>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." >> this week we note the death of maya angelou, the influential author, actress and activist was 76. she's best known for her autobiography "i know why the caged bird sings."

she was a master of words who spoke several languages. in africa she taught drama, she danced and marched for civil rights with malcolm x and martin luther king. when the latter was assassinated on her 40th birthday, she was devastated. but first and foremost, she was a poet. over the years she was a frequent guest on pbs. her first appearance on my program came in 1993, after she recited her poem "on the pulse of the morning" at president clinton's first inauguration. >> a rock, a river, a tree host to species long since departed mark the mastodon the dinosaur who left dried tokens of their sojourn here on our planet floor

any broad alarm of their hastening doom is lost in the gloom of dust ages but today the rock cries out to us clearly forcefully come you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny but seek no haven in my shadow i will give you no hiding place down here >> i took the three symbols from music so that the rock and all that is said about the rock comes from a 19th century song, "there is no hiding place down here, no there's no hiding place the rock, oh i went to

to hide my face, rocked right out, no hiding place." lay down myo burdens down by the riverside." tree, from my grandmother's favorite poem. grandmother when she died was over 6'0". "i shall not be moved, i shall not be removed, just like a tree that's planted by the water. oh, i shall not be removed." >> and once you had that? >> then i could talk about all of us.

i could talk about the spanish speaking and the jew and the muslim and the gay and the straight and the teachers and the privileged and homeless and the artist and all of us who make this fabulous country. i belong to church in winston-salem, north carolina, mount zion baptist church and i work in my church. >> and sing in the choir? >> no, i don't sing in the choir but i will work with the choir. i'll recite poems. >> why don't you -- >> it wouldn't be fair. >> what's your favorite hymn? >> my favorite is my grandmother's, not "i shall not be moved." but she had a song she used to sing every sunday, every sunday the lord brought, mama would sit in the church pew and the preacher would say, and now we will be privileged with a song

from sister hennison. and every sunday for 10 years my grandmother would say, me? and i used to sit in the children's pew and say, just get up there. the kids would be like, your grandmother is doing again. but then she'd sing it. her song was i am a pilgrim of sorrow i'm lost in this wide world alone." >> sing it, sister. >> and i can't sing, either. >> yes, you can. >> there was also the dark side to maya angelou's childhood.

we went back with her to arkansas. >> the black part of stamps started there at the bridge. >> where that fellow is fishing? >> there and behind us. at the railroad track. this was more or less no man's land here. because if you were black, you never felt really safe when you went across the railroad track. you still had to go all this way, it was like an international tarmac where anybody could get you. you were really in the black part of town when you crossed that little bridge and the pond. then you're safe.

then if you didn't know everybody, at least everybody knew who you were, you know. and as a child, it was a chance to have some protection. i used to have to walk over here. oh, gosh, i hated it. i had no protection at all over there. i didn't have an idea of protection. on this side. i had my grandmother on this side. i had the church. my uncle. and all my people were on this side. so i had an idea of protection. but there, i would be all alone. and i loathed it. crossing those railroad tracks.

bill, i tell you, to show you how much things don't change, i'm not even going to cross it with you now. i don't really -- i'm not doing this for any reason other than i really do not want to go across there. i really don't. >> i understand. so what are you thinking right now? >> it was the challenges of her childhood, not only segregation and jim crow but also incidents of sexual abuse that would fuel her fires of creativity. after she named her abuser and he was killed by a mob she went mute for five years. >> this is a letter to myself when i was about 15. dear me, myself then, i know that you know how to listen. when i was 8 years old, i became a mute.

