“You don’t need Beanie Sigel in the building with a pre-perception that this crazy dude might do anything.”

PW spent time with Sigel in a New York recording studio shortly before he went away on his federal gun possession charge.

I’m caught up in the system where the blind lead the blind And this artist only speaks on the Signs of the Time. And I pop pills in Purple Rain to state my pain, They say I’m just like my father, bold and too cold.

I was never in an awkward position where I had to curb my manhood.

He paged through a book of promotional photos of himself, one of which was shot shortly after 911. It featured him holding a copy of the Bible upright in one palm while the Koran rose from the other the Twin Towers.

I ain’t the captain of the yacht, but I’m on the boat; I ain’t acting what I’m not, knowing that I don’t. You niggaz acting like you will, but I know you won’t. Man, I read between the lines of the eyes of your brows, Your handshake ain’t matchin your smile.

I don’t think there’s much a person could say about me. My gangster’s never been on trial.

I could wake up six in the morning, go downstairs and record. I learned how to use ProTools and everything. Whenever I felt it, I could record.

I can still do clothing, movies, cartoons. I’mma get mine regardless. Whether I put an album out or not, I’m still gonna see a check.

You always gotta be on time, an hour ahead of everything. You always gotta be prepared.

That’s what I do… Some people smoke weed, some people smoke cigarettes, some people snort coke… I pop pills, I smoke and I drink syrup, that’s my twist.

Some of the record company people, they wouldn’t let me put this out, … They said it would be too controversial. But this picture is saying ‘Look, they can stand together. Don’t have to be no fight.’

Pull down the shades on the windows of your soul, And gaze into your mind and watch the wisdom unfold.

Jadakiss is not no walk in no park. Nas is not no walk in no park. These are dudes that could have ended my career.

The world [is] now seeing might is right.

It didn’t mean forever but for right now I wanted Rush to be my first. He wouldn’t be my last. A stop I might never forget or get over. That was what scared me the most. Not being able to move on.

I might never breathe again once he walked away from me.

I was already headed for Hell, I might as well enjoy the ride.

Because to Americans, Chechnya might as well be a suburb of Narnia.

A news organization has a much different responsibility. I might not be telling you the whole story. I might not be telling you a story in a manner that is properly sophisticated.

That’s the wonder of the internet. It’s the power of numbers: get enough people to retweet something, someone might see it.

What a photograph shows us is how a particular thing could be seen, or could be made to look – at a specific moment, in a specific context, by a specific photographer employing specific tools.