I realize that I really have to make music work for me as a career because I can't do anything else.

Alex [Da Kid] does have diversity, not just in what he produces, but what he hears. He has this knack for finding talented people.

I would say that nobody is going to work harder for your career than yourself - the one with the vision. No matter how many people you hire, nobody is going to get is as much as yourself does. So it's really important to be your own leader at all times and not hand it all off, otherwise the whole empire will fall apart.

It's very easy to fall back unto my old ways when I'm working a lot. It's important for me to continue to find solitude and peace in nature and escape the city and the industry as much as possible. That's where I reconnect and remind myself what I learned in that time in the woods when I was isolated and I recharge myself. If I don't have that, it would be really easy for me to fall apart again.

Honestly, I don't recommend anyone get into music. If you have something else that you're good at, do that instead. This is a really tough world to live in.

I'm a shy person, so I get really nervous going into interviews.

I lived in a cabin in the woods in Oregon, and I'd basically given up on the music industry for an indefinite amount of time. And while I was out there, I came up with a very specific vision of what I wanted my music to sound like.