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

Just strengthening that theme that America is a place of opportunity and hoping to inspire people to fulfill those opportunities, and to want more, and to want better, and to see the places we can go. So many people identify with me because of the place that I come from.

If I go into a studio and find my truth of the moment, there are a number of people in the world who can relate to what I’m saying and are going to buy into what I’m doing. Not because it’s the new thing of the moment, but because it’s genuine emotion. Its how I feel. This is how I articulate the world.

I’m just making an observation. They’re crying out for the love that maybe they didn’t get at home, and they got everything.

People really feel like music is free but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap, and it’s good water. But they’re OK paying for it.

By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn’t need pen or paper – my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.

As an artist, you make music. And if you see people who don’t know how to market your music, you get involved in it. Otherwise, what you want to accomplish ‘gets lost in translation’ – no pun intended.

For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton… it’s crazy. It’s mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians – by America in general.

My first album didn’t come out until I was 26.

Hip-hop has done so much for racial relations, and I don’t think it’s given the proper credit. It has changed America immensely.

Do you know how many athletes go broke three years after they stop playing? I want to help them hold on to their money. I mean, I know about budgets.

That’s why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club.

I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.

Blueprint 3′ is made up of songs, but it’s also a commentary on the idea that in order for rap to survive, we have to stretch out the drama.

Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way.

It was a weird mix of emotions. One day, your best friend could be killed. The day before, you could be celebrating him getting a brand-new bike.

Some people are attracted to vulnerability. From my very first album, I’ve been vulnerable. I’ve always given parts of me, parts of my life – good, bad, ugly. I’ve never put up this image as a super-thug. Also, some people just like the music.

You always feel the drawing you are working on is the best you’ve ever done… I am only interested in the present.

The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.

Competition in its best form is a test of self. It has nothing to do with medals.

The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.

To exercise at or near capacity is the best way I know of reaching a true introspective state.

If you don’t love what you’re doing and you can’t give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short.

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it’s business or baseball, or the theater, or any field.

You’re the best there. You’ve been all-city two years in a row. How bad can you be? You come with me and we’ll make nice music.