Ezra Koenig

Well, growing up in the '90s, my first true love was ska music.

Growing up listening to rap music, you almost feel like you should have haters. That's an important part of being a successful musician. It's a good thing, I guess.

I grew up listening to Jay-Z, and I think the first time I really became obsessed with learning and thinking about lyrics was when I started listening to rap; I was 11, 12, and started becoming aware of music beyond the familiar.

It's pretty cool that people will pay for something even though they don't have to. It's totally different now to back in the day. Now you're paying for a record because you believe in the band. In the future that will be the only time people will pay for albums, because there's some kind of connection.

If kids and teenagers can get into a band, it's probably not because they think it's brainy.

It's cool to have instruments lying around because they give you different ideas.

I remember the first pangs of stress arriving at the end of school. Once I graduated I had to get a full-time job, worry about health insurance, saving money, paying rent - things I'd never thought about before.

Musicals don't get enough credit for being so surreal. It's like an alternate universe.

As an artist you have the luxury of maybe presenting an issue in a certain way, as opposed to actually solving it.

It's so easy for anyone to deal with their own guilt of being a middle-class white music fan by pointing to other people who they perceive to be richer than them, whiter than them.

Rapping and singing are not two polar opposites. There's so much middle ground. And I think there's a lot of people who find that middle ground.

I'm a huge fan of the Bay Area so I always love coming to San Francisco.