[on being release from Columbia Records] 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 the controversy over what many had criticized as "excessive violence" in his film Belly (2011)] . . . 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.

I didn't have the patience to be a drug dealer . . . I'd just wait 'til the end of the day and rob the dealer of his day's takings.

The day I will never forget is the day I married my wife, [Tashera Simmons]. 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.

An important and fundamental premise of the American judicial system is the presumption of innocence - that is, until proven guilty.

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.

I know I may have done some bad things, but I'm not a bad person.

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 . . .

To live is to suffer, but to survive, well, that's to find meaning in the suffering.