and was a mute until i was 13. and i started my whole body as an ear so i could go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. that talent or ability has served me until today. once you appreciate one of your blessings, one of your senses, the sense of hearing, then you begin to retake the sense of seeing and touching and tasting. you respect all the senses. >> you've done everything >> i've tried a lot of things, failed at some things and succeeded at others. >> what i love about you, you have attacked it all with great passion. you look at all the books you have written, i can look at all the things you have done from

journalist to poet to writer to actor to producer, all of those kinds of things which suggest this uncommon confidence in yourself and willingness to risk failure. >> yes. maybe it's more dangerous to risk success. >> what do you mean. >> a lot of people don't really want success. >> i've never understood that. >> it's true. >> you mean they don't want it and the best evidence of that is -- >> they fail. >> the best evidence of that is they don't try. >> right. but to succeed means that -- i mean, you're in front of god and lots of responsible people and you have to either eat your words or stand by them. i think that i have agreed a long time ago, charlie rose, this may be my greatest blessing. i agreed a long time ago that i

would die. now, if i can admit that, then no matter what happens, i will do this thing. this is the biggest bugaboo of them all. i will do that. then why couldn't i attempt something lesser? so i will try. >> among her many accomplishments, maya angelou became a teacher, first poet in resident and then professor at wake forest university. even as the she grew frail, she wonted to write. her final post on twitter was this. "listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of god." >> you think poetry is the voice. the music of the voice. >> i call back to dunbar, edgar

allan poe, edna st. vincent millay, it's music for the human spirit. it's fine to see professors of literature looking at what is called concrete poetry, poetry which is to be seen and so how it is shaped is so important to the poetry. that's fine. that may be true. but for me, until the human voice gives it elevation, it doesn't realy sing. it doesn't come into its own. it doesn't lift the highs -- heart and make the blood race. >> of all the talents you have, what one resonates most with you? what one is the clearest expression of who you are and what you are? >> i'm a writer. that's what i am.

that's who i am. that's how i described myself to myself and to god in prayer, when i say, lord, you remember me, maya angelou, 6'0" black female, i write. when i feel i have to describe myself to the lord, i always include what i do. i write. that's what i do. i thank the lord i'm able to do other things, i'm grateful, but that's how i describe myself to myself. >> is it in your judgment, a learned craft? or is it -- >> everything is learned, charlie rose. i don't know how you learn it. but everything is learned. it is said that some people are born great, some achieve it and some have it thrust upon them. i think that's true of all the things you are. you're born that thing, you earn it and some of it is thrust upon you. i believe that to be so. >> so your story was thrust upon

you. >> it was mine to live. mine to live. so it is now. it is mine to live. and i try to live it with so much flair. i surely do. >> maya angelou, dead at 86. we continue our appreciation of maya an scre low with gail -- maya angelou with gail king, a friend of maya angelou. she's called poet and teacher one of a kind in all the best ways. she's co-host of "cbs this morning" and much more than that. i'm pleased to have her with me at this time, knowing the depth of her feelings about maya angelou. >> the first day, it came just as we'd gotten off the air you get through that. but by the next day, after watching all the tv coverage and seeing your friend's name with the birth date and the end date of her death was very -- and to

see people going to her house and laying flowers, a house you've been to many times, it was very, very hard. >> tell us the maya that you knew. >> i was thinking about this. because what is it like to admire somebody as a kid and then you meet them and become friends so friendly that you see them in their pajamas, so friendly they're in the kitchen cooking for you, asking you your feelings or how are you doing, what's going on in your life? i would sometimes just be in awe of her just watching her move around. but i know that she genuinely, genuinely cared for me. i'm so grateful for that i met her through open remark she and oprah had been friend many, many years. i met her through oprah and for a long time i didn't call her anything, i was afraid. i was a grownup but i was afraid to say something to her. i would try to make eye contact before i would just start talking. one day, i said dr. angelou and she said, why are you calling me

that? i heard her chastise people who called her maya. i said, i though i was supposed to call you that and she said no you're not. i thought, she likes me, she likes me. >> didn't she say something about she'd look after you. >> my mom died in 1994. she called me one day, said, hello my darling girl -- no one had a voice like hers -- she said, i was just calling to see, how is your heart? you know, everyone else says, how are you, and you say fine. i said, maya, no one has ever asked me that before. she said, i'm sure not. >> she had a sense of confidence and a sense of self. >> that's what resonates with so many people. i have gotten the most amazing emails, letters, phone calls who said, i never met maya but

