Logic

Hate is ugly.

Success doesn't make you happy.

I was a little nervous that people wouldn't take to 'Under Pressure,' because my style and what I embodied had previously been the braggadocious '90s fun rapper type. Before this album, I didn't rap about my life much.

No I.D. executive-produced 'Under Pressure' and helped me find the Logic sound that's evolving every day.

I'm no longer the young guy in No I.D.'s studio asking for Kanye beats.

Black folk who don't realize I'm mixed will treat me like I'm some racist person, or when white people find out I'm black, they treat me with racism, and I don't feel like I belong or fit in anywhere.

I think if you pick up a microphone and you rap, you're a rapper.

You have to respect people for what they do. Just because you don't like it, it's like, I don't like heavy metal too much, but I can still respect it.

There's a lot of other rappers that aren't what they claim to be, and they get a pass because they're black.

I'm not gonna do the same album over and over and over again.

I'm the kind of guy who'll go to a courthouse and get married, but for women, it's different. It means a lot to them.

If you listen to a woman, you'll know what she wants.

I'm a relationship guy. I'm not about that 'rapper life.'

I love movies. I own, like, every movie, ever.

Black is beautiful.

Everyone is beautiful, and the world isn't equal - and we need to fight towards that.

I'm not Tupac or this prophetic dude or anything like that. I just want to make music and have fun.

Be not scared to use your voice.

I don't care if you're Christian, you're Muslim, you're gay, you're straight - I am here to fight for your equality. Because I believe that we are all born equal, but we are not treated equally, and that is why we must fight.

If you're right, than be right. There's no need to hurt others.

On the second half of 'Under Pressure,' I talk about my family, and there are voicemails on my phone from when I was on the road that actually make up the second half of the nine-minute song. I transcribe them and rap them as if I were my sister, my brother, or my father.

I was raised in a black household and grew up with black homies.

I wear my inspirations on my sleeve.

Lyricism is about painting a picture. It doesn't have to be a bunch of punchlines.

I realized that everybody is a critic. They're going to say they hate you, they love you, they this, they that, but at the end of the day, no matter what, I have to be confident in myself as a man and an artist.

I turn down really well-paid shows all over the world because I want to spend more time with my wife and myself.

I'm proud to be black and white and look the way I look. I'm proud to not speak down on women or glorify things that are unimportant.

I've invested a couple million into touring, and that's paid off.

I'm not the rapper that's too cool to tweet and talk to fans.

It's really cool to come from nothing and essentially be a nobody and make yourself somebody.

You can't put my talents in a box because my talents have put me in a mansion, and I'll be damned if anybody in the world can tell me what I can or cannot do, because they're scared to do it themselves.

I spent six figures of my own money to get a tour bus and do a fan tour for my second album. I surprised fans at their houses, and we'd eat food and play video games.

I wake up every day, I deal with hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars. I fund my tours by myself. I do merch by myself. I employ people. I have my own successful company.

My mother was racist.

My mother was a good woman.

I'm not the dude with the message. I'm a human being with different sides, different shades and different emotions, different feelings.

We're human. Enjoy yourself. You work hard every day; you deserve to turn up on the weekends with your friends.

I like to always do my best to make music catchy, so I think a very catchy melody is cool.

It wasn't the best childhood, but I did my best to make it good on my end... I didn't let it pull me down.

I was so scared because I was thought I had to work, work, work, because I thought I might only be around for five years. I thought I wasn't good enough to last.

I skipped school starting in tenth grade. I started doing badly and failed every class but English, so they kicked me out of school. They gave up on me.

Sometimes I watch movies. I don't party. I don't go out. It's just me and my homies in our circle. I stay away from everyone and everything so I can just continue to remain who I am.

Money will not give you happiness; it's part of the key.

I enjoy certain things, but I don't go out; I don't party. I just like watching movies, making fun music, and having a good time hanging out with the people who helped me get here - I'm a really simple guy.

Nobody knows this, but the first actual purchase, after I signed my deal and called my bank account and heard how much money was in there - 'cause I was so broke and hungry - was Taco Bell.

I'm very weird with my money.

Not to sound cliche, but some of the first things that I bought were for my homies and my team: making sure the people that helped me and ensured my security and safety during my come-up, while I was broke, had the opportunity to be okay.

Forever, for me, it was just about trying to make it and become a known person and loved and revered in hip-hop and the culture. But then ,I even realized that that isn't really important. What's mainly important is just the fans and the connection that you have as a man and an artist.

Everybody has culture, even white people have culture, but its different with me. So in high school, I was hanging out with the black and Hispanic kids. I'm not hating on white people. I hang with white people, too, but that's where I felt most accepted because I could relate to them more.

I grew up on Wu-Tang and Tribe and Nas, all the raw, very New York-driven music. Then when I got older - in my late teens, early twenties - and that's when I started to listen to Drake and J. Cole, and so it wasn't just East-coast.