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No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and blacks another - I sang what I liked in the only voice I had.

My identity started developing through the songs I was writing.

I was brought up in many different cultures, moving around all the time, and I find my identity in my songs. I project the identity I want to have throughout the songs that I write.

I don't think I'm really so unique. If every black person looked at their life they would quickly discover that they have been influenced by every type of music prevalent in America.

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.

A whole generation of young whites have involved themselves with traditional Negro music.

There was certainly, like, a rebellious, like, youthful rage in me. And there was also the fact of no getting away from fact that I am white, and you know, this is predominantly black music, you know.

Identity is made up of lots of different things now. Different colors and patterns stand out at different times. Different instruments in the symphony of being are more distinct than others at different times.

I grew up around hip-hop so I didn't think it was about being cool or being black or being white or whatever.