because of her i feel more confident about myself. i feel stronger about myself. i feel significant in my own body. and that's sort of what maya did for many, many people. she didn't care about your color, she didn't care about your class. so you would go to her house for thanksgiving, you know, charlie, thanksgiving dinner at maya angelou's with 300 or so people, she was a very good cook, and there would be the housekeeper and driver sitting there with diplomats and politicians and famous people because in her, the human condition was the same. and that's something that i think -- you know, i'll never, ever forget that. but she was also, she could be tough. she could be very tough. >> and demanding. >> very tough, very demanding. we were sitting around this table if you said something she thought was inappropriate, even you, charlie rose, not that you would, but if it was a racist joke or a sexist joke, she would say, stop it, i will not have it. i have seen her at other people's homes chastise people,

you can't do this. at her house, she said, i don't want it in my curtains, i don't want it in my furniture, you must leave. we'd all silt there very quietly like, this is awkward. but she was very, very sure of herself. you know, she didn't like, as she said, complaining, i called her once, i was complaining, i didn't think it was complaining, i thought i was venting and seeking advice. i'm mid story and she said, stop it. stop it. i said, i haven't finished telling you, you know what happened? she said it doesn't matter, you're whining. i said i'm not whining. she said you're whining it's very unbecoming. it lets you know there's a victim in the neighborhood and you must stop it. you must say thank you. >> what am i saying thank you for? you can always say thank you. i'd be like thank you. and i'd want to like shrink under the table.

she was the only one that could make me feel like i'm 7. 7! >> but she said something very important to you not long ago. >> yeah. >> leather bound copies of her books with a lovely inscription -- >> they came a week before she died. they came to my office and they were -- she had written a note to me in them and i called her to say thank you, that was the last conversation i had with her. but i just thought, she said, i wanted you to have these. i don't think people said, oh she must have known. i don't think so, charlie. i talked to her son, i talked to people who had talked to maya, the day before she died, she was planning the party for the fourth of july. you know, she'd been fragile for so long, we all thought it could happen any day, it could happen this week, next week a year from now two years from now, but when you think, you're 86 years old you die in your own home new york your own bed, peacefully, without pain, there's something very beautiful in that.

>> there is indeed. >> everybody has a favorite maya quote, now, everybody does. >> what are you hearing from her friends, people who know you and know the relationship you and oprah had and because you are such a visible person, i wanted to share -- wanted to share their emotion with you? >> that's what people are say, someone said to me, i feel like i lost my mother, i feel like i lost my fwrore. i feel like -- and everyone says what i believe too. you know, that not to have that wisdom or hear that voice, you know, of course oprah and i talked, she was on a movie set this week and she said, i'm not looking at any of the coverage. i said, oh, man, you should see the coverage. she said, i'm not looking at it, i don't want to look at it. because i don't want to think of maya as a news story. but for me, you know, i'm a news junkie, as are you, i couldn't get enough of it. i wanted to know what people said. you know, the impact she had on people really does live on. and in that way, there will always be a place for us.

>> she had such a powerful personal story, what she had overcome, what she wrote about. even going mute if you remember. >> even that, think about this little girl who was raped at the age of 7. and she speaks of it, she tells her uncle and the man who did this ends up being killed, he was beaten to death and she feels that because of her voice, this man, you know, well known story, you know, because of her words this man lost his life. and to decide at 7, i'm not going to speak. and she didn't. she didn't speak for five years because she was so consumed with that. what little kid thinks like that? that shows you again, she was in a different gear than most people. she was very confident in her own skin. very confident in her own skin. we say, you might not agree with her tactics sometimes of correcting people, but she was never wrong. she was never wrong in that respect. >> she could also be a bit of --

>> she was mischievous. >> i was going to say that. >> very sexual. she said to me, you know, i'm juicy like a peach and she would hold her head like that. i'm juicy like a peach. she was smitten with you, charlie rose. >> thank you. what thank you for talking to me about what she meant. >> i'm delighted to be here. >> stay with us. >> in my youth before i was corrupted by the business of national security i was a poet. >> you were a poet? >> and i loved writing and studying poetry. she was from earliest days as a student of poetry, one of my very favorites. and then as i grew up and had more opportunities and exposure, i got to meet her on a number of occasions. and she had such grace and

warmth and dignity. she was extraordinarily affirming of everybody she touched. ♪

