Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well.

The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.

I look at the deejay thing as something - I'm good at it because I have my own music. I have enough rhythm to blend at this point.

The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves.

Music is not an exact science so depending on the time and the mode and the energy when we do it that will determine what happens with it.

I think once you're in the public eye, whether you're a boss, a teacher or whatever you do, that you're automatically in the position of role model. You have people looking up to you, so whether you choose to accept it or not is a different question.

I met Mos Def around that time but I didn't hook up with him until I was about 17 or 18.