Maybe I'm too sensitive to the struggle, but I think a lot of people that listen to music are trying to escape.

I try to support my kids in what they do and, at the same time, not push them towards anything.

I love what I do. I'm still humble.

I had a lot of respect for Prodigy. He brought the hood to the booth. When we were trying to shape this rap thing into something, he was one of the cats I respected for bringing the hood into the booth.

I was an athlete in college - a quarterback, a leader - so people telling me what to do doesn't work.

My kids listen to rap, so I try to keep up with as much as I can.

People think the older you get, the wacker you get. I think the older I get, the better I get.

I'm more of a wordsmith, so I like taking different words and trying to see what I can do with them - as many things as possible.

One of the main reasons why it didn't work out for me and Aftermath is because I felt my music should sound one way, and they felt it should sound another. But, I learned a lot from watching Dre, and when I left California, I knew it was time for me to get my own label.

When I broke up with Eric B., I went on a little hiatus. Then all I was trying do is find producers. It's real hard, man.

I was always a laid-back, subdued person, and I just try to let that speak through my music.

I love Jay-Z, I love Kanye, and I praise the way he's been able to bring more business out of the jungle.

I always went left to what everybody else was doing. I'm used to going against the grain.

I love Kanye for that. Being a producer, making beats, and being a rapper. He does it all.

I love, you know, a lot of jazz, John Coltrane.

Without no disrespect to any artist, there's a lot of degrading music out there as far as degrading the culture and degrading society as well. That's individuals that choose to make that kind of music.

Everything I do has to be poetically done.

Social networks didn't exist when I started. Twitter and Facebook didn't exist. It was all about MySpace when I first got in the game.

I put my own money up when I have a vision and believe in something. If you want a company to put money into something, then most of the time, they want to water your project down. When it's your money, it's your vision from the beginning to the end result.

It's never my goal to throw any of my peers under the bus.

Since I am an artist, I know the media can pick you apart.

In the past, being young, I might have been standoffish to working with other songwriters.

We should have better schools.

I think you have some artists who try to be as conscious as they can be.