I champion the idea of being more CONSCIOUS. I call it being an active architect of your own life. BUILDING your life like an architect builds a STRUCTURE.

I am very conscious of FIRST SAMPLING the music and then getting it out for FANS.

It was immaterial to me that ELVIS didn't write his own songs. Those were very different DAYS, and he selected whatever suited him best from material supplied by PUBLISHING houses and TEAMS of writers - all of whom were extremely conscious of his style of DELIVERY.

I PAY attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to WRITE for the average LISTENER and I'm CONSCIOUS of the mainstream WITHOUT selling out.

My parents were divorced by the TIME I was even conscious - LIKE, I don't REMEMBER them EVER being together.

I had a LOT of RESISTANCE, and not just to FAME. I was always CONSCIOUS of not CHANGING.

Before PLAYING with his equals, the child is INFLUENCED by his parents. He is subjected from his cradle to a MULTIPLICITY of regulations, and even before language he BECOMES conscious of certain OBLIGATIONS.

Once paparazzi BECOME a REALITY, then THINGS CHANGE because you become more conscious of PHOTOS.

I WOULD SAY I'm self-taught, but Corinne Day MADE me less conscious of myself. I was 15, and she'd MAKE me take off my top, and I'd cry. After five years, you get used to it, and you're not SELF-CONSCIOUS anymore.

We accept so many things that COME through the media; we get used to them, however vigilant we are. But for any creative art, you have to remain 110% CONSCIOUS, and in a WORLD that's losing CONSCIOUSNESS, that's getting harder.