Being in the space that I am as a writer, and just as a black dude in America, there's this push to be cool or be what you're expected to be. There's a need for a song that puts that in perspective. I think that's an important thing for young children to hear growing up.

You can love somebody through anything when they're your child, and now that I understand that, it makes me work better with people; it makes me more understanding of how much dedication and love I can put into each line. There's no throwaway lines.

I think it's very important for America that we're represented as promoters of peace, love, and understanding.

I go broke a lot... I go broke a lot because I have this understanding that whatever I put out there, if I really am doing what's right, it's going to be rewarding, you know?

I worked as a draftsman for the Department of Environmental Protection, and as a teacher, in N.Y.C.; at a big bank and a small ad agency, a tiny law firm and a few giant ones; as a cashier and a dishwasher; preparing deli sandwiches and stringing tennis racquets and pruning evergreens into conical Christmas-tree shapes.

I wanted to be a marine biologist my whole life until I graduated high school. And even now, I'm still like, 'Maybe I'll just quit the biz and go to Santa Cruz and study marine biology and have my own research center in the Bahamas.' Yeah, I'm sure it would be just that smooth.

My entire philosophy of teaching is based on the notion that when an artist finds a certain process really effortless, that's probably what he or she should choose to do. So often, students take the opposite tack; they have no use for the skills that come easily to them.

My personal growth stems from the humility with which I navigate the world, namely with a reverence for all of the knowledge that I've yet to learn but that is out there available to me.