I've always felt that because I'm from Cleveland, which isn't recognised as a place for hip-hop, I needed to step it up if I wanted to make myself known.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Detroit is right now a new Mecca for Hip Hop.
The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.
I see myself as a hip-hop artist, but I never wanted to make music for a specifically white audience. That's not what I grew up around.
You'll be fooled if you only get your hip-hop from the mainstream, you know. The things that move people are not just found in the mainstream cultures. And when we talk about hip-hop in general, hip-hop's basically preoccupied with life.
I come from a young, hip-hop, urban world.
Although I grew up as a fan of the culture from the disco D.J. era as a young kid and hearing the beginnings of hip-hop, I'm hearing it all from another borough in Brooklyn.
In every interview I've got to explain something about being white but still being into hip hop. It's gone way beyond the musical aspect of the business. And I'm as critical about music as everybody else is.
One of the things people don't really recognise about the similarities between country and hip-hop is that they're celebrations of pride in a lifestyle.
I grew up in Chicago, so hip-hop has always been a part of my life.
As a white teen, I was very drawn to hip-hop culture, almost to the point of disappearing in it - there was a sense of having no sense of authenticity except this one that wasn't mine.