Not unlike our country's history, my personal history was founded upon an unfortunate history of racial conflict between black and white.

I feel like we haven't dealt with the ghosts of America's past, and the way to deal with it is to confront it, so every time people see me, I want them to be reminded and to confront that ghost.

I think it's the job of the artist to reflect the times and also reflect his or her views of the world.

A classic man is a distinguished man. He cares about taste and his craft. He's all about the simple model that I live by - eat, drink, be swanky, and have fun getting the job done. He makes sure that he's excellent in all things and that he cares about his neighborhood immensely.

I believe that you should not be just raised on what the music is right then. You should be raised on what is from your past, what your parents have grown up with, because it's a really big piece of your culture that you need to know about, and I'm glad my mother has done that for me.

You shouldn't feel unsafe walking to school. It's where you should feel safe. Our parents should feel their children are going to be taken care of, looked after.

There was mental and physical abuse in my family.

So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty. All other pacts of love or fear derive from it and are modeled upon it.