Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time.Collection: Jealousy
My life is mine to remember.Collection: Life
Patience is key for getting over a breakup. That, and trailing off your interaction after the breakup.Collection: Moving
I feel connected to my generation through the music, but I also fear for us. We're in a very self-destructive state where we're addicted to outside opinions and we all feel like we have fans.Collection: Fear
I'm actually a very honest person, and sometimes I end up like, 'Man, I said too much.' It's hard for me not to tell the truth when you ask me.Collection: Truth
I have an urge to communicate. I think I'm a change from what it would be like dating a normal guy who doesn't talk too much.Collection: Dating
A relationship can give you a gut wrenching feeling sometimes. It's a real emotional ride.Collection: Relationship
I respect Chris Brown. I'd like to call myself a friend - I don't know if I'm allowed to do that.Collection: Respect
I wake up in the morning and my heart is light, man. It's not heavy. I don't have skeletons in the closet on their way out.Collection: Morning
I like Ryan Gosling as an actor. I watch all of his movies, and he's Canadian and I just like his swag. I read his interviews and I'm a big fan of his.Collection: Movies
Me and my dad are friends. We're cool. I'll never be disappointed again, because I don't expect anything anymore from him. I just let him exist, and that's how we get along.Collection: Dad
I'm dying to be a great dad one day, whenever that day comes.Collection: Dad
Rappers aren't the really rich ones. We all have nice houses with studios and cars, but you need a piece of someone's business to be super wealthy.Collection: Business
My dad is a great writer. Naturally talented, naturally charming. He embodies that back-in-the-day cool.Collection: Cool
I'm cool with Jay-Z. Jay-Z is genuinely my friend.Collection: Cool
When I think of myself, I think of Toronto. My music would never sound the way it does if it weren't for Toronto.Collection: Music
I feel that when you care about your music, taking risks is something you should do to keep things exciting.Collection: Music
My mother made me truly appreciate women.Collection: Women
There are a lot of good women in New York.Collection: Women
'Perfection' to me is, I walk away from a situation and say, 'I did everything I could do right there. There was nothing more that I could do.' I was a hundred percent, like the meter was at the top. There was nothing else I could have done. You know? Like, I worked as hard as I possibly could have. That's perfection.
Trying to meet new women, it's always a little more difficult as opposed to calling somebody I knew that's single and trying to rebuild that connection.
When you're on the road and moving city to city, when someone isn't there at the end of the night, you feel empty.
People like to build their own story about my life. I don't know if it makes them feel better, or if it makes it okay for them to not like me, but the last thing I grew up as was rich.
I don't really have a gimmick or a 'thing.' I'm one of the few artists who gets to be himself every day.
I just have a thing in my brain that when I'm about to do something that's genuine or authentic, I think of it in song form. I'll be like, 'Yo, this is a human emotion that no one talks about.'
I push myself in a lot of aspects when I write a song. I write a piece and where most people would stop and say, 'Oh, that's the hook right there,' I'll move that to the first four bars of the verse and do a new hook.
You do get certain publications in the States where, if things don't go according to plan, they flip the story and it becomes very negative.
Reviews condition people. At the end of the day, a lot of human minds are malleable. They can be easily shaped with strong words.
There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it's all just noise that lets me know that I'm relevant.
When I'm writing, I'm thinking about how the songs are going to play live. Fifty bars of rap don't translate onstage. No matter how potent the music, you lose the crowd. They want a hook; they want to sing your stuff back to you.
I try to really capitalize off of what other rappers really can't do. There are opportunities that rappers I love simply can't get, because... you know... I don't have the tattoos; I have a different image.
Surface R&B doesn't work any more. The whole heartthrob thing, songs about unrealistic love and tearing your shirt off every show - that's not really where it's at any more. It's becoming harder for those guys to sell records, and harder for them to succeed.
You know, there are artists who are 35 and up that still make rap and that still works for them. I don't know if I want to be that guy.
There were people who incorporated melody before me, but I would deem myself the first person to successfully rap and sing.
No matter how dirty your past is, your future is still spotless.Collection: Dirty