All those who came out of my neighborhood before me. Beyond those you see on TV, the most important people are those who are close to you because they share the same reality.

I don't want my kids saying, 'My dad was a gangster, so I need to be a gangster. I would rather mine say, 'My dad was a stunna, so I need to be a stunna.'

Like, Jay Z has some of the sickest lyrics ever, but I would never buy his CD, just because of my age and because of his age. By the time I turn that old, I ain't gonna be doing what he's doing.

When you see them be successful, however small, you say to yourself, wow. And everything becomes possible. Never denigrate, to say we will not succeed.

I know that everybody listens to me, but only my true fans will go and buy my album.

I just put anything on my back. I take what I have on hand.

This is the industry that wants [music], the rap industry. You have to be on deck all the time, but you do not have the time to do the album. It is an energy, it must be present in everyday life.

You must not you worry about leaks or pieces [stolen] on your computer. You just make songs, you gotta make music, keep stuff out. You may not know rap, but that's how it works.

I do not always listen again but if something strikes me, I exploit it.

If you're 30, 40 years old, you're not getting listened to by minors. Like, Jay Z has some of the sickest lyrics ever, but I would never buy his CD, just because of my age and because of his age.

For a long time I heard rap without paying attention, but it is still a way of life, even when you're a kid.

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending and to have the two as close together as possible.

It is impossible to imagine existence void of any intelligence.

Faithfulness to the past can be a kind of death above ground. Writing of the past is a resurrection the past then lives in your words and you are free.

"No," Preston snapped. But he didn't protest long because, if I'm going to be honest - which is kind of the point of these reports - I was already unzipping his pants.

I count myself really fortunate that I have some lifelong friends. The best thing about a friend is when you are being your own worst enemy a friend can help snap you out of it.

More recently, I used guitar synthesizer extensively on the two albums I did with Robert Fripp.

I believe nothing of my own that I have ever written.

So to me it's very similar in terms of trying to distill within the image, those elements that are gonna form, hopefully, a compelling visual statement.

If you're hooked on the physical act of writing, there's a good chance of your hanging in there long enough to say what you were born to say.

If you accept the idea that photographers, or some of them, are actually artists, then you have to look at their work less as a document of something than as a personal vision of the world.