My mom was a freethinking artist - she was wild and would do anything to get a laugh from me. She'd go in reverse through a drive-through so I could order from the window: 'Hi, can I get a milk shake?'
No one's forcing me or any other celebrity to take time out of their day to say 'Hi' to these fans or do these things. It's just something we do nine times out of 10 because we love and appreciate our fans.
I begged and begged, and my uncle gave me his old turntables. It was one hi-fi and one old Stereo Lab turntable and a rusty mixer. I was really chuffed. I kept that for five years - that's where I learned to mix.
I'm blessed enough to been in the game for a while and still have my beautiful fans and still have the respect. That's something that gets me going. I'm also fortunate enough to take vacation and take a little hiatus.
Every season, we spend what really should be our hiatus, and what really should be me relaxing on a beach, planning out the whole season.
I avoided the spotlight when I was a kid. I always knew, 'Hey, it wasn't me. I didn't do anything.' If there was a camera around, I hid from it.
When I originally came to the U.S., my mother came with a couple hundred dollars to her name. I didn't know we were struggling because she hid that from me. But it was definitely a struggle to get through life and get through school.
Some people say you have to fight cancer. But it was fighting me. The cure was worse than the disease, and it left me totally exhausted and depressed. I just hid myself away in my daughter-in-law's flat.
I don't mind saying, you know, that I don't take a salary from the church, and God has blessed me with more money than I could imagine from my books. It's been printed all over, so I don't feel like I am hiding anything.
I don't really get nervous that much, or if I do, only I know. It's all inside me. I am good at hiding everything.
I have porcelain skin and tattoos all over my body, so the sun can be my worst enemy. I also am trying to never age, which is why you can always find me hiding behind massive sunglasses or under an umbrella when the sun is out!
I'd like to think the best of me was still hiding up in my sleeve.
But really, it was reading that led me to writing. And in particular, reading the American classics like Twain who taught me at an early age that ordinary lives of ordinary people can be made into high art.
A lot of people in my family have high blood pressure. Dre told me I better start hitting the gym... so I took his advice.
I already had high blood pressure. I have hypertension. And I think the chemo was just too much for my kidneys. And they went into failure. And that was September 12th of 2008. And the doctor rushed me right to the hospital.
Since becoming an alleged adult, I've always felt like I should exercise - or should at least want to exercise - and make a feeble attempt at health, thus staving off terrible things like the coronary heart disease and high cholesterol described to me in 1980s margarine commercials.
I've seen so many kids walking to school with these massive high energy drinks, and they are nine or 10. I'm like, 'What?' It was a treat for me. It is still a treat for my family.
The 'hottest bar in town,' to me, means high energy.
I like to watch 'Grey's Anatomy' when I'd doing cardio. But, sometimes I do need good music to get me moving. I like high energy songs by artists like Justin Timberlake and Rihanna.
My parents had very high expectations. They expected me to get straight A's from the time I was in kindergarten.
