Mos Def

Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.

And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.

I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it.

I've always loved rhyming. I love language.

I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.

It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people.

To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way.

I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.

I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different.

You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.

If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio.

With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know?