When I was growing up, there were so many things I thought were stylish. Jabo jeans, V Bombers, Clarks, Vikings, Nugget watches, Lee pants with the patches, leather hats - which I still wear now. All hip-hop stuff, all South Bronx stuff.

I started off as a graffiti artist in the South Bronx. My tag name was 'Loco' because I would go crazy and tag anywhere I wanted, in the weirdest places.

You know, I never did music for money. I did music to hear myself in the club, and to hear my creation on the radio.

When I was a barber, me being extreme was how I got popular: you name it, I was drawing it on someone's head.

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

Some writers are curiously unmusical. I don't get it. I don't get them. For me, music is essential. I always have music on when I'm doing well. Writing and music are two different mediums, but musical phrases can give you sentences that you didn't think you ever had.

I get ideas from my own personal experiences, from my imagination, and from my research and from old stories.

Music was something I was encouraged to do, which I appeared to be quite good at, but it was never a passion. Writing was always my first love.