I want to have fun. It's a beautiful life. You learn, you win, you lose, but you get up.

I don't get jealousy, I don't get how people hate each other - I never did.

I just enjoy life now. I just enjoy every morning I get to wake up.

Working with great people makes you great; you learn a lot and it also gives you the experience and confidence to move on with your own career.

I have no tattoos that I regret - I have had some that I have had changed according to how my life was.

Anybody can be a rapper, but not anybody can be a classical artist.

Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days... that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you. It speaks to your livelihood and it's not compromised. It's blunt. It's raw, straight off the street - from the beat to the voice to the words.

Hip-hop is making a lot of noise. It should get some more spotlight.

Hip-hop is really standoffish. It's really competitive and it's really about who's number one all the time. Sometimes it gets out of hand.

I had a pretty public divorce. They're not easy - divorces - and it took me a long time to really get through.

I think the fact that I made enough noise in the world that I might be remembered is an amazing achievement. You can't ask for more than that.

I want to sound like an instrument. I want my voice and my words to marry the beat. I go with the rhythm of it and the words start to come to my mind and those words could be based on things that's been on my mind for the past year, the past month, the past week, whatever; I write it.

'Stillmatic' is the rebirth of 'Illmatic,' my first debut album to come out in 1994. 'Stillmatic' is me coming full circle in my career and with everything, and just bringing pure hip-hop back.

When you're a teenager, you want to meet a lot of girls - you want to get the most girls. You don't know anything about respect; you don't know anything about being faithful and loyal to your girlfriend.