So I'm More At Home With My

With Writing, There Are Multiple Drafts. On Stage, There Is One Take. I Do A Lot Of Preparation For Shows, So, For The Most Part, What You Hear Me Say Is Pretty Much What I Wanted To Get At.

I Think Hip-hop Has Definitely Brought The Black Experience To White Kids More Than The Civil Rights Movement Did And More Than Any Teacher's Well-intentioned Lecture On Martin Luther King Did.

Every Year, August Lashes Out In Volcanic Fury, Rising With The Din Of Morning Traffic, Its Great Metallic Wings Smashing Against The Ground, Heating The Air With Ever-increasing Intensity.

If A Slave Were To Raise His Voice To His Master, He Risked All Manner Of Punishment. Yet What Was Possible In Many Circumstances Was To Lift One's Voice In Song. This Was A Major Ingredient In What Is Now Known As Blues And Gospel. Slaves May Have Been Regarded As Subhuman By Their Cruel Captors, But Through Music, They Were Proud And Dignified.

My First Visit To West Berlin Was In February 1983. The Drive Through East Berlin, The Fact That West Berlin Was Surrounded By A Wall That Was More Than 100 Miles Long - The Absurdity And Intensity Of It Really Knocked Me Out.