"Pop songs are not as graceful as they used to be. Performers today haven't gone through the regimen of learning how to write. And of course, everyone wants to own copyrights."

"Above all, I try to create an emotion to which others can respond."

"It's not just a revue where one song is done, then another. There are concepts and ideas at work."

"Rap culture is interesting and different and has purpose but it has a non-romantic view of life and of social feelings. There may be a void in that."

"I plan to stay in music. I plan to keep making records."

"The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions."

"I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem."

"A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does not have."