Being in the space that I am as a writer, and just as a black dude in America, there's this push to be cool or be what you're expected to be. There's a need for a song that puts that in perspective. I think that's an important thing for young children to hear growing up.

You can love somebody through anything when they're your child, and now that I understand that, it makes me work better with people; it makes me more understanding of how much dedication and love I can put into each line. There's no throwaway lines.

I had already been making music for my whole high school life, and '10 Day,' which took me a whole year to finish, was about working with a lot of different producers and learning all of the aspects about being a rapper, from shows to recording to studio etiquette to marketing.

I think it's very important for America that we're represented as promoters of peace, love, and understanding.

Some pain is simply the normal grief of human existence. That is pain that I try to make room for. I honor my grief.

If you live through the death of your child, you should be able to talk about it and let other people know it's OK to go on.

Life's too short to be super conservative but it's also too short to make it any shorter. I don't plan on dying early, but at the same time I don't plan on playing it so safe that I'll live to ninety.

When sadness happens in the middle of work, I separate my personal grief from my train of thought.