I look at the deejay thing as a tier thing. If I'm not going to compete on that level, I'm just going to do it as a hobby.

Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half.

I ignored your aura but it grabbed me by the hand, like the moon pulled the tide, and the tide pulled the sand.

So I just had to step up how I was doing it and the moment that I stepped up and the moment I focused all my energy on that is when things started to happen. So there's a direct relationship between my inspiration and my output.

I see that happening with hip hop purists now. Where you have an artist like a Kendrick [Lamar] or a Drake, who are really trying different things emotionally, different things musically, and on a mainstream level. And you have underground hip hop fans dissing it, for the simple fact that it's mainstream - not because what they're doing is whack, or what they're doing is not sincere.

I feel like your city - with hip hop in particular, because we're always beating our chest and shouting where we're from - your city is just as influential as your parents. Even the grimy, hardcore gangster rap from New York - KRS-One and Wu Tang, the stuff acknowledges it.

Once you're signed to a label you compromise.