In 2007, I discovered I was a father to a little boy who I did not know about. After being on MTV's 'The Real World' and traveling the world, I was greeted by a stack of papers on my doorstep informing me that I had a child.
I love perfumes. Every morning when my girlfriend and I come down to the courtyard in our block of flats we're assailed by the most delicious scent - jasmine round a doorway. It almost makes me swoon.
Music is the doorway that has led me to drawing, photography, and writing.
I'm attracted to films that have strong female characters because there are strong female characters in my life. That's my own reality, so it's a doorway into a world for me.
Sometimes for a lot of new artists, they don't have a vision, really, or know what they want to say; it's kind of drawn out for them. But me, because I'm such a transcendental thinker, it's always like a journey and an adventure with each project. It's like going through a different doorway each time.
If my mother knew I did this for a living, she'd kill me. She thinks I'm selling dope.
Future's not everybody. The people who are taking my style are like my babies. I've got a tribe of kids that want to be like me... But I understand why people want to imitate the things I do. They're dope. It comes naturally to me. My fans can expect greatness. If I wasn't me, I would want to be me.
Radio's a scary thing for me. It's dope to be on there.
Every song that is a Hopsin song, I 100 percent made it. Nobody helped me. There was no producer to say, 'Hey, put the beat like this... ' It was all me. If the song was wack, then the song was wack. If it's dope, it is what it is.
Snow Tha Product was dope. She wanted me on a song, so I did it for her. I ain't charge her nothing.
I symbolized doping... My phone rarely rings. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of riders who call me.
I'm a pretty big dork. It's crazy. I'm one of those people who grew up with all kinds of musicals, but I was right at that age where 'Rent' was a big deal for me and for my friends.
In high school, I was so painfully self-aware that how I thought of myself was probably very different from what other people thought of me. I thought of myself as just painfully awkward and dorky. I had a lot of hair and was kind of weird. I sang a lot in the hallways.
I don't consider myself as a glamour diva. If you get to know me, you will see that I am so dorky and weird.
I don't feel like a dream girl, but I think it's really nice. I guess a part of me wishes I got that sort of attention in my real life. Because in my real life, I'm this weird, dorky girl who just hangs out with her dog.
We’ve got too many cool guys for me to try to be cool. We’ve got enough of that. I can just be boring and dorky.
Van Morrison is probably, at this point in time, my biggest influence as a vocalist. When we were making our last album I had a vinyl copy of 'Veedon Fleece' in the vocal booth in front of me, in the dorky sense. I think there were candles around, which is really tacky, but hey, I needed to channel Van the Man!
You go through those awkward, dorky, geeky stages, and growing up in the industry amplifies all that. Fortunately, I have a mother who encouraged me to build my confidence from within and embrace my imperfections.
Growing up in New Jersey, everyone wanted to be a tough guy. That meant baggy pants that fell down, big T- shirts, and chains. I couldn't imagine wearing tight jeans, as I thought it was dorky. Now I look at pictures of me then and think, 'Yeah, you looked dorky.'
I grew up in New Orleans. I had just moved into my dorm at the University of New Orleans, and I was doing laundry, and my mom called me, like, 'We've got to evacuate. There's a hurricane's coming.'
