I am society's child. This is how they made me and now I'm sayin' what's on my mind and they don't want that. This is what you made me, America.

Of course I'm going to say 'I'm a thug,' that's because I came from the gutter and I'm still here!

I'm a reflection of the community.

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots.

I'm 23 years old. I might just be my mother's child, but in all reality, I'm everybody's child. Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.

That was one of the things that worried me -- to be raised to the position of a semi-god -- because then you are no longer a human being. I wanted to be known as Mandela, a man with weaknesses, some of which are fundamental, and a man who is committed.