If I can't take five years out to serve my country as president, then everything I've been singing about, like equal rights, doesn't mean anything.

I was looking for Quincy Jones, that's who I was obsessed with. Watching Mike [Jackson], I always knew that I had to be a showman on stage, because when people come to you live you always want them to come back. You gotta give them something to remember.

My daddy was a minister, my grandfather was a voodoo priest, my uncle was a mason; I was raised with a lot of studies.

I lived in the projects and the ghetto, and turned the negative into a positive.

Ever since I was a little kid, there used to be the Carnival that used to pass.

For everybody who lost somebody out there and stuff, when you need therapy, music is the best way.

For me, before I go on stage, it all depends. Might be a girl, might be an edible, might be a verse, might be somebody mixing something in my drink without me knowing - hopefully that won't happen tonight.