Coming out of the Northwest and that environment to shoot hip-hop videos, it's a little atypical of a place to be, you know.
I'm the only person in my entire extended family that plays an instrument or sings, really. Which is kind of weird. I don't know where I got it from.
I bring up 'The Heist,' and you can almost cut that record down the middle between songs where the beat came first and the words came second, and songs where the words came first and the beat came second. It can start with a vibe, a beat that drives a story, or it can start with a story and then trying to identify the tone to tell that story right.
For me personally, to hop onboard and use the amazing success and blessings in my life to pull off something like the 30/30 Project is awesome.
I have never been wired to be front and centre of spotlight and ready to dance.
I'm not trying to make beats that are better than somebody else's. I'm trying to make beats that are genuine to me.
In 1984, my mom gave birth to my older sister, Teresa. Due to a complicated delivery, she needed a blood transfusion, and at that moment, my mom had HIV+ blood put into her body.
When you are 10, and you are with friends making music or playing sports or doing whatever, I would say, enjoy that and try to keep that as the model for as long as you can.
The process is so much longer than the result for almost everything all of us are doing.
How do I use my platform? How do you join in a way that is useful and not distracting and not shining a light on you?
There is something about me that is collaborative, that wants to get the best performance out of somebody else or to hear something that somebody else has done that's good and to try and make it great.
I graduated in 2009, which - if you think back to where the economy was at that time - was an interesting time to graduate.
There's an open door now more than ever to be making any type of beats that you want.
I have an AIDS ribbon tattooed on my arm.
I love history, cultural and religious studies, philosophy, photography and traveling.
Some songs go super-quick; some take a really long time.
When artists who are not associated with the typical infrastructure get recognition, that becomes a cultural movement.
Any time we have the opportunity to play in a more intimate room, there's such a huge aspect of our set just built for that. And beyond that, we just love being that close to our fans.
The music industry is transforming fairly rapidly.
I didn't grow up listening to hip-hop since I was six.
