It's a dream when some people think that once you give your life to God, all of a sudden things are perfect. That's not the case. We live in a world that's broken, where there's disease, where people are selfish. The foundation of your faith helps you know how to put that in proper perspective.
It's great having time to just sit back and work through things in my mind. It helps put life into perspective.
Now it seems like hip hop belongs to the people you see in the videos and radios. So I want to give it bring it back to the hood, make a statement for NY to put us back in our proper perspective, and of course let them know that Ra still spits fire.
I use are provisional terms, and they usually put any proper nouns in critical distance. I'm in a tradition of people who resist naming, fixity. That means it's a tradition of people who insist on mobility, who defy proper nouns and genres and those kinds of things. When I push back against the word 'jazz' it's because I've learned that from many, many elders who think that way. I'm not just being a jerk.
People should be faced with losing everything a little bit more often because it really helps put a lot of things into perspective.
Sometimes a little near death experience helps them put things into perspective.
First of all, let me just say what's interesting about American politics is that if things really get bad here, people say nasty things about you. From a global perspective, if politics get bad, you die, so let's just keep some perspective here.
A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.
I have to prioritize: father first, and then a pastor and a recording artist and entrepreneur. I try to put everything in proper perspective, and then the proper priority.
My main priority was to get my health back. I had my family around me and my partner had just had a baby. It put into perspective some of the things that were most important.
You invite things to happen. You open the door. You inhale. And if you inhale the chaos, you give the chaos, the chaos gives back.
I've never needed a lobbyist personally to put my case. I'd rather put my case myself. But I don't understand how other people look at things. A lot of people in business haven't been involved in politics. They are frightened of ministers and the whole procedure. It's not something to be frightened of. It's something to go in and realise that people who go into politics, regardless of being Labor, Liberal or Nationals, primarily go in to serve the community.
The politics of personal destruction, the politics of division, the politics of fear, it's all there. It helps you to define the politics of moderation - the politics of democratic respect, the politics of hope - more clearly.
Being 40 and having three kids puts lots of things in perspective and helps me stay grounded.
Being nice to everybody, saying hello to everyone in the room, signing every autograph; it was instilled in me at a very young age that this was what I was suppose to do. But I don't think it helps at all. I see more people who are rude or arrogant being rewarded - but, this way, I can put my head on the pillow at night.
I always try and find new things to think about and address. That really opens you up as a writer. I can write a lot of what I feel and it helps put it into clearer perspective.