“Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate… I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it.”

I’ve been called everything. Gangsta rap. I’ve been called conscious rap. You know, everything. Whoever feels like calling it whatever they want to call it, that’s on them.

Anybody I’m dating, I don’t want them to talk about my music. I don’t talk about my music to them.

I go with the rhythm of it and the words start to come to my mind and those words could be based on things that’s been on my mind for the past year, the past month, the past week, whatever; I write it.

I love PBS! I grew up on it. If I had to say which channels were good, I’d say, you got your PBS, your History Channel, your Discovery.

The things that I have said when I was young and curious about whatever the subject matter was, I respect those – those are growing pains.

Let’s not forget, art can sell. You ain’t gotta front all the time on your records.

Divorce can be crazy. Man, if you’re happy… Love is a beast, man. Hold on. Be prepared for any way it may go, and be honest.

To me, creatively challenging myself is my version of owning the Nets.

I think the fact that I made enough noise in the world that I might be remembered is an amazing achievement. You can’t ask for more than that.

Anybody can be a rapper, but not anybody can be a classical artist.

Unfortunately, man, a lot of places in America have to deal with unnecessary violence.

You know, rap is sort of like a form of talking, right? So it’s like you can hear, you know, the slaves doing it.

Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days… that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you.

It’s never been seen that a street artist go as far as I’ve gone – keep consistent without wanting to do a bunch of ventures outside of music to keep my face out there.

I’m not talking about Russia in my music. I’ve never been to Russia. I’m not talking about Africa, Switzerland, China.

No one’s promised anything. You could have the biggest record on radio and sell no records.

And music the best friend of your mind.

You put all the other stuff aside and go out and do your job, and mine is to be the best I can be for my teammates.

It doesn’t matter what I think. It doesn’t matter what other people think. You have to get on the ice and participate and play and the best team wins.

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

I think sometimes in life the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life.

The best way to create emotional or spiritual distance between me and another person is for them to come up to me and go, ‘yaassssss.’

My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He’d skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.

I sincerely believe that Indians have the ability to compete with the best in the world.