“Once you appreciate an art form, you're open to everything.” — Big Daddy Kane Quote

Once you appreciate an art form, you're open to everything.

Me and Rakim were always clear that we were rivals.

After 'Long Live the Kane,' I toured the world as an entertainer seeing so much more. My mindstate was so much broader.

I always loved slow jams and wanted to make them, but didn't know how I could because I couldn't sing. Then Barry White made 'Love Serenade' in which all he did was talk the entire jam. I said, 'I can do that.'

I went to this club in North Carolina and saw Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings perform. Just looking at the demographics of the audience, I thought it was interesting. A few weeks later, I was at the same spot to see Talib Kweli perform. And 60-70 percent of the crowd were the same people.

I'm just blessed, man. I'm just happy to share my art form with everyone. That's cool.

Japanimation is a whole different art form.

There is something about seeing real people on a stage that makes a bad play more intimately, more personally offensive than any other art form.

I create openings, and I move. I fight. It's an art form.

At this point in my life - age 24 - I have chosen a fairly strange path that not many are walking. I am a professional spoken word poet who tours the world performing and teaching. I run an organization called Project VOICE dedicated to using this art form as an education and empowerment tool in schools and communities of all kinds.