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I have been a fan of the Beastie Boys ever since I can remember. I have a ton of their music on my iPod and even still have a t-shirt from a show I saw when I was a kid.

Now that I'm coming out with my own record people can see I'm a solo artist.

What I learned from the Beastie Boys was to be independent. They set up their own world separate from the label. They built their own studio.

When I first was a part of 'The Monster,' I really wanted to put it out under my name, but no record label thought it was good enough - until Eminem liked it.

The Beastie Boys are guys I loved before I met them, and when I got to know them, we started a magazine together, and we started making videos together, and a lot of it came out of us just cracking ourselves up, like going to the fake mustache store and buying fake mustaches.

I wanted to put out a solo record because I was stuck on a major label and sick of it.

When I was nominated for a Grammy, my label dropped me - I have a wariness about trying for a hit.

People are so confused about race and hip-hop that people didn't even consider the Beastie Boys one of the greatest rap groups of all time because they were white.

I made an album I'm very proud of, and that's about it.

The first album was a very successful record. It made me very visible and it's an immediate association, but I don't do that anymore. Now I'm true to myself as an artist again. I'm more vocally oriented.