>> nasir jones is here, he's known as nas. he's been called a city poet in the tradition of whitman, hughes or ginsburg. his debut album introduced the world to the gritty street life of new york. he wrote he achieved status -- the album is now the subject of a documentary that opened at the tribeca film festival last month. here's the trailer for the documentary. >> along came my son. i felt like a king was born.

every rhyme was the best i ever heard in my life. eight, nine, ten years old. nobody rhyming like that back then. it was a new beginning of rap. it was like living a hustler's life through poetry. >> when i made it, i was trying to make a perfect album. i was trying to make you experience my life. i wanted you to look at hip-hop differently. i wanted you to feel that hip-hop is changing and becoming something more real. i gave you what the streets felt like, what it sounded like, tasted like, smelled like, all in that album and i tried to

capture it like no one else could. >> is your music poetry? >> i never liked that word. >> why not? >> it sounds too refined. >> not raw. >> right. i consider my music more raw. especially the first record. i was more raw. >> you said this was your effort at perfection. >> yes. i tried to make it perfect. because at that point, it was my

first -- it was my entry into the rap game so the rap game was full of so many hard hitting groups and artists that if it was anything less than what i felt would be perfect, i would have failed. i would have never got intoon the rap game. today it's a lot easier, i think, to get into the rap game but back then, in 1994, it was a lot harder. >> did you change the game? >> yes. yes, i did. and that was my point. it was my point to. i was a new voice. being a new voice, automatically, it was beyond my control, it was like, i'm a new voice, a new way to talk about things and it changed things.

>> how different is hip-hop today? >> definitely more global. it's everywhere. it's more in the mainstream. >> it's been -- i don't want to say this word but it's been accepted as the music form it is. >> it's been accepted, for sure. that's the difference. >> even if it's protest, it's been accepted. >> absolutely. like it's cool. used to be a lot scarier. >> yeah. how does that happen, do you think? >> well, people don't get scared anymore. they realize that this nightmarish music is not going to influence your kids to throw it all away. it's ok. >> where do you see yourself in this evolution? >> well, i see myself as just -- just a musician.

i feel like i'm growing. i evolved. i'm an evolving artist. i evolved with the times, i feel like. you have to. you know. >> would you -- name an artist you haven't influenced? >> that's bragadocious. i've influenced a few of them and i've been influenced by a lot of artists as well. >> like whom? >> slick rick. ice cube. ll cool-j. big daddy kain. a tribe called quest. michael jackson. >> michael jackson? >> frank sinatra. you know. it's a wide list. of artists. >> from sinatra you got what?

>> i like when he said, i did it my way. i didn't know frank sinatra's name, i heard his name when i was a kid but this song, "my way" stood out to me. as a kid. >> these are -- i've been doing this for a few years, i've met a lot of artists, this is jay-z making the case that hip-hop is poetry, this was in 2004. >> the hip-hop poetry and the poets in hip-hop are some of the best ever. the double entendres, the stories being told all the while rhyming and staying on beat and expressing emotions and having people connect to those emotions, oh, man that's -- you know it's some of the best music ever. ever. ever. you know, not to knock any other industry, like the things that hip-hop artists sing about, those are real things. those are things people connect to.

that's why the hip-hop artists have movements, people follow them because the things they're saying resonate with people. it strikes a chord. when it's done correctly, the emotion in hip-hop and the raw honesty and the poetry and what we're saying is unrivaled. >> what role did the street play for you, the queensbridge projects? >> everything. it was school. >> it was your school. >> yeah. the real school. you know. it was survival of the fittest. it was beautiful. you know, a lot of times when you hear rap artists talk about the hood, we don't get a chance to talk about the beauty of the community also. it's a lot of great people come out of the neighborhoods. and i've been inspired by all, the good and bad. but it's definitely survival. >> where did this documentary come from that we saw? >> this was, a couple of years in the making by two cool guys, they put it together, i wanted

