I prefer to unwind by DJing. I learned that from Mike D from the Beastie Boys. After a show, he would DJ. Once I saw that, I wanted to do that. And now DJing is like my lifeline. I love the power it represents.
I want to be as healthy as I can be so I can make it past 50; make it past 60 and make it past 70.
I do count on a changing of tides. All too often, what could be a critics' darling today becomes tomorrow's target. I don't want to be too blasé about it.
At 25, my idea of success may have been more vain, like, "I'll be good the day that there's $20 million in my account and I have this particular house and the wife and 2.5 kids." But at 40 - and I know it's kind of silly telling you guys this - but as long as my Metacritic rating stays above 80, that's all I care about.
I've always been a lover of hoodies. I'm a guy that travels a lot. I'm a guy that spends a lot of time on a cold air-conditioned tour bus. I'm a guy that likes to watch movies in peace. I'm a guy that likes to travel in the airport in peace.
After 2001, everyone in the Soulquarians blew up, which wasn't expected. We all got the success, and then everybody froze.
I never want to get to that level of poverty where taking a bath has to be a hot-pot experience.
I've come to the conclusion that the average person can do about four things a day, like four real things a day.
It's funny, I can see the science in how music is made with other artists, but it's hard for me to dissect my own thing.
My parents were really strict about me not watching cartoons.
I feel like the downfall of any person is the second an artist starts celebrating their work themselves, that becomes problematic. And you know, I don't sit there, I don't bask in the awards I've won, you know, read my bank statements, I refuse. To me, that's how you start losing the hunger. So for me personally, I just don't celebrate it. I'm happy, right now.
I love traveling the States no matter what. I love traveling abroad, going to Japan and Australia. I love it. I never get tired of it.
When you first start off, you see what other people have and quietly say, "I want that."
I hate holidays because it's the quietest; it's the most deafening sound in my apartment.
Working with the artist elite can be like banging your head against the wall.
It was absolutely killing me that I've spent the first 25 years of my life tryin' to avoid bullets. That was always the main concern. Don't go out late. Don't go to any shady neighborhoods. Don't hang in bars alone. Why? Because you wanna avoid bullets. So once I get to 35 then I was like "Woo, okay. Made it." And now there's a new warning. Now it's like strokes; I gotta watch my health.
Jay-Z is a dude that can give you a hundred 'Simpsons' quotes, like, 'What you know about the monorail?'
For anyone that's ever had a musical breakthrough in their career, it's always followed by the departure period right after.
It's easy for me to say, "Oh yeah, that's the self-saboteur move that most artists pull whenever they're afraid."
In terms of being a 'sneakerhead,' there was one point where I was obsessively following every sneaker blog. That's the beauty of Twitter: To get the heads up on what's coming out.
I believe that the only people who really, truly benefit from any of the policies of Republicans are the wealthy. I'm in that 1 percent tax bracket, but I'm not a man of wealth.
I think all of this—The Roots and DJing included—was meant to prepare me for The Tonight Show.
I'm a 24-hour tweet machine, I'm a 24-hour blogger. When there's no pressure on me, I can talk and write and lecture with the best of them. But put a deadline on me and I start getting writer's block.
I do secret stand-up shows around New York. I announce and tweet this to nobody - I get onstage and I do a quick five minutes.
According to my parents, I just started drumming when I was two. I traveled with them from five to seven on the road, playing percussion. Between 8 and 12, my dad sort of prepared me by teaching me every aspect of road life.
