One thing I always loved about hip-hop music was the raw, boom-bap element - it felt powerful and manly.
My parents listened to a lot of music when I was really little. They used to listen to people like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and I used to be really into that.
But, of course, one relies on the everyday people who just simply like your music, for whom you may not be a hobby but they enjoy being in your presence at a concert.
I'm very much a traditionalist, but I think it's important to know about tradition so that you can evolve the music you are deciding to make.
The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.
Personally, I've found that the kind of thing that I like is going into somebody else's area and not playing their music but doing whatever I do in their area.
I mean, come on, Beyonce's the queen of pop music. She's the queen. If you could run for queen... I would put her name in the suggestion box. She's incredible.
If you've become a huge act and you're still doing the same music you wrote with your friends when you were making zero dollars, you're lazy.
You've got Corey Feldman doing his thing, and the problem is, they're trying to be pop stars. You can't compare Salty to any of the other actors out there playing music.
I expect the audience to come up to my level. I am not interested in compromising my music to make it palatable to an assumed sub-standard mass.
If one takes all the styles in jazz harmonically from the earliest beginnings to the latest experiments, he still has a rather limited scope when compared to the rest of music in the world.
I had never done TV. I think it's a foolish medium for, most rock 'n roll music. Nobody ever comes off well on TV.
I publish my own music. I'm creating my own songbook. It works that way for me; I'm very independent.
When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn't even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.
There's many different genres, and when you see R&B and pop and house, as well as electronic, come together, that's the reality of what music is.
If we don't invest now in so-called priority neighbourhoods with music classes, athletic facilities, and skills training and mentoring, we will all pay more in the long run.
I think we as a band, as individuals, understand that all popular music stems from blues and jazz and even pop, but rock 'n' roll especially comes from blues.
I started out really making music in my dorm room, and it wasn't really producing or anything like that; it was you making something.
Sometimes I use my jokes as building blocks for larger bits. I like to draw and play music, so sometimes I do those things along with the jokes.
And I've also come to the conclusion that, as far as guitar solos and things like that are concerned, it's more important to complement the music rather than take away from it.
I'm an entertainer. I get up on stage and I try to make people enjoy my music, and that political arena - I'm going to stay out of it, right out.
