I Really Just Like Breaking Down The

By The Time I Got To Record My First Album, I Was 26, I Didn't Need Pen Or Paper - My Memory Had Been Trained Just To Listen To A Song, Think Of The Words, And Lay Them To Tape.

I Collect Art, And I Drink Wine... Things That I Like That I Had Never Been Exposed To. But I Never Said, 'i'm Going To Buy Art To Impress This Crowd.' That's Just Ridiculous To Me. I Don't Live My Life Like That, Because How Could You Be Happy With Yourself?

I'm Hungry For Knowledge. The Whole Thing Is To Learn Every Day, To Get Brighter And Brighter. That's What This World Is About. You Look At Someone Like Gandhi, And He Glowed. Martin Luther King Glowed. Muhammad Ali Glows. I Think That's From Being Bright All The Time, And Trying To Be Brighter.

I Dumb Down For My Audience And Double My Dollars...

On The Night He Died - He Was Twenty-seven - Basquiat Had Been Planning To See A Run-dmc Show. When People Asked Him What His Art Was About, He'd Hit Them With The Same Three Words: "royalty, Heroism, And The Streets.