Whether or not I would be able to be an actor without the music I'm not sure, but I feel pretty lucky to do it.
I actually grew up playing the piano in the church and was deeply involved in music ministry.
I was in the school plays, I did a lot of music. I carried on through university for short films and loads of plays.
You have to feel that music. You just can't play it sterilely.
Just the type of music that was around at the same time as I was writing. Some of it was wicked, definitely. But there was just one direction which I thought could be pushed that no one was pushing.
The older ideas are rendering more and more bland music.
I'm into music for all different sorts of purposes.
I'd say that it's important for music to be there that gives you a challenge, that rearranges things in your head.
I make music to generate atmospheres, not to complement already existing ones.
Because, when I'm making music, I don't think about anything, you know? All I think about is what I want to hear. So that for me is what I want - I want my head to be constantly being rearranged.
Doing something like that, quite radically changing your approach to sound in one go, could leave you high and dry. It's happened before where people have changed direction and then everyone's stopped liking their music.
I miss the physicality of drumming. There's immediateness about it that I'm always striving for in my acting. Maybe I'm in the wrong profession. I certainly wish I could spend more time pursuing music. It feels like a part of me I'm neglecting.
The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.
I think all those artists are artists who are appreciated because you believe their words and you appreciate their honesty in their music. If you don't appreciate the honesty in the music, the beat can be fly as hell but you'll never give an emcee pr...
My musical influence is really from my father. He was a DJ in college. My parents met at New York University. So he listened to, you know, Motown, and he listened to Bob Dylan. He listened to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones, but he also listened to ...
Ain't nobody making music to not be heard and the easiest way to be heard is to be on the radio, but you should never compromise who you are, your values or your morals.
There's consciousness in my music, and my music comes from a conscious place. And when people say that, I certainly take it as a compliment. But my job, in terms of selling my music, is to be universal and to try to get it to everybody.
People can be inspired the way I've been inspired by music.
I don't feel comfortable making empty music.
I think hip hop is a dance music that's rebellious by nature.
Young kids should be doing music that has shock value. They'll grow out of it.
