Nas really introduced the world and a lot of people to me - that was ideal as far as me first coming in.

I always wanted to do something I knew I could love to wake up and do every day, and rap was just second nature to me, growing up in Harlem. I never really had to try.

Growing up in Harlem, I was always in the parks playing ball.

When I'm out of town, I always try to get some readings or some type of new information to where I'm learning more about Islam, just to become the best Muslim I can become.

People romanticize struggle and obscurity, and I get that, but it's a very one-dimensional argument to say that people who have money are evil, and artists who are poor are virtuous.

Before the CFPB, there was no single agency or entity within the federal government tasked with protecting Americans from predatory or negligent practices of banks, credit card companies, mortgage lenders, payday lenders, credit rating agencies and other financial service businesses.

They're making a ton of money, and no one is getting a nickel.

Defending human rights should be an important objective of foreign policy, and that, too, will sometimes be hard to reconcile with an economic agenda, especially when it comes to dealing with rich but repressive players like China and Russia.