It's almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It's their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it's harder for us.

I've had two children. I've had three boyfriends. I've had a lot of things happen that can change your opinions and values and philosophies.

There are millions and billions of atoms of memory of all kinds of musical themes in me.

I'm a performance artist first; I'm a recording artist second.

For notes related to books I'm writing, I've wondered whether I should organize my notes better, but I do find that the action or scrolling through them and seeing odd juxtapositions of ideas helps to stimulate my own ideas and creativity. I worry that if I kept the notes in a highly-structured way, I might lose some of these benefits.

Nobody would know it to look at me, but the movies I liked as a kid were musicals - 'All That Jazz,' 'Hair,' 'Fame,' 'Annie,' all that stuff - that's where my little youthful imagination was.

Some music comes from a real place; some music comes from your imagination. It's difficult to find out what's real and what's not, especially with the gangster stuff.

I'm ever curious about the world. I'm driven to go out and find new things to write about. Having a vivid imagination is also a plus.