All the smart money got they bets on me / And all the real niggas wish the best for me

I respect Snoop even aside from the music, just as a man, and especially the way he still represents who he is, after being a pop star and an icon. He's done it successfully and has still been able to balance it.

Obviously from childhood to my teenage years, I really came into my own. I left the house early I was on the streets when I was, like, 15. I've been holdin' my own since that age.

Killing and gangbanging, that's just wrong.

I'm focusing on the music, but I still got a cold library of books that I've either read or I plan on getting to.

I was never ignorant, as far as being experienced in classrooms and learning about different subjects and actually soaking it up.

I feel that puttin' in the hours and years in the studio, honing my craft, definitely played a part, me consciously networking and presenting myself as an artist that's commercially sellable led to me meeting the right people, which in turn led to them givin' me positive referrals to other people, which in turn led to me signin' a deal.

When I became a man, and I started to understand the difference between the truth and what your parents are supposed to tell you, there's a difference, know what I mean?

As gang members, as young dudes in the streets, especially in L.A., we're the effect of a situation. We didn't wake up and create our own mindstate and our environment we adapted our survival instincts.

If you don't know your full-throttle history, the whole story of how you came to where you are, it's kind of hard to put things together.

I didn't wanna be looked at as no idiot, and I didn't wanna feel like I was uneducated, because I really stopped going to school at 15. I was never ignorant, as far as being experienced in classrooms and learning about different subjects and actually soaking it up, so I checked into college for a little bit.

Luck is just bein' prepared at all times, so when the door opens you're ready.

If you 35, 28, or 30 years old, and you decide you're gonna pick up a rag and start bangin', and you can look yourself in the mirror and you still feel like you're a man? That's cool, do your thing.

My mom is American, so I was raised in her household in my formative years.

I'm more focused on giving solutions and inspiration more than anything.

An artist always know everything he does, you know what I'm saying, all the record he starts and don't end up in the public and just sit on the harddrive.

Your parents are supposed to tell you to make decisions that are gonna help you and that'll have a positive effect on your life and your well-being.