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I couldn't do rap. I was trying. I don't know how. I'm not good enough to know.

Just knowing how to rap doesn't necessarily mean that you're a good songwriter.

I haven't done rap... I can't do that too well.

I'm not really into rap.

When you do rap albums, you got to train yourself. You got to constantly be in character.

You don't have to be a good singer any more if you can rap well.

The roots of rap are originally ghetto-ised or extremely working class. So when you're an artist who's making something which isn't how its mainstream appearance should be, there's always these strange questions of authenticity and what you have to do to be 'real' as a rapper.

I feel like, O.K., if I can make it as a singer, then let me try rapping. If I can make it as a rapper, then let me try writing. All right? If I make it as a rap singer and writer, then why not try to produce? I don't feel limited in any way.

When you're trying to bring the streets into rap to prove a point, then you already lost. You separate the two, and that ain't to be played with. You've got people that lost their lives and people that are doing real time. If we gon' make music, let's just make music.

I didn't ever want to make a rap album. I considered it too limiting. Now that's exactly what I've gone and done.