nothing to do with it. i knew them from being around in the industry. they were working in the industry and they had interviewed my father and a few other people and you know, that wasn't new. there were people coming around interviewing my folk bus something about them they kept at it. and they really were so determined to get it done that, you know, i thought it had gone away. just last year, we sat down and they showed me how much they've done and i just had to take my had off -- hat off and finally sit down and do an interview and let them in. i'm glad i did. >> here's another artist you know, kanye west, talking about his skills and others in an appearance on this program in 2005. here it is. >> i'm not that good of a rapper. i'm getting pretty nice, you know. >> but you're not that good. >> i'm no jay-z, but i got a

niche. i got my thing. >> that's kanye. the one and only, man. >> because? >> he's -- >> he does the music and -- >> he does the music and the lyrics. and he takes it to another level. and he's not scared to say what's on his mind and he does it in a way where it's just, you know, amazing. >> press eats him up, don't they? >> yeah, man. it comes with the territory, you know. he's walking on some pretty -- some dangerous ground. he likes to live on the wild side, seems like. but really, he's just -- it seems like this is -- he's trying to soffer himself, he's showing us who he is and the media eats that up. >> yeah. >> what is gangster rap or mafioso rap? >> i think that title came around the early 1990's with groups like n.w.a. and the

language -- it wasn't the type of records you could play on the radio at all. you know, the language was out there. >> violent subject matter. >> violent subject matter. some people would say derogatory, some would say disrespectful to women and -- but today it's funny. they play that stuff today. whereas back then, no chance. but yet these guys still sold records, lots of records, and got the title gangster rap. >> this is your rap, for a minute i forgot my profession not from colombia or nicaragua, don't ship coke, pablo escobar's bloody reign came to an end far from my life a kid who made his living from a pen. >> you sound nice saying that. >> that's your words. >> people hear the music they

start to feel like i'm glorifying violence or i'm glorifying something negative and they may be inspired and kids might hear a song that's so raw, again, raw, but they hear it and it is so raw to them that they -- it's all they hear is the negative side. i had to show the difference. i'm a musician. you know. so never get caught up in, you know, the street, never let it become you, never let that be what defines you. just because i'm from the projects doesn't mean i'm a negative, you know. >> i want to take a look at this, this is a clip from one of your music videos. here it is. >> it ain't hard to tell, make him contact sparkle like a diamond my army jacket lining invasion have man half amazing i can't express through song the

next day strong give us shotguns in hell from the split that i lived in hell it ain't hard to tell >> 20 years. 20 years. since then. >> 20. that's crazy. crazy. >> you've got two did now. >> yes, daughters. >> how rells you different? >> well, i've always been a calm individual but i'm a lot more calm and i've changed in ways where i was once a rebel to america and now i like america a lot more. >> how do you like america more? because it accepted you? >> no, i don't want to feel accepted. i want to earn it, i want to -- i want to -- i'm like everybody

else in this world. i just want to be part of this whole human family and i don't need to be accepted by anybody. but it's better for me because now i can see different. i can see why certain things are the way they are. why the system works a certain way. and it doesn't seem like a beast i can't conquer anymore. it feels like this is my soil, this is where i'm from, this is who i am a proud american. there was a time when i didn't feel that way. >> "new york state of mind" what do you think of that? >> that's one of my favorites. that is one of my favorites. it's -- there's a darkness to the music but there's a piano thing in there. it's a lot different than billy joel's "new york state of pind," i like his version. >> i do too. >> but it didn't come from his version, it came from me a kid in new york, i wanted to make

that a vivid picture of my life. >> where is hip-hop today? what place is it? acceptance, for sure. celebrated, for sure. taking its place among genres. >> yeah. it's in a happy place. and music is about -- it's about celebration more than been. there's a lot of party records. a lot of party records for the strip clubs and you know, it's a lot of those records around. >> yeah. >> and so it's happy. it's happy. >> you gave a magazine a list of your favorite songs. >> ok, yeah. >> they all came from the 1980's, the so-called golden age of hip-hop.

