What's bad for the culture is wack rappers that get held in high regard like they're some great thing because it's the flavor of the month, but everybody knows they can't rap. I don't think it's hard, even for somebody who's not hip-hop, to know that that's not good. When you put them up against somebody that can really rhyme, you go, "Okay, I get it. This is what it should sound like."

I hate to get on the racial thing because that's something I've always been totally against. But the problem with the media is that they think that the word rock means white and the word rap means black.

There's people out there with nuclear bombs and yet we've got all these politicians trying to make a political platform based on a record. Isn't it ridiculous?

If you really listen to my music my music is more like stories than party records. I never made party records.

Redemption means you just make a change in your life and you try to do right, versus what you were doing, which was wrong. So I think a lot of people get hooked on drugs and when they get over that addiction they go out and they try to talk to kids and they try to work in rehab centers.

When I was younger I never drank. I never drank, I never did any weed or drugs or anything because I felt it would compromise my position. I was an orphan, and I had a feeling like if I ever hit the ground I may never get back up.

Rapping is a vocal delivery, so you can do it without being part of hip-hop and not knowing what hip-hop is about.

Hip-hop is a competition culture. It's based around, "My DJ is better than you. My graffiti artist is better than you."

Half the rhymes you write, you're saying that you're better than the other MC. That's how we keep the craft sharp.

I don't watch daytime television, I have a job, I work and, you know, I think daytime television is really for women.