Being in the space that I am as a writer, and just as a black dude in America, there's this push to be cool or be what you're expected to be. There's a need for a song that puts that in perspective. I think that's an important thing for young children to hear growing up.

The weird thing about rap is that you don't get compared in the same way that athletes do, even though it's probably the most competitive sport in music. In basketball, they look at a player and say: 'This guy was the best in his prime at this sport.' But in rap it's not until you're dead or retired that people think about it like that.

I'm very into film and strengthening what it means to be a rapper and to be a black dude from Chicago.

I was a mad, impressionable kid, and every skit from 'The College Dropout' was telling me how I didn't need school.

I'm light skinned, and I used to lean on that because that's something a lot of black people pride themselves on, and it's weird.