I think Jay-Z is probably my best student, and I can say that he listens, and that's what always made him special.

People have to listen to somebody speak, that the person that you're listening to is saying the right stuff, and that's all that really counts.

I have been diabetic since I was young.

The thing is, I have been diabetic, and I've been saying I'm diabetic; it's just, people don't write about it to showcase it or to bring awareness to it. So those are just the things that weren't spoken about. And, just like everything else, I had to do it myself to be heard.

I monetized my life so I never do anything that I don't like or that I'm not participating in 100 percent.

No one's taken anything from me.

Those people are corny. You think I'm rolling to a club with Lyor Cohen or John Meneilly?

I fire lawyers frequently.

I'm gonna direct, like, a real movie. At least an hour and some change.

My thing is to have a good, profitable company, for it to be 100% owned independently.

If you remember 'The Best of Both Worlds,' you don't see my name on that... I never wanted no part of that.

I was in 'Fiesta,' but only because Aaliyah said she wanted me to do it that way.

It's hard not to be confident when you put in business the biggest black male in comedy, Kevin Hart. I know I took him off a stage and put him in his first four movies. I know I did that.

Everyone I put in business, I must've taught them something. They all have reaped the benefits of it. A lot of them haven't done right by me, but it's all gravy.

Just cause you don't agree with a man, 'cause you're black, don't mean you gotta fight, argue. You just have a different perspective.

I always approach logic without emotion. The math always equals the math. Regardless of whether I discovered the math before anyone else, or I just decided to accept it, I know what logically makes sense, and I'm going to speak on it every time.

My delivery can be intense, but it's intense because I need to be heard. I know that people don't usually listen, as it relates to constructive criticism, without getting offended. So, I speak my mind with an attitude that I don't care if you get offended; I just want you to get the message.

I work hard, so I surround myself with people that work just as hard. It's important if you want to create a successful brand.

I try to get to the gym at least three to four times a week.

I believe in therapy, and I believe an objective opinion sometimes helps you be a better person.

Look at my life. I ain't got nothing to be mad about.

I don't see the reason for sugar coating anything.

I had to architect my life where I could raise my children.

I think that the better sign of an OG is when he's happy that the person that he raised got bigger than him and in a position where they could help.

I'm a true businessman.

When you're a business man, you have a lot of businesses, a lot of times they think you're laundering money or you're pretending you're writing things off that you don't.

The reason why Roc-A-Fella crossed and became so essential to pop culture is that we were probably the most authentic people that were also so sophisticated.

I lost my girl a couple years back, Aaliyah, in a plane crash. I wasn't expecting that, and also, my mother died, and at the time, my father wasn't in my life; the only person that took care of me was my mom.

Everything that scared me is losing people I love, and everyone that I really love, as it relates to females, I've lost. So what it's made me be is the animal that I am because I don't want to sit down and think about the things that are hurting me, but, you know.

I never really considered myself super hip-hop, ever in life. I don't think anything that I've done reflects that.

I don't like to be considered a 'hip-hop mogul.' I don't know what that means.

It's very rare that a person, especially in his twenties and thirties, can do more than one business and do it well.

My favorite record was the one I produced with Clark Kent.

First of all, how could I be broke, and I got all these companies?

It's incomprehensible for me to hear another dude talk about another's dude's pockets and have that matter and argue about that.

You do something when you're 20, and you're still paying for it when you're 40.

I'm not a complainer.

Every little thing I've done as an adult and as a young adult, I've done diabetic.

A diabetic always wants to help another diabetic.

In urban culture, Larry Davis is something of a legend.

Big shout out to Nas: if you want to scream my name out again and put my name in your rhyme, I think it's funny. Let's make some money from it. Just don't take it so serious, man.

I'm knee-deep into fashion; I'm knee-deep into movies.

If I can't do things to the fullest, I don't want to do it.

I love music, but the people in the music don't wanna work.

I never had to ask Def Jam for anything.

Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella were two equal entities under the Def Island umbrellas.

A 'Roc-A-Fella purist' is me.

I think one of the most important things in evolving is forgiveness.

I become friendly with people I work with.

I grew up in a lot of different places. I always saw the bigger picture. I was around rich kids with country houses and private jets. No disrespect to those people, but I never thought they were super geniuses. I couldn't see how I wasn't going to have those things, too.