I believe in karma; what you do will come back.

Guru's family gave me a piece of his ashes. I saw the gold box of ashes that his father had when we had the memorial service. He had a nice giant gold box that had his name on it. It was really nice. I know all the family members had ashes that they all spread and took on their own. So I said lemme ask is it cool if I have some.

I came out with sounds that didn't sound like the usual hip-hop beat. I took that chance because no one would identify with me if I sound like somebody who's already out.

The radio stations strayed away from the raw hip-hop that they were playing in the early 1990s. We were like, 'All this watered down stuff is dominating the airwaves. We should make a record to make fun of that' and Guru's like, 'Let's call it ‘Mass Appeal.''

When I miss Guru, I bump one of our records. Then I shed a tear and get back to work.

Guru always titled the Gang Starr albums. But once it came to 'Hard to Earn,' he wanted me to title it.

I'm all about competition; still am to this day. That's how you should be, but not with any malice. From Mike Will Made It to Boi-1da to Mike Zombie, I'm out to get 'em all and it's that friendly competition that keeps us all on our toes.

I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about.

I'm not really a crying type.

When I got my knee replacement and I opened my eyes straight outta surgery, the first person standing there was Guru's son.

I don't have session players come in and guitars, I'm doing the drums, I'm doing the scratching, I'm doing every sound you hear and that's always been my way. And not only that, I'm very meticulous about it just sounding right.

I'm a very humble guy, but of course I think I'm dope.

Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.

The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super-dead it he would have said, 'Yo, I want out.' And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr.

Jazzmatazz' was Guru's thing, but Gang Starr was his baby. I don't care what anybody says. That dude loved Gang Starr.

Guru had such a different voice from most people. Plus he had a Boston accent! So, I always made sure the beats were tailored to him.

I remember Bumpy Knuckles came in wearing all mink everything and said, 'Yo, when I spit my verse, I gotta pull my guns out and aim them.' He was serious! I told him that I was going to duck in the event that those guns accidentally went off. He pulled out the twin glocks, spit his verse in one take and said, 'I've got a meeting to go to' and left!

If you don't have any Coltrane, 'A Love Supreme' will do it for you. It will explain everything. Even if you don't get it, it will still explain everything. That's how deep it is.

When you have a deep focus, you can't go wrong at all. Not when you're an expert at what you do.

I'm real particular about delivery. You can write the illest rhymes in the world, but can you deliver it right?

All the Public Enemy albums, I knew what records they were sampling but was like, 'How'd they construct it like this?!'

The great thing was that both K-Ci and JoJo told me to not make an R&B track that was reminiscent of radio hit records. 'Make a Gang Starr track and we'll write our lyrics to that,' they told me. They couldn't stress it enough.

The passing of my accountant, Mary Coleman, who was the first person I shouted out on 'In Memory of...' was particularly devastating for me. She was beyond my accountant. She was my mother away from home.

Anyone from our era knows that Guru was in every club and every bar and every spot. He could go all night, all day. And he would never be tired!

Well, I've always held down Guru… His spirit knows this.

I'm a bass player and I'm a drummer - I'm a big fan of bass players.

Everything I do is in a New York state of mind. I'm indebted to preserving the sound of the city.

A lot of Friday nights, Guru and I would go kick it with Biggie, since he was just three blocks down from us.

Guru and I had a house in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for a while and we used to have wild parties there when we weren't in the studio. It was like a fraternity house.

I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity.

You have to know who you're making music for.

From Jay-Z to Nas to Kanye to whoever, I'm just not the type to say, 'Hey, let me get on your album.' If they want me, they're going to reach out and say, 'I need a joint from you.'

If I gotta do a Jay-Z beat I want to stop everything. Tell everybody hold my calls, everything.

I've always wanted to work with Klashnekoff. He's been around for years! He's sorta my age but he is dope. The flow, the lyrics, it's just dope music.

All of our other albums were consecutive year after year: 'No More Mr. Nice Guy,' 'Step in the Arena,' 'Daily Operation,' 'Hard to Earn.' After 'Hard to Earn,' a four-year gap is a lot of not having Gang Starr music, as far as an album is concerned.

Guru died tragically and there were so many rumors about how he went out. I got to see him in the hospital right before he passed, and one of the last things I said to him before I walked out of the room was that I was going to make sure that his family was straight.

I'm a very spiritual guy.

The majority of my life is spent doing nothing but godly things, especially when it comes to dealing with other people.

I listen to my early Gang Starr interviews, I'm like, damn I was really trying to sound like a New Yorker then.

I'm a country boy.

Everybody deserves a piece of where they live, in some type of fashion. Music is just my way of preserving that.

Guru always wanted to do what he called a 'chick record.' By coincidence, every time we did one, he was either breaking up with one or with a new girl that he loved.

You can't do seven successful albums and just hate each other. Our yin and yang, and night and day, is what made us great when we went into the studio.

When I was 19 I had a record deal.

I remember going backstage on a random night and Kanye goes, 'Ayo Premier, I'm about to drop an album called 'College Dropout' and I'm rapping on the whole thing. And as I soon it drop it's gonna go double platinum.' I looked at him like, 'That's a bold statement to make if you never rapped before.'

Jay Z and Biggie and Nas always listened to my direction. They listened and they applied it and I also listened to their opinions and that's why the records came out so good.

My crew used to listen to 'Taking It to the Top' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

My musical knowledge goes beyond hip-hop.

I love heavy metal, Metallica. I'm into Jefferson Starship and acid rock.

Yeah, Travis Scott's dad taught me how to ride minibikes and how to repair the engines. His name's Jack Webster. Jack had a drum set and his brother had a bass. So I used to play with them, and that's what started me wanting to get into music and take it serious. And this is before rap.