled from one center. There are many forces that work in parallel: the military, the intelligence service, the Revolutionary Guard, the clergy and the government. They all share a fear of the nation's youth.

I lived in the world of poetry and ideas. I thought life was all about art and philosophy. In the military, I suddenly found out about the real world.

Nothing is allowed in public, while everything is permitted behind closed doors.

I actually don't like hip hop much; the music is too clichéd, the subculture, especially the macho strutting of gangsta rappers, isn't my thing. But, at the same time, rap is a simple, direct and strong musical language.