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In hip-hop, what you have is you have a lot of formulaic-type bands or rappers that come up. They saw something on the radio, and they want to mimic that formula. And that's just boring. I don't wanna record something just to make money; I want to record something to enjoy it and have fun because I'm a music lover.

As long as you're giving up quality records and you're makin' hit records, people are always gonna want to hear a hit, and they'll always want to be attached to something that's doin' great.

I'd be saying, 'No, I'm so not a DJ, I'm a producer.' But no matter how much faith you may have in yourself, until you have a hit you can't really run around telling everyone you're a producer.

To be honest, producing records interests me less at the moment and I really don't want to get involved in album projects that are going to take up a lot of time.

I cleaned up my act, and I made this rap thing work for me. I thought people would respect me for that. But instead, it's, 'Oh, he's sold all these records, and now he thinks he's all that.'

All through the kind of late '80s and '90s, every A&R record company man was saying, 'Now what we want is another record like 'Back in the High Life.' And, of course, that's not the way to make music at all. That's the tail wagging the dog.

I put together amazing records, whether that's finding the beat or putting the right hook on there, and picking the right artists on the record. That's me being an A&R. And I'm making sure that they give me their best.

I think that's a weak excuse, to say because a rapper's getting older that he ain't got it no more. Nah. Don't go by that philosophy. Let's just recognize that talent is within.