I want to thank my Eritrean fans for feeling connected to me and for supporting me. I feel extremely grateful.

I think Ye is important to hip-hop.

Snoop ain't never cosigned me, but I know everybody is like, 'That's the next Snoop.' Nah, I'm Nipsey, and I got to work to define myself.

In 2013, the week before I dropped 'Crenshaw,' 'Complex' wrote an article that said that Nipsey Hussle is one of the top 25 underperforming artists. I was so offended that I responded with my own opinion about these journalists - their point of view is not validated in our culture.

I always wanted to do things right and represent myself as somebody that took the art serious and someone that took the business serious also, so I had time to weigh the options and figure it out and do my best to create the situation that was ideal.

I was never ignorant, as far as being experienced in classrooms and learning about different subjects and actually soaking it up, so I checked into college for a little bit. I took classes at a community college in West L.A. I took psychology, English, and philosophy.

I would say that the Nipsey Hussle 'Crenshaw' release was an example of All Money In creating an artificial scarcity campaign for the physical side of 'Crenshaw.'

Game's always been open arms with me.

Anybody that doesn't like Cardi B a hater!

You listen to Charlie Parker or John Coltrane before they found their voice, they sounded different. And when you listen to them after they found their voice on their instruments, they sound more confident and in control. Artists have that, too.

I really am a fan of Ye's music.

Looking at 2014, I look back: we made more money off 'Mailbox Money' than we would have made off taking an advance from anybody. We made more money letting our fans buy the stuff directly from us than what any label could have offered us.

A solution built by an artist serves the artist more than the solution the capitalist comes up with.

I try to sprinkle a little gems and jewels in the music that people could use in their own life.

If you're going to write about rap music and hip-hop, and you don't love it, then we don't need your opinion, and we revoke your opinion.

I'm touring the world, not doing nothing against the law, getting money to feed my family. I got employees that have felonies, and they can't get jobs. They work for me.

It was always a plan that we were going to have a retail side with what were doing musically, like an Apple store or Nike Town. I wanted something where you can come get everything - 'Marathon' or 'All Money' or 'Crenshaw' - and make it like an experience. Especially with what Crenshaw and Slauson meant to my story.

I built a label at the same time I built a career.

As much as I'm a black person from America, I'm a black person from Africa, too.

I think that every artist - or anybody that's in business - could benefit from a direct-to-consumer strategy, so I think that that applies to us as artists and content creators, too.

My career as Nipsey Hussle is based on my life as Ermias Asghedom.

One of my mentors schooled me on branding before it was a cliche term in the game.

My experience with power, you can maintain it, or you get it taken from you. You get you some newfound power and go crazy, and it get taken from you quick.

L.A. hip-hop is so different; it's so diverse. Out here, it's, like, funk-inspired; it's, like, '70s-skating-rink-inspired at times. It's Zapp-and-Roger-inspired; it's house-party-era-inspired.

Partnering with Atlantic Records creates the opportunity to take what we're doing to the next level, without compromising.

I built a company at the same time I built a career.

As I got older, my pops tried to keep me involved with the culture by telling me the stories of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, how he came to America, and about our family back home, because all that side of my family - my aunties, grandparents - is in Africa.

It's important to love in hip hop.

I grew up in an environment where being polite was taken as a weakness. So I just fought everybody.

I'm the type person, my safe place to be emotional is the booth.

Cardi B put a lot of work in.

I knew 'Crenshaw' had elevated me and distinguished me.

As is the case with most people in this game, I am driven by financial motives and creative motives; the question I had to answer is which motive I will give priority to?

Look at Pusha-T. He makes a certain type of rap music. 'Daytona' is that on the highest level.

We came up with TDE. As competitive as rap is, and as much as we're trying to exceed the standards we set for ourselves, we take their wins as our wins, too.

Compton got such a legacy in hip-hop.

I get a more passionate delivery when I just go in the booth and let the music talk.

'Victory' is like, you won, so the question is, what? What did you win? I think that the songs go into that. It's just about reaching a place in myself.

At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.

I think you can give a pure artistic product if you understand how to build your own industry.

People that's in power - the central banks, these fiat currencies that are traded globally - they got influence over the messaging and the narrative in the media.

I seen a lot of artists be hot for a minute, and then that's it, and somebody else come in.

Every artist wants something different out the game.

As an entrepreneur, as an investor, I'm trying to be as educated as I can to where the progression of technological capability is going and what it does to these different categories that, me as an artist and an influencer, I can get involved and bring value.

Proud 2 Pay - that's something that distinguishes me, that's something that defines me, and we're going to keep that going.

I realized the power of hip-hop. I realized how influential this music and this culture are.

When I first stopped going to high school, I was about 15, 16. It had to be, like, 2000, 2001.

I really love the culture of hip-hop.

My music is influenced by L.A. culture.

I like Cardi B!