I understand that in the industry, a lot of it isn't real. Which is a difficult thing. Where I come from a lot of people are straightforward and I've had to learn how to not say exactly what I feel. Sometimes it gets frustrating being a person who says what he feels and what his heart is telling him. Every once in a while I fall into letting the industry get the best of me and not just saying exactly what I feel.

Jay-Z's my favorite rapper, but why can't I aspire to be better than him?

I'm just so happy and proud of everybody and what everybody's doing. From Curren$y doing decent numbers with the independent, digital release; from Asher selling 1.1 million-plus on iTunes with the single and almost at 200,000 [albums sold] now; Cudi got almost 4,000 BDS's a week; Mickey Factz doing the Rock The Bells tour; Blu signed a deal shortly after; Ace Hood had two very successful singles, another album getting ready to drop. Everybody's doing their thing, man.

I like David Beckham just because of his lifestyle. He don't ever need to score another goal again. How many times has he been on the cover of GQ?

Most artists should be able to make the album that they want. You don't necessarily pick the singles that you want when you're making a record, but for the most part it's the same process.

I want people to be like, 'Your album's just as good as Kendrick [Lamar]'s or Esperanza Spalding or Beck. I work just as hard as them.

I dated all these girls and ended up not liking them and thought to myself, 'What was it that all of them had in common?' They had too much time on their hands. Even though they were pretty, they lacked something. A woman could be less attractive but with ambition and drive, that's the most beautiful thing.