I was a bit of an outsider in the hip-hop world because I was a scratch kid and people weren't necessarily trying to hear that all the time.
You can't know if someone's really your best friend. I think the measure of that is you could not see each other for six months and then when you see each other you laugh the same way you did when you were a little kid.
I'm a kid from New York, so urban life reflected into art and music was around me and accessible and tangible.
I'm a big reader. My kids love reading, and I think it's important, not just for development but for bonding. You start reading to kids before they can even understand what you're saying to them, so I look at it as a fundamental tool for connection.
I wouldn't mind doing more in the kid's world because I think that might be just where I can be most useful to society, to the planet, if I can speak to children.
I don't think I'll still be riding at 40. There are a couple of people who are still riding after having kids, like Mary King, but people say that you lose your nerve after you have kids. It's the risk.
Because these kids get away from their parents, and they binge drink until they are sick. Dozens of them are going to the hospital, and some of them dying. This is a problem, a big problem that needs to be addressed, and we need accurate information.
When you were a kid and the circus came to town it was awesome to see these little creatures, but these things go out of fashion, like polyester blazers with rolled up sleeves. We don't have to suffer them anymore so why are there all these little people running around?
When I took drum lessons as a kid the teacher would always ask me if I practiced, and I'd be like 'nope' and he'd be like: "Well you're not going to be able to play the beat." So I would ask him to show me, and he'd show me and I'd be able to hear it and play it, so I've always not really been good at reading things.
I was a late bloomer. I was a kinda shy little kid, definitely a child of the dark side. I wanted to play guitar and be in a rock band.
You don't need Little League. You don't even need nine kids. Four is plenty-a pitcher, a batter, and a couple of shaggers. You can play ball all day long. My kids used to try to get me out there, but I'd just say, "Go play with your brothers." If kids want to do something, they'll do it. They don't need adults to do it for them.
Young kids are always singing and painting. When you get to that second and third grade level, you're supposed to put all that aside.
I never studied film formally at school, but as a kid, I spent most of my time in cinemas.
I'd start to sing, and the record would start skipping. You'd be skipping along with it. Those were the days, my friend. We'd look so stupid, but the kids loved it.
The first book I ever wrote was in fourth grade and it was called 'Billy's Booger.' It was an autobiographical piece about a kid who was really bad at math.
I have known lots of adults who enjoyed similar enthusiasms as a kid and weren't encouraged and then didn't go anywhere with it and so they're unhappy in their jobs as adults.
I like stirring things up. Im on the side of the kids more than I am on the adults. And occasionally I find some adults that have that same mischievous streak, so I dont get in too much trouble.
In a world with no systems, with chaos, everything becomes a guerilla struggle, and this predictability is not there. And it becomes almost impossible to save lives, educate kids, develop economies, whatever.
The best sex education for kids is when Daddy pats Mommy on the fanny when he comes home from work.
Raising self-centered kids is not good for society, but it's also not good for their own mental health to be completely self-absorbed.
The big thing I tell my kids is you have to control how you label things. It's very important to me they understand the power they have to create the lives that they want.
I was born because it was a habit in those days, people didn't know anything else ... I was not a Child Prodigy, because a Child Prodigy is a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows up.
When I was a kid watching "The Blues Brothers," I could not think of a better thing than watching 300 cop cars crash into each other.
When I was a kid, 'Land of the Lost' was my favorite show, just because it was - in the landscape of Saturday morning cartoons - it was so unique. It was a live-action show and kids were in it, these creatures, these Sleestaks and dinosaurs. Every week was a different adventure. I couldn't wait. I loved it so much.
Since I was eight years old, I went to Trinity. I mean, I listened to Reverend Wright since I was a kid and I always heard him preach sermons of love and inspiration.
