Musician

Actually, for 'Family & Loyalty' I wanted Drake on the track but he was about to go on tour for his Scorpion album, so timewise it wasn't going to work.

All the Public Enemy albums, I knew what records they were sampling but was like, 'How'd they construct it like this?!'

When I hold a gun, I know how to be sensible about it. I'm not holding it to wild out or just to shoot somebody because I'm mad at him. There's responsibility in buying that gun, and part of it is dealing with it like a man, and not dealing with it like an idiot, and getting behind iron bars for unnecessary reasons.

Yeah, Travis Scott's dad taught me how to ride minibikes and how to repair the engines. His name's Jack Webster. Jack had a drum set and his brother had a bass. So I used to play with them, and that's what started me wanting to get into music and take it serious. And this is before rap.

I get up early all the time.

I'm not really a crying type.

I've always cared about how certain songs fade into other ones and which songs should follow others. I studied that as a consumer and fan before I even got into music.

I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about.

I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity.

I'm cool with Dr. Dre, I have his phone number, and he picks up when I call.

All my idols have been in the studio with me, because they wanted to be there.

I'm real particular about delivery. You can write the illest rhymes in the world, but can you deliver it right?

Guru had such a different voice from most people. Plus he had a Boston accent! So, I always made sure the beats were tailored to him.

And hip-hop is about style and finesse and being creative and different, and to do that you have to be ballsy enough to not do what everybody else does.

I'm all about competition; still am to this day. That's how you should be, but not with any malice. From Mike Will Made It to Boi-1da to Mike Zombie, I'm out to get 'em all and it's that friendly competition that keeps us all on our toes.

You have to know who you're making music for.

The majority of my life is spent doing nothing but godly things, especially when it comes to dealing with other people.

Everything I do is in a New York state of mind. I'm indebted to preserving the sound of the city.

I like showing versatility.

When you have a deep focus, you can't go wrong at all. Not when you're an expert at what you do.