>> yeah. >> would you change it if you were doing a new list? >> no. it's still a nation of millions by public enemy, he was very outspoken, the music was loud and crazy, it's still, you know, the same records that i grew up with. today there's no -- the intensity in the music, in rap music, is not there as much. so i'm stuck there. >> are the conflicts there as much? >> what do you mean? >> east-west, all of that? >> no. that's gone. that's moved on, everybody's grown up. there are conflicts. these are kids from the street. they come from one side of the street, hip-hop is also -- also has a competitive thing about it, where there's battling between lyricists. so that's always going to be around. those conflicts. but it's not on the level of east coast-west coast. >> that ended. >> yeah. >> is one person the king? >> yeah, no, i think there's a

few kings. >> who are they? you. >> well, it was said kings' rule is never understood, sometimes it's cool to be the king, other times watch your head. i'd like to put the crown on a lot of young guys coming up, kendrick lamar, drake, a lot of young guys, i'd like to see them, they're doing their thing up there. and they're coming up in a way that's impressive. >> you can do this how long, you can do it as long as you want to, but how long do you want to? >> as long as frank sinatra did it. >> you said nothing about bob dylan. >> i love dylan. >> i would think so. >> i love dylan. we were label mates, i was on columbia records in my early years in rap, that album is on

columbia and some of the executives would tell me i was the new bob dylan and that was mind-blowing. >> it should be mind-blowing. i mean, speaking of poetry. >> he's someone that's like, you know, he's out there. amazing. >> when you look at the artists who have made it, are -- do all of them have a bundle of talent? >> no. >> they don't. >> i shouldn't say that. to make it you have to have some kind of talent. >> you have to have something. >> you've got to have something. but what is making it? you know, that sometimes bothers me. because i look at a lot of artists who have made it through the years and they don't all seem too happy and like you say, it just doesn't -- i wonder if they're happy with what they have. >> and what was the feud you had with jay-z?

>> that was about, again, those conflicts of two lyricists and it was about new york, i guess, king stuff with new york, you know, we were both coming up and young and full of, you know, that energy, the crown and that happens. >> but you settled it, didn't you? >> yeah, that's my guy. me and him are cool. yeah. me and him are cool. >> he's got the queen. >> he's got the queen. he's got the queen. so, yeah. if you want to mention kings, all right i gave the young guys some credit, they deserve the crown, he's the king. you know, he's a king. these are people when you talk about that, talking about someone like 20 years, someone

who's been around that long, someone who has broken down barriers, someone whose music stands the test of time and even current muse exthey're doing is still like breaking records, changing the world, changing things and people are, you know, following these guys, people like that, if you -- i think you need to be around 20 years to be in that position. you can lose your crown fast when you're young. one wrong move, crown's gone. >> but after 20 years -- >> 20 years -- >> that's a great claim. >> yeah. >> are you creating all the time? >> never. only in the studio and i'm hardly there. >> why? >> i want to enjoy my life, you know. i'm really happy about how far i've come but it's important to not miss out on the real things in life too, you know. >> like children -- >> children. family.

>> community. >> community. you know, learning. and never getting, you know, too far away from community. become isolated and it's over. >> can you make the argument that the best years are ahead of you? that your best work is ahead of you? >> absolutely. because i haven't done it yet. i haven't done the best stuff yet. it's still coming. like when you look at the greats like bob marley. from where he started to when he ended, it was just, you know, he drew to something really next level. >> ok, here's one more music video, "if i rule the world." here it is. ♪

>> what about you and the fellowship at harvard. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> that's something i never thought would ever happen. >> how did it come about? >> well, harvard has classes in art and they have an archive a hip-hop archive where they have all this old stuff, you can go and look at and learn from. so they were starting a fellowship and they needed a name to go with that fellowship. and they asked me. and of course, you know, i was happy, i was more than happy to do it. you know. sometimes i get up in the morning and i can't believe i'm still here. i can't believe the things that i made it through, the people i

wish i -- there's people i wish were still around that didn't make it with me and i think about how it could have went the other way and how close -- >> you could have been them. >> yeah. definitely. so for me to be here, and not only be here but have harvard acknowledge me in my work and want to put my name on something, just shows, man, never give up. >> you're the guy who said, my people be projects are jail, never harvard or yale. >> right. i got to start changing the lyrics on that one. >> yes, you do. you became harvard. >> i became harvard. >> your kids will be going to harvard, you know that. >> absolutely. absolutely. i got to change the lyrics up. >> yeah.

