I've got no ego; I just like to have thousands of people write to me and tell me how wonderful I am.
I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I'm conscious of the mainstream without selling out.
I tend to have an odd split in my mind: I tend to look at it as a writer and when the writing thing is OK and I'm happy with it, then I put on my actor's hat.
I think the only difference between me and other people is that when I hear of an interesting historical incident, I immediately write it down and Google it.
I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.
I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, 'Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!'
I wasn't born to cook or clean, but to read and write, if you don't like me the way I am, then go fly a kite.
I know a lot of artists say this, but it's hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There's no tricks.
Even if I knew for certain that I would never have anything published again, and would never make another cent from it, I would still keep on writing.
I think I need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. It bothers me a lot. I've tried and tried, but I just can't seem to find a melody.
I never write a book unless I can't help it. Something has to bother me, like a mosquito, until I have to do something to relieve the itch.
I wrote what I felt I had to write, and I'm willing to put my own sanity and my reputation behind it.
I have always been fascinated by dark and mysterious stuff. I guess I have a pretty dark and gloomy side. Writing songs saves me from going completely gonzo.
Sometimes I write them down in musical notation as a trigger to remind me about certain directions to go. Or I can be specific about a sound I'm looking for.
The recollection of how, when and where it all happened became vague as the lingering strains hung in the rafters of the studio. I wanted to shout back at it, Maybe I didn't write you, but I found you.
Yes, I did lock myself in my room for about two years and write some songs and things like that. But I don't feel like I missed out on a whole lot.
When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.
I guess I write four or five hours a day, but I do it seven days a week. It's very disciplined, yes, but it's joy for me.
Everything I write is highly personal, but put in such a way that it's not dropping everything in someone's lap. Although sometimes I think 'The Taxi Ride' embarrasses me, because sometimes I think it's too close.
I don't start writing a script until I can see it all in my head, then it's a matter of getting it down in white heat.
I find in my own writing that only fiction - and rarely, a poem - fully tests me to the kind of limits of what I know and what I feel.
