When I was 17, I listened to reggae music. I loved Bob Marley. I started growing dreadlocks. It's always been my way, that the outside matches what's going on with me inside.

Every record I do is a learning process for how I want to do the next one.

I think when you're a fan of music - at least the way I've been a fan to artists that have really touched me - you're with them for the long haul. They might do things that you don't understand or agree with, but I think I've always tried to hold my judgment and give them the space to do what they need to do.

My mother's sister married a man from Barbados, and my cousins were raised in Barbados. So we traveled down there, they came up every summer for camp, and I started paying attention to their music. And that was the first place I ever remember hearing reggae and liking it.

When I was in college, I majored in comparative religion because I really wanted to figure out if there was God and how I should live my life.

You tell them that all your experience tells you this is the best way to beat this particular opposition. You persuade them and you drill them, and you tell them so many times they can hear you when they go to sleep. Then, on the day of the game, you stand on the touchline and hope to God that it works.

Holiness of life is not the privilege of a chosen few - it is the obligation, the call, and the will of God for every Christian.

God has given me this gift to get out there and share my music and share my experiences and share my testimony. Why not be open? Why not be real? Why not walk in my truth?