I really think that music itself, being one of the greatest possible vehicles for mass communication, should be probed to its extremes, to see how effective it can actually become, which is one of the reasons why I became also interested in presenting political points of view.
I look at music now as just something to keep you relevant.
Wherever I go, I bring the culture with me, so that they can understand that it's attainable. I didn't do it any other way than through hip-hop.
Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to stopping racism.
That's the cool thing that music can do: make you feel this or that way. That's all I've ever wanted to achieve - I'm a music guy, you know? That's my occupation.
Obviously for some people there is a big connection between music and the way you can create a space.
I've always felt that music is an art form that deserves to live the life of the artist.
My whole mission in general, ever since I was fourteen, was to write music that would help people heal.
Under the spell of the right song, passion is within reach... love is close by... and you are not alone! With such potency, music should be treated with care. The sound, the feel, the presentation... everything! It is a medicine. It is a teacher!
One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than a thousand rallies.
I love writing songs. I love doing my radio show and talking to the fans and listening to what they have to say, but there's a certain responsibility that comes along with being given the gift of music. I take that seriously, but at the same time I try to use it to do something that makes a difference in a positive way.
I liberate minds with my music. That's more important than liberating a few people from apartheid or whatever.
I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 - to meet women.
I have to say that when I first started singing, I didn't think it was a very noble profession. I worked for people like Robert Kennedy and I thought: 'Wow, that's what it's about. That's how you change the world.' And then I watched that disintegrate in front of my eyes, and it was very discouraging.
Like anything important, anything you need people to hear - you've got to have music for it. You've got to make it at least a little piece of a song or sometimes a whole song.
I will have a playlist ready that I'll play out to the audience before I walk on stage, and I'll listen to that same playlist in the room, so by the time I walk on stage, I'm in the same frame of mind the audience is.
I keep quiet and let the music do the talking.
When I was CEO, and I'd listen to music, a lot of people listen to music and you get inspiration from it. And a lot of things in hip hop are very instructive for being in business. Particularly, hip hop is a lot about business, and so it was very useful for me in any job.
Everything, for me, is fueled off telling my story through music, because I have a lot to say, and it's some urgent things that I have to tell to the world, and help and heal. I know my part that I have to do through music.
I do have a desire to bring a spiritual tone to the hip-hop community, which may force me to open a facility that teaches spiritual principles through the language of hip-hop culture.
Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It's rage, it's creativity, it's pain, it's hurt, but it's the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.
Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That's the way he got through to kids.
In all honesty, I don't know what one song can change.
Music can't change the world.
I think maybe since there isn't a great deal of access to the mainstream media and people don't understand the language of mainstream media, if you put music out there with lyrics that are loosely political, people absorb some of it and spit it back out.
