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

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

I'm a very spiritual guy.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.'

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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!

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.