Basically what we did -- I wrote poetry, he took it home and came back the next day with music to it, ... It was that simple. It took us three weeks' time to do the whole CD.

To me, this degree was an acknowledgment of my work in music.

I'd been in a vicious cycle and circle of people and couldn't see my way out. So I picked myself up one day about 15 years ago and moved where I didn't know anyone.

One of the album's songs features Mary J. Blige, but I don't want to talk too much about it yet. I think you will hear the music that's been playing in my head when it comes out.

In my thirties, I felt I had hold of one of the reins some of the time.

They are in it to make money, period, ... And they are looking at their earnings at the end of a fiscal year. You, on the other hand, are the total opposite of that. You are trying to express yourself, your deepest stuff. The two really don't go together when you think about it.