I definitely use ‘smiling while rapping’ as a tool in the booth. I want to have fun while recording.
I put myself in the place of the listener when editing my writing. The last thing that I want to do is be preached at and told who to be or what to think when listening to an artist. However, I do want to be inspired. There’s a fine line.
I want to make music that I like; not something that I have to make because I think it’s going to sell.
Us as rappers underestimate the power and effects that we have on these kids.
The fame and the money and all that stuff that comes along with it is all great, but that’s not the sole purpose of why I make music.
I think what’s wrong with the fashion world, particularly men’s fashion, is the lack of creativity behind it.
My partner has to have good sized bones.
I’m a very conceptual writer.
I think that civil rights issues take a lot of time to develop.
If I can be an example of getting sober, then I can be an example for starting over.
I don’t write a great song every day. I don’t write a great song every couple weeks. It comes in such random times.
Consciousness rap – a term that I don’t think exactly exists but gets thrown around a lot – is not exactly popular.
Michael Jordan was a cultural icon that everybody on the playground wanted to be. The Bulls dynasty was a huge part of my childhood and it was the peak of my basketball interest as a kid.
I was always the type of person, and still am the type of person, that I cannot be creative and use substances. So from a very early age I knew that if I wanted to make music, successfully, in any capacity, I was going to have to get sober.
Drug culture is extremely prevalent and probably most people know somebody whose life has been affected by drugs, if it’s not their own or in their own family, they have friends. It’s a never-ending process.
Hip-hop was started as a very egocentric, testosterone, machismo-driven art form. The way that people are trying to take away that masculinity that is a such an intrinsical part of hip-hop music.
The one thing I will never do is buy a shirt because of its name, especially when it’s $600 for that shirt. To me, that’s ridiculous. It’s just a shirt; it’s not worth the money.
It’s just way more fun making art, growing, grinding for a fan base, and traveling the world with a friend.
I’d always thought that if I could get sober and stay sober, I would be able to have a career making music. My drug and alcohol addiction was the one thing holding me back. I had finally gotten the tools to stay sober, and it was just a matter of writing the songs.
I like to be as diverse as possible. I think the humorous side and the serious side are both elements of my personality. It’s what makes me who I am and if I was to neglect either one of those sides and just focus on one of them, it wouldn’t be the full spectrum of my personality.