"To live is to suffer, but to survive, well that's to find meaning in the suffering." "I used to do the beat box... a friend of mine, he was the rapper and after, we'd be doing a block party or something or a house party, and he's gettin' all the attention and I'd end up with a handful of spit, you know, from doing the beats... and I was like, 'you got to be the rapper'... the rapper's the man..." "I know I may have done some bad things, but I'm not a bad person." I want Flesh Of My Flesh to be like my connection to the community, I want to say what's on my peoples' minds, soak up all their pain. I've learned that when I take it all in, I can make one brotha's pain be understood by the world. "An important and fundamental premise of the American judicial system is the presumption of innocence - that is, until proven guilty." "The day I will never forget is the day I married my wife, Tashera. Tashera is so special to my boys and me. Her energy is enough to put anyone on a cloud. Her dedication and care gives me comfort and ease." I didn't have the patience to be a drug dealer...I'd just wait till the end of the day and rob the dealer of his day's takings. "...there's a difference between violence and senseless violence... this is not a movie about a serial killer just going around killing for no reason... for every reason that someone's murdered in there, for every act of violence there's a reason behind it... and you can see why, 'Okay, that's why he was shot... for this reason.' 'Okay, he had to do that because of this.'... it's not just killing for no reason." - on the controversy over his film "Belly" on excessive violence. "Columbia tried to put me behind other groups... so I didn't wanna wait... they let me out of the contract and I'm glad they did." - On being released from Columbia Records.