True power is the power to empower others.
I definitely believe that the power of the artist is in the artist's hands now. We're kind of in the wild, wild west of music where labels don't exist anymore. And you go as far as you take yourself. And that's that American self-determination that is one of the reasons this country is so great and can survive on autopilot right now.
Our visual and musical artists have no incentive to be educated. So what we get is a bunch of uneducated artists inspiring misinformation, miseducation and illiteracy.
I don't think that we should look to celebrities to solve problems that are on our end of the street.
Real artists offer authenticity, not just money.
There's a duty and an obligation to community that we must teach our children to honor no matter how far they go. Life is like baseball: You only score when you leave home and return home.
New York is the financial capital of the world. Everything moves so fast, and the music is fast, and some of it is for money.
When I think about a Chicago sound, I think about the Great Migration from the South. Many of Chicago's black artists are from Mississippi, Arkansas, and with them was brought blues and gospel music.
I think it's interesting that a lot of times people want celebrities to give back in the way that they want them to give back. They want them to give money to the cause they think is important and when that doesn't happen they say, "Oh, they're not doing anything." People think celebrities are going to solve their problems. People think because someone is famous or an athlete or a politician that the solution begins with them. All they're there to do is sell you a product.
I know rappers who are grandparents and we still haven't conquered politics, social development, philanthropy and these are areas, as we become our parents and grandparents, that we need to hold the torch of what makes the world run and what makes communities better.
There's an economy of violence. It's sexy. It's being exploited.
