so the tipper gores and the senator liebermans and even the hillary clintons are very good for us, you know, when they attack the music. i've never felt that threatened, although i am working very closely with the hip-hop action network, and i'm back and forth to washington, protecting our first amendment rights. i don't think that they can really stop the music. there's nothing they can do about it except be angry. these records are going to get played, and these kid's ideals are going to be heard. and the more they attempt to shut 'em down, the more popular the artists and the music get. and it kind of reaffirms that it's young people's music. so when the old people are coming after the young people, they just get more rebellious. but this is a different story. i mean, they were upset about the language of some of these artists. most of their stories are really about survival and even condemn-- whatever you may view as negative is probably condemned on the rap record-- that you don't like. but the real thing is, when these rappers say things that are--that are important, and they mov

if it was lennon or mccartney, i would have felt dissed, but"-- [laughter] now, i remember when tipper gore came up with the parental advisory sticker and fear of a black planet was coming out. and automatically, they said that we had to wear the sticker on the cover of fear of a black planet, which was gonna mess up my artwork. and i was like, "well, i don't have anything derogatory "towards anybody in this album. i'm not saying a lot of curse words," i said. if they gave me "caution: revolutionary lyrics inside," i could agree with that. but i couldn't agree with the fact that parents had to watch out for what i had to say. i think that was the one of the most examined albums all the way up to eminem. and the fact is, they couldn't find anything inside it but deep, detailed discussion on things i think young people could look out for when they get older or even older people could look towards themselves or look towards their peers to inform them while still having a good time and jumping up and down and going to the concerts and doing their thing. i learned from james brown, "say it loud;