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1. My first gig was at Radio City Music Hall when I was 13.
2. I don’t have friends, and it’s hard for me to make new friends. Right now, the people that are in my life are the people that I work with.
3. I believe that the only people who really, truly benefit from any of the policies of Republicans are the wealthy. I’m in that 1 percent tax bracket, but I’m not a man of wealth.
4. I think the music comes first, then comes the fashion, and thus, the lifestyle. I believe it starts with music, and then the person delivering it delivers the lifestyle, the fashion. Madonna is a great example of that.
5. You know the greatest thing about working on ‘Fallon?’ I get so many anonymous gifts.
6. Hip-hop is such a disposable art form from a business standpoint. It never treats its artists as art; it never treats its product as art.
7. During the 2008 election, I made clear to the Obama campaign that I don’t think it’s wise for me to force my personal political agenda on anyone.
8. I do secret stand-up shows around New York. I announce and tweet this to nobody — I get onstage and I do a quick five minutes.
9. According to my parents, I just started drumming when I was two. I traveled with them from five to seven on the road, playing percussion. Between 8 and 12, my dad sort of prepared me by teaching me every aspect of road life.
10. I’m not one of those people who’s so blinded by my own work and my sweat. It’s kind of risky writing a memoir when you’re really part of a larger universe.
11. I prefer to unwind by DJing. I learned that from Mike D from the Beastie Boys. After a show, he would DJ. Once I saw that, I wanted to do that. And now DJing is like my lifeline. I love the power it represents.
12. The president is just the coach of a football team. You need the right support, the right stadium, the right players, the right staff. An excellent coach is not going to win games.
13. Classical music requires an immense amount of concentration, and I don’t know if I would’ve been that committed to that particular life.
14. I’ve come to the conclusion that the average person can do about four things a day, like four real things a day.
15. Highlight reels are about that one person. After a barrage of highlight reels, you get the sense that you can do it without a team. But music thrived the most when groups were involved. People lose sight of that — that community makes the world run.
16. Hip-hop is so much about character and caricature that people just see you as a character. Very rarely are you flesh and bone to people.
17. In terms of being a ‘sneakerhead,’ there was one point where I was obsessively following every sneaker blog. That’s the beauty of Twitter: To get the heads up on what’s coming out.
18. Hip-hop is an instant gratification, winners and losers circle, and often those who are losing give up after three or four, five years.
19. In the 2000s, I became an artist. I started preserving and educating. I became more obsessed with making iPod playlists for people.
20. I’m a 24-hour tweet machine, I’m a 24-hour blogger. When there’s no pressure on me, I can talk and write and lecture with the best of them. But put a deadline on me and I start getting writer’s block.