My father was incredible: a longshoreman; my mother was a secretary. Very 'go to work' people. That's how I saw things.

Elvis Presley was the big bang. He was the most influential single figure in the history of American pop culture. He changed the way we looked, thought, dressed, held a guitar. He didn't invent rock & roll, but he defined it in a way that everyone who followed him owes him a debt.

I couldn't make a headphone look like a piece of medical equipment or a toy, as most headphones do.

I came from Brooklyn. My nickname was Moochie.

I didn't have any sophistication. I didn't really have any great taste or anything like that. I was just a kid from Brooklyn. But what I learnt is the why, the how. The work ethic.

Apple was selling $400 iPods with $1 earbuds. They're making a beautiful white object with all the music in the world in it... I'm going to make a beautiful black object that will play it back.

Apple, of all the global tech companies, was the one that understood why artists make things.

The lousy guitar player in any band is the bass player.

I have a gift: I'm very lucky to be able to spot when a person is special.

Those folks at Death Row were the Rolling Stones of their time.

I'm good at snap decisions. But if you let me, I will chew something to death.

It's time you stop thinking that because you did something, it's... amazing. All you've got to do is say, 'OK. If I'm great, what do they call Steve Jobs?'

The next Prince might just get really good at something else.

I feel open to anything.

If you're great, that means you're freaked out that the next day you're not going to be great. You keep trying.

Interscope Records has always been a heat-seeking missile when it comes to shifts in popular culture, whether inciting them or reacting to them swiftly.

Genres are just names.

I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple.

I don't look at Spotify or Rdio or any of these guys as a direct competitor: I look at other forms of entertainment as the competitor.

Every system I have in my house or my car, they're all tuned exactly the same.

I make my world chaotic. It's like a whirlpool.

Apple is a company that understands music.

I always wanted to be where the cool was because I didn't think I was cool. But music was cool.

My relationships are helped because of all the success I've had, but I'm only as useful as the idea I have today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm just a trophy.