I thought most of the great soul artists were either relegated to the oldies circuit or being stuffed into what R&B has become. I had in mind this idea of a long, continuing series of records.

I don't think there's a soul in the city that won't like at least one of these artists.

The best of artists hath no thought to show, which the rough stone in its superfluous shell, doth not include; to break the marble spell, is all the hand that serves the brain can do.

I sense a frightening surprise in that category. It's a very tough category. Each of those artists have their constituency with the voters, and none of them are going to be big enough ... to steal the constituency of someone else.

I had a few artists that I really looked up to when I was starting out, like Slick Rick, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane and others. But my all-time favorite was LL Cool J. When I heard his first songs on the radio, I stopped my car and pulled over to the side so I could really focus and hear what he was saying. He really made me want to do music full-time. Even today when I make a song, I wonder what LL would think of it.

I think it can be very hard for some artists to maintain their relevance. I've been very lucky in the fact that I've been doing this for over 13 years. And as the years go by, I get more and more love from the fans. As long as you make great music and have hits, which I've been able to do, you will get the record label and promotion support that you need. I know that I continue to grow musically and lyrically with each album that I release.