You have a deeper connection with people who you have shared experiences with and shared pain.

The thing with me is, I'm from a rap background so I'm not really a traditional singer in that sense.

I've always had good support of parents for doing what I wanted to do. When it became music they were just as supportive as well.

I have an urban background, but I need melody, I need a song, so I try to mix and match and keep it fluid.

When a song comes from a real story and from a real place I think it comes across to people. That's important.

I believe the things I love inwardly will be received by the right people outwardly. I believe that what I believe in will be received well. I try to keep that as a foundation to what I do.

Some people say that music isn't something you are; it's something you do. It's having a constant desire to share and express. But I believe it's something you are. To me it's more inward.

I think when you're younger you have a more black-and-white view of things. You're more exclusively dedicated.

Nakedness of what you do is exactly who you are, and that's how it should come across.

When one has a grateful heart, life is so beautiful.

I don’t do math.

With faith, we can conquer the mightiest mountain.

Don't write about that which you don't know.

I don't know that cell phones are dangerous. But I don't know that they are safe.

I grew up all around the world, and when I settled in a suburb in America, I didn't have any idea what I was supposed to wear.

I mean, I'm in the business of storytelling, not message making.

When we complain, we often project onto others the dissatisfaction of how we're dealing with our own lives.

The life of a good man is at the same time the most eloquent lesson of virtue and the most severe reproof of vice.

The difference between a Republican and a Democrat is that the Democrat is a cannibal, they live off each other, while the Republicans live off the Democrats.