I'm the 1st black platinum artist in Detroit, solo artist in Detroit.

I was about 11 when my mother brought me this karaoke machine and I was really into it back then, but about 4 or 5 years ago is when I started printing up my own music, going to the studio and doing my own thing.

I just don't want to be rapping forever. I love it, but sometimes you got goals for yourself.

Working with 50 Cent was great, you know what Im saying? It was just great to work with 50 Cent.

I just do what I'm here for and that's to make that music.

I'm the 1st black platinum artist in Detroit, solo artist in Detroit.

The Anger Management Tour was another beautiful thing. I loved that tour.

I don't want to be an actor or nothing but if I have to, I'll act if it's the right thing.

Well, Eminem, you know, I know him longer. Ive been signed to his label since 2001 and he's a good friend.

Yeah I grew up on the Westside of Detroit.

I get the music, I get the beats. And I go to the studios and write the lyrics.

Beef is beef, you know. Beef comes, so Beef is real.

Where's Eminem, when is Em coming out, Em this, Em that, 50 this, 50 that... What about Obie?

I'm working on my new album right now. Hopefully to get that out at the top of 2005, January 2005.

You know, I'm the 1st black solo MC from Detroit. I didn't do the 50 Cent sales but hey... I got a long career, I'm still young and I'm trying to bring really good music.

Let's say I was a plumber, or I worked at a factory, I would download music, you feel what I'm saying?

But working with Dre, I grew up with his music, so I'm still like more a fan.

I want to get off with the screenwriting.

I would say old school cats like Redman and Wu-tang. My style is my style, those are just cats that I liked.

7 Mile is like an Ave. Back in the days it was poppin' in the summer time.

I don't actually sit down and write, but I just have a lot of different ideas about films and making movies.

Downloading songs is not good.

I think it need realness, you should speak on thing that you know about, that you being from, that you experienced or that you been around, you know. I think you need a good hook, good beats and good lyrics.

I'm just going to do me; I'm not trying to do the Eminem thing, the D12 thing or the 50 thing.

Detroit is right now a new Mecca for Hip Hop.

Eminem is more like a friend. And I'm also a fan on Eminem.

But since I am in the music industry, I don't want anyone to download music, not on September 9th.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.

Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.

I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist - I'm happy to see the work.

The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.

I've also been willing to share any help that I could give to any other artist.

An artist, under pain of oblivion, must have confidence in himself, and listen only to his real master: Nature.