When a lot of people are calling it a night at 2 A.M., New Orleans is coming alive.

To me, Def Jam put my career on hold. I was used to making 13-14 songs a year, and they trickled that down to nothing.

There's been enough building of fences with labels trying to categorize artists, limiting artists' ability to be themselves.

I've always had good connections with cars and always knew how to fix them, so I didn't have trouble with breakdowns.

Happiness is the legal-tender of the soul. Joy is wealth.

Here's what I know about the business I am in. It's all based on money. It's all based on ratings.

Music, architecture and pictures have always been my passions, and all that material wealth has meant for me, is being able to have some of the pictures I liked.

The United States is much further along because its financial crisis struck three years before Europe's, in 2008, causing headwinds that have pressured it ever since.