I had a pretty modest upbringing; it was no pleasure cruise. I don't think I would be as happy today if I hadn't been through that. It was tough; I made some bad choices myself.

I just kept it real and had the freedom to do what I want. It's not designed for any age group. It's not made for radio. There are no edits. The whole album contains explicit lyrics but that's because you need it.

I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody else is around. It calms me down and I can get into this, like, deep thinking mode, you know, because there's really no lyrics to it, so you're not following something that - that you're listening to a story.

I meet everybody. If somebody invites me to their house and they got a drum set close, I'm going to play, man. Let's jam. I don't care. Get in where you fit in and enjoy the experience.

I turn my negatives into my positives because one of my mottos is, 'Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery,' meaning that you can't go back and change anything in the past.

I use the music to vent, and a lot of the stuff that I am writing about or was writing about contained a lot of anger and anxiety, stress and depression, so that's how the album came out so dark.

I used the music kind of as therapy, and it's just amazing that I feel so free after doing that. I feel like I had it trapped inside of me and now I feel free. So it's been a very good therapy session for me as well.

Listen, if you don't talk big game, you never get anywhere. If you don't think big, you don't get big. Some people call it egotistical, some people call it high hopes, some people call it confidence. It's all in how you want to dissect it.

My breakdancing crew used to go to the mall and squat a piece of cardboard there; we had our jam box, and I'd spin on my head and make about forty bucks a day, which was pretty good back then. I was only 14 years old, so I would chase the girls around the mall and eat some pizza and have some change left over.

One thing I didn't understand in life was that I had $100,000,000 in the bank and I couldn't buy happiness. I had everything: mansions, yachts, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, but I was depressed. I didn't know where I fitted in. But then I found family and friends and I learned the value of life.

Shows have been sold out. It's overwhelming, you know. I had no idea what to expect with this new sound and everything and just to see so many people just come out and embrace it, it's overwhelming.

The most valuable lesson I've ever learned in my life is that life is about family and friends, not about material things or any of that. It's about enjoying your life. If you have no family, no friends to enjoy it with, it don't matter how much you have, how much success you have, how much fame you have, how much money you have, it doesn't matter.

This was totally influenced by me and the direction that I am writing about and the stuff that I am writing about. There is just no way that you can be as intense as what I have been through in my life over a drum beat machine, sample, or loop; it's just not going to happen.

To me, a critic is some loser who has no idea... someone with an opinion. We all have opinions. No offense, but what makes them dictate what is cool and what is not.

When 'Ice Ice Baby' was selling a million records a day, I bought several properties: a home next to Michael J. Fox in L.A., a palace in Miami and a mountain cabin in Utah. Then, a few years later, I took a break from touring, saw that my properties had cobwebs, so I sold them, and - to my surprise - I made a huge profit!

I didn't end up going bankrupt... I made some great investments and I held on to my money, which also enables me to have the freedom to do what I want now. But it's not about finances. No matter what, it's about keeping it real.

It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money.

Even in a bad market, location, location, location is a way to still buy and sell property.

I do a lot of TV stuff, but I also turn a lot down - it's got to be an adventure.

I don't harp on what I could change about the past, because I can't go back and change it. But definitely a lot of things I would change.