Kyle
I had the type of family who would tell all their kids, 'You're going to be president.'
I always wanted to do magic tricks - I feel like that could be the the next wave.
I always tried to pride myself on my versatility - I can't just be the 'iSpy' guy.
I'm afraid of the dark.
My momma will roast my friends all of the time. If you're one of my friends, and you meet my mom for the first time, she will definitely roast you in a polite way. It's just to test your bars.
The Kyle who made 'Smyle' honestly has a little more conflict in his life. He has a little more weight on his shoulders. He feels like he has to make an album about something. It's a Kyle with duty, with a plan, with a responsibility.
Even if I told my mom I wanted to be a clown or live in the forest, she would be down.
I played football. I was pretty bad at that.
I played baseball. I kind of sucked at that. They used to call me 'The Buntmaster' because my coach never wanted me to swing.
My family loves Mark McGwire.
I'd love to be more involved in sports. There's so much positive energy - I have to be around it. Especially as I get older.
Randomly enough, all of my favorite rappers growing up were East Coast rappers. I don't know. I just related to them a little more at first - because if you're born in L.A., and you lived there your whole life, Snoop Dogg literally sounds like cars driving by. You feel me? You hear Snoop Dogg so much.
I felt like I related to East Coast lyricism a little more. Because I couldn't be super gangsta.
I knew that 'Nothing to Lose' wasn't gonna probably go off the same way numbers-wise like 'iSpy,' but 'Nothing to Lose' was more like a statement record for me.
Kodak is hard. 'No Flockin' is an amazing song.
Around when I turned 17 and I bought my own studio equipment and started recording myself, I kinda found my own voice. I just started rapping like my normal self and this happy guy.
'Beautiful Loser' had a lot of great records. It had a lot of really heartfelt songs on there. But I felt, at the time, it didn't have it's own cohesive sound.
I feel like what's important is to interact with your fans online. Touring is really important to stay connected with your fans.
I'm definitely a West Coast artist, so much so that I'm gonna get 'Thug Life' tatted on my stomach one day.
I've always been such an album-driven artist that I never really stopped to think about how cool it would be to just have one really big song.
I'm a drama kid at heart. That is definitely where my heart and soul is. I did 'Hairspray' in high school - I was Seaweed.
It's important to reassure people that everything is going to be all right.
What is a hit? Who can tell? Who decides what a hit sounds like? I needed to remind myself that a hit is whatever people decide is a hit. I don't make hits; I make music. People make hits.
I like being funny; I like laughing with people.
Shooting a music video sometimes can be a job.
I've always wanted to do acting.
People should listen to my music if they are into a lot of different genres and kind of want to get it all at once, if they want to listen to a story, an interesting story about somebody else.
Incubus is fire.
Growing up a good person, it's a lot harder than you'd think.
You just don't know how uncool it is to be Kyle until you're Kyle.
All I can do with my music is try and be a light for people who are in a dark time.
Kid Cudi has saved lives. He saved my life.
Doesn't matter if you're sad or happy. I can be sad, you can be happy; it's all good. That's all I'm saying - let's just be us.
The most powerful, most insightful, and most important part of my music is honesty and inclusiveness with my fans - giving them as deep a story as I can give them.
I think love is, by far, the strongest force in the entire universe. Love is so strong, it'll make you do something that, in any other circumstance, you would never do.
I think about love being so important because, to me, that's the reason we were put on Earth. Love, in a sense, is God to me.
Imagine if James Brown was your roommate. What? Do you know how much fun you'd be having all the time? Oh my God, he would have you looking the freshest. He would have you doing the funnest stuff for sure, easily. You'd be having the most crackin' parties.
I am a pretty bad driver, so when I drive, I need to be calm. I can't be vibing to DMX, all hype, in the car.
There's nobody taller and cooler than Will Smith. He's the coolest tall person, so I'm trying to be like that.
I feel like I'm a good listener.
I've been a nerd my whole life.
I feel like one of my strengths is writing about stories that are unique to me but somehow relate with everyone, and the one thing I've found is that if you make a song wholly unique to you, then you don't have to compete with everybody, because nobody else can make a song like you.
My relationship with my father is fine. Every relationship has its ups and downs because bad things happen in all relationships. But for me, I can only write about what I'm feeling in the moment and something that actually happened to me.
When I hear a beat that makes me want to tell a story, then that's what I'm going to say.
I just want to be an artist that makes exactly what he feels.
If I was a spy, I would have a watch that would cloak me in invisibility.
I wanna make music that helps people.
Music fills peoples with life. It doesn't have to be a 'happy song.' If you have that one song that relates to you, whether it's a sad song or a gangster song, whatever relates to you the most in that moment, it can literally get you through the day.
Life is a puzzle. Every piece fits together to create who we are, what we do, how we feel. Every experience shapes us into who we will eventually become.Collection: Together