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My original idea was to produce and not make records myself.

I'm fortunate that I've been in this business long enough that I've earned the right to be left alone by my record company.

I am a record executive and I shall be right there in your face with my records.

I started my own record label.

I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.

I was an artist, I was executive producer on my first album, so I've always had to manage both. I couldn't get a record deal. It wasn't by choice - I couldn't get a record deal, so I had to figure it out.

One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, 'Wait - you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it?'

They told me I should be making my own records. So I figured, 'why not?

In the beginning, I wanted to be successful. I wanted to make and have hit records. And I wanted everything that went along with it.

I never sought out a record deal. It caught me with my pants down. I was just a musician doing my thing, I didn't even send my records out.