There's an economy of violence. It's sexy. It's being exploited.

I know rappers who are grandparents and we still haven't conquered politics, social development, philanthropy and these are areas, as we become our parents and grandparents, that we need to hold the torch of what makes the world run and what makes communities better.

I don't think that we should look to celebrities to solve problems that are on our end of the street.

There's a duty and an obligation to community that we must teach our children to honor no matter how far they go. Life is like baseball: You only score when you leave home and return home.

I definitely believe that the power of the artist is in the artist's hands now. We're kind of in the wild, wild west of music where labels don't exist anymore. And you go as far as you take yourself. And that's that American self-determination that is one of the reasons this country is so great and can survive on autopilot right now.

When I think about a Chicago sound, I think about the Great Migration from the South. Many of Chicago's black artists are from Mississippi, Arkansas, and with them was brought blues and gospel music.