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The jazz I love is sweet and pure with raw elements, which is exactly what the good hip-hop is doing now.

Hip-hop is one of the most free art forms there is. There's so many sounds you can use, so many things you can bring in. You never know, man. I bet years ago people would've never said they would hear me with Rick Ross, and we did four classic songs together.

Hip hop scholarship must strive to reflect the form it interrogates, offering the same features as the best hip hop: seductive rhythms, throbbing beats, intelligent lyrics, soulful samples, and a sense of joy that is never exhausted in one sitting.

I'm probably not as big of a hip-hop fan as people may think. I'm not up on all the artists and know all their stuff.

Kind of the sad thing is that - it's still true - a lot of jazz people just listen to jazz, and a lot of hip-hop people just listen to hip-hop, and there's not a lot of crossover, unfortunately.

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.

I'm a huge hip-hop fan from way back in the day.

We mix a lot of genres - soul, pop, jazz - but we most agree on hip-hop.

Hip-hop is like underground. I don't know if hip-hop exists anymore. I don't know if it does.

Hip-hop educated me about other forms of music, because it sampled from all different styles.