And You Know, Art As Commerce, Doesn't

You Know, There's A Lot Of Activism That Doesn't Deal With Empowerment, And You Have To Empower Yourself In Order To Be Relevant To Any Type Of Struggle.

Artists Look At The Environment, And The Best Artists Correctly Diagnose The Problem. I'm Not Saying Artists Can't Be Leaders, But That's Not The Job Of Art, To Lead. Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte - There Are Artists All Through History Who Have Become Leaders, But That Was Already In Them, Nothing To Do With Their Art.

I'd Like To Work With Outkast, I'd Like To Work With Rza, I'd Like To Work With Timbaland, York, A Whole Bunch Of People.

My Parents Are My Biggest Influences. My Parents And My City. Brooklyn, New York, New York City, The Community I Grew Up. I Don't Feel Like I'm Special In That. I Feel Like That's Everybody.

I Feel Like I Have Way More Resources, Way More Experience. I'm Better. But My Fans Romanticize The Earlier Stuff, And I Don't Think It's Just Like A Nostalgia Thing Of "he's Not As Good" - I Think It's Because That Earlier Stuff Was Aggressively Marketed As A Lifestyle To Them.