The only reason I've been so critical of hip-hop is because I've always been aware of the effect that it has, and the reflection that it gives of the African-American community.

Hip-hop is still cool at a party. But to me, hip-hop has never been strictly a party; it is also there to elevate consciousness.

I think that the heart is a lot like those wonderful fruit, like coconut and mangoes, you know, you have to break the skin, you have to break it open to get to the good part.

she stuck a bookmark in my heart and walked away

If we're gonna progress as a people we are going to realise that, as one of my favourite poets says, the other is a lie. There are no other people. Race is a social construct.

Sometimes our thoughts and feelings are our most prized possessions... and then there are times to let go of your possessions and wander.

I surrendered my beliefs and found myself at the tree of life injecting my story into the veins of leaves only to find that stories like forests are subject to seasons

There is nothing more negligent than attempting to address a problem one finds on a branch than by censoring the leaves.

I think that good writing is based on good reading. Maybe it's not about writing today, maybe it's about reading today. Maybe it's about finding the sort of book you would never read.

I dance for no reason, for reasons you can't dance, Call me an activist of intellectualized circumstance You can't learn my steps until you unlearn your thoughts Spirit, soul, can't be store-bought.

My love is my soul's imagination. How do I love you? Imagine.

You will never know all there is to know. You will learn until your final days. Then you will inspire someone else. This is what an artist does.

MIND & GRINDSelf-belief and hard work can propel you past more talented peers

But the economy's out of control. Money just doesn't need human beings anymore. Most of us only get in the way.

With food still scarce, there was no longer a right to exist. You needed to earn your spot.

In Great Britain the price of food is at a higher level than in any other country, and consequently, the British artisan labours at a disadvantage in proportion to the higher rate of his food.

­Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.

There is nothing miraculous about puzzles. Competent mentalism is miraculous.

I think the media made Manson, turned him into some larger than life figure and surrounded him with mystery and some shady glamour.

When I first met with agents, they said, "Okay, you're going to play plumbers and mechanics and bus drivers and farmers. Go."

I should say that being independent in the modern model means independent in a very interdependent world. An independent Scotland is not apart from the rest of the United Kingdom.