Art is a way to express yourself and through that you can escape a bad situation.
Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Pick people who are interested in what you're interested in.
Respect your parents. What they tell you is true. Hard work, dedication and faith will get you anything. Imagination will drive itself. You can get anything you want, but you have to have faith behind all your ideas. Stick to your goals and have an undying faith.
I think when you're very dedicated to something and you're engaged fully, you become a giver.
If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you're going to get, you become a more successful person. In other words, if you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.
My experiences have been, from the very beginning, cultural and creative. And my business has been a way of exposing the culture, exposing the artists so that the world could hear and see them.
I think I will always have a connection to young people, to try to bring their voices to the polls, bring their voices wherever they can make a difference.
The conditions of suffering that exist today in our impoverished communities are not acceptable. The reflection of those conditions are less concerning to me. And I work everyday about changing the conditions.
I run a bunch of charities and I say this line to people: 'I am somebody who has always been helped.' A little thing like that can make people believe it.
I think that diversity is key for the next American entrepreneurs. They want to be a part of this society where there is so much diversity they have to have people from all the experiences.
Hip-hop is a voice for voiceless poor people.
Poverty and lack of knowledge must be challenged.
I have 2 million Twitter followers. Some of those people are also yogis and activists and people who really go out and make a difference. I do as much as I can with my voice. It's effortless in some cases. I try to remind everybody that they have that kind of voice.
I want to get involved in things that makes a difference in peoples lives and lifts them up. I don't want to be a part of anything that's not inspiring or helpful to the community that I'm serving.
I'm born into the cycle of giving that we're all born into, and I recognize it. So just because something is a good business, I'm not a business guy. I'm a creative guy.