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At the end of the day I want to be the guy who experienced music in all type of ways, with hip-hop being the roots of it.

When I was growing up, hip-hop was still a pretty specialised thing.

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.

I'm forever learning and that's why I'm always able to create new styles and new dimensions of hip-hop.

Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level and to make a change.

Hip-hop is so much about character and caricature that people just see you as a character. Very rarely are you flesh and bone to people.

Hip hop has been an integral part of my life and my whole career. I started off doing videos with Ice Cube and Dre and Mary J. Blige and TLC.

Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don't even have to like your music. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you.

I always thought that there was something in hip-hop culture that was the misfit of all the musical styles, where they didn't really belong. They're kind of like, 'No, we're a real culture! We're not going anywhere, you can't get rid of us!' I really liked that there was a rebelliousness about it. I connected with that.

I don't care what anybody says, there's nothing like the cultural influence of hip-hop. For me, hip-hop culture is involved in everything - it's in me, in who I am, in how I dress, how I talk. It's in my son and my wife.