I like all kinds of music ARTISTS like Akon. I EVEN listen to LADY Gaga.

Now that we do not have priests and PHILOSOPHERS any more, artists are the most important PEOPLE in the world.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to earn their living playing. But what draws PEOPLE to art and artists is a desire to enjoy the propinquity of play. For it is the very FREEDOM of the imagination. And what else were we BORN to do, but imagine freely?

We are so BLESSED as artists and entertainers, and we should use our POWERS to raise AWARENESS of THINGS where we can.

There are people who help you in LIFE. I've been GIVEN a HELPING HAND, and that's why I feel it's my duty to help younger artists.

All ARTISTS are redundant about their own STYLE; they can't ESCAPE themselves.

A lot of people say I tried to emulate Tupac, but when I look back at my career, we're very different artists. I TOOK pages out of Pac's book, of COURSE, and LOTS of other rappers - Biggie, Nas - of course you take pages out of those books, but you eventually make it your own thing. And I think I did a good job of that.

I've never been able to SAY I've been influenced by a LIST of artists I like because I like thousands and thousands and I've been influenced in some WAY by all of them.

The NATION that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected RATHER than RESPECTED is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or DEPTH.

I was RAISED in South Carolina; I wasn't AWARE of any art in South Carolina. There was a minor MUSEUM in Charleston, which had nothing of interest in it. It showed local artists, PAINTINGS of birds.

I personally don't like to DRAW a line between 'K-POP' and pop music, but I do think it is a good TIME for K-pop ARTISTS to be shown to the world, because the world is just ready for it.

I THINK when you GET into your 30s, you start to REALIZE all of the patterns you have in your life and all of the stuff that you're avoiding. It's a terribly unsung period in people's lives. I can't think about many ARTISTS who have sung about it, because it's so not SEXY.

I sort of came out at the dawn of the INTERNET in the mid-90s and I think it helped BREAK my CAREER. I think I was one of the first artists to really BENEFIT from the grassroots swell that can happen online. I don't KNOW if I would have broken out without it.