Rap is not music, it's talking.

Music's for grooving man, and music's not for puttin' yourself through bad changes, y'know? I mean, you don't have to go take anybody's shit, man, just to like music, y'know what I mean? You don't. So... so if you're getting' more shit than you deserve, you know what to do about it man. Y'know, it's just music. Music's... music's s'posed to be different than that.

Samba rhythm is a great one to sing on, but it's also got some other suggestions in it, an undercurrent of being primitive - because it is a primitive African, South American, Afro-whatever-you-call-that rhythm. So to white people, it has a very sinister thing about it.

I don't think people care about the mechanics of songwriting.

People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards.

Music is the love of my life. It's a total escape from reality. Music transports you to another place, someplace unexpected and meaningful.