>> andrew lewis gage said, black americans are experiencing the best of times and the worst of times. is that true? >> yes. totally. he's someone i look up to, he knows so much about african history, world history, black american history. when he says something like that, it's definitely real and i see both sides. my friends -- not all my friends have lots of money, a lot of my friends are still from the community i come from. and the conditions that we deal with, whether it's stop and terrifics, whether it's the large amounts of people thrown in jail or whatever it is, it's rough out there. and yet, still, you have doctor dre just sold beats. >> $2 billion. >> $3 billion.

and we still have president barack obama, who i'm really proud of. so yes. parallel universe. >> dr. dre and jimmy. >> i'm so proud of them. it's amazing. it says a lot about apple, they know hip-hop. >> i think they were buying more than headphones, i think they were buying heads. >> wow. well. >> you heard it here. >> i heard it here. >> it's true though, isn't it? >> totally. i mean, but still, got to celebrate, it's the first hip-hop guy, billionaire guy to do a multibillion dollar deal. >> still $3 billion. whatever they wanted, it's $3 billion. >> so it's hope for people that come from places like where i come from, to be a dr. dre.

>> you said that your pop told me that a fool at 40 is a fool forever. >> he was a jazz musician wasn't he? >> he said, that was the music at the time that paid my bills. he came out of navy playing strums and he played jazz because it was the thing at the time. but he said he's into all kinds of music. he's officially retired now. but yeah. he has given me a lot of wise words through the years. >> what's important to you now? >> health. >> family? >> family. knowledge. wisdom. understanding. i'm always trying to learn. and i want to create a safe

environment for my family and a peaceful environment for myself. i want to always maintain a peaceful environment where i can work on whatever it is that i need to work on. >> have you made a ton of money? >> well, what's a ton of money? i made more money than i ever thought i would make and i continue to make a lot of money. >> then that's all right. >> yeah. it's great. it's great. but it's also, it's more great to figure out a way i can bring it back to my community, to all communities in this country and teach, if i can, how the next man can do it too. >> the smart thing you can do is create and be an example. >> absolutely. i want to continue to do that right. so that's my focus.

and also on top of that i want to teach kids ways to get into this american dream where they don't have to be rappers. >> exactly. >> unless it's in their heart. unless it's what they really love. you don't have to just rap or play basketball or play sports. there's so many things you can do here. education is key. >> yes. on this day, we remember maya angelou. >> yes. sad. sad, but she's angelic. she makes the word pee poe tri-great. when i think of poetry. i don't consider myself, necessarily, a poet. i don't know what it is i do. >> but you do -- but you know what she did. >> i know what she did. i guess she did what i do now, in a way. she was before me, before this genre of rap happened. she was the mother of it.

she is one of the greatest things america ever produced that i ever witnessed. >> an inspiration. >> an inspiration on so many levels, such a positive energy, you know, for women, for men, another way to look at women, for men who don't know how to understand women, who do not respect women, who do not understand black women, she was a shining star and she was that doorway into understanding love and intelligence and passion. she saw things with extra eyes. you know. thing is couldn't see. things that were right in my face, the way she told it, how she saw it, her perspective. divine.

>> and it's an honor to have you here. you're a remarkable young man. >> it's an honor to be here. i watch your show, i can't believe i'm here, knock on wood, this is what it's about. thank you. >> thank you for joining us. see you next time. ♪

>> live from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west," where we cover innovation, technology, and the future of business. i'm emily chang. i want to get to our lead story today. there were no blockbuster announcements, but apple has unveiled a wide range of software features and upgrades at this year's worldwide developers conference that kicked off in san francisco today. some of the highlights -- ios 8, a new operating system for mobile. and yosemite, a new system for the desktop. there is deeper integration between macs and mobile devices. a new programming language for the developers called swift. a new health feature called healthkit. a new smart home developers feature called homekit.