“If just the presence of Tidal causes other companies to have better pay structure or to pay more attention to it moving forward, then we’ve been successful in one way. So we don’t really view them as competitors. As the tide rises, all the boats rise.”

As kids we didn’t complain about being poor; we talked about how rich we were going to be and made moves to get the lifestyle we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little money, we were eager to show it.

What are you talking about? Wait a minute, you’re getting out of the zone.’ People hate when people cross lines.

The day Obama got into office, rap was less important because Obama gave kids an alternative. But will rap ever go away? No. There will always be a need for poets.

When I listen to Amy Winehouse, I believe that her heart and soul is in the music, or if I listen to other British artists like Duffy or Estelle. The aesthetic of it is different, and it’s my point of view. It’s not anything formulaic.

Racism is taught in the home. We agree on that? Well, it’s very hard to teach racism to a teenager who’s listening to rap music and who idolizes, say, Snoop Dogg. It’s hard to say, ‘That guy is less than you.’ The kid is like, ‘I like that guy, he’s cool. How is he less than me?

What people have to understand is ‘Billboard’ is a magazine. They’re like elected officials – they work for us.

I’ll make a song with Rick Rubin, a song with Beyonce, a song with Lenny Kravitz. I just believe in making good music. I’m not trying to section myself off into just making hard-core rap music.

I’m far from being god, but I work god damn hard.

Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I’m a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best?

I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.

It was a very intense and stressful situation. There was playing in the Johnny-pump (an opened fire hydrant) and the ice-cream man coming around and all of these games that we’d play, and suddenly it would turn just violent and there would be shootings at 12 in the afternoon on any given day.

I collect art, and I drink wine… things that I like that I had never been exposed to. But I never said, ‘I’m going to buy art to impress this crowd.’ That’s just ridiculous to me. I don’t live my life like that, because how could you be happy with yourself?

No, I’m not interested in politics. I have zero interest. I have interest in hope and people.

We wasn’t allowed inside the galleries or inside Yankee Stadium. We were writing in the street and making music.

I’m hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. That’s what this world is about.

No one came to our neighborhoods with stand-up jobs and showed us there’s a different way. Maybe, had I seen different role models, maybe I’d’ve turned on to that.

It is not “forgive and forget” as if nothing wrong had ever happened, but “forgive and go forward,

So you have to do a lot of things in order for things to move forward.

I look forward to the day when I can be Republican again. I’m an Alan Simpson Republican.

You don’t want to be doing it. But you have to. You have to keep moving forward.

History has spurts and then is steady, and then maybe even backing up a step, and then forward again.

I’ll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I’ll even ‘hari-kari’ if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun!

We seek guides and guideposts to ease the anxiety of the journey. But we also need to depend on our own insights and imagination to cultivate, from our own experience, a way to move forward.

I think that what we want to do as we continue to move forward is look at the various points that have been made.