I got invited to work on Dre's 'Compton' project.

A lot of people who work with Dre, you're lucky if anything sees the light of day.

I don't think there's anybody that has such a keen sense of vocal production and attention to detail as Dre.

It would feel like a smack in the face to sign with any label outside of Dre's. He took a risk on me, and that means everything.

I tell people a lot of times, if you want to be a part of something, you never know, you kind of just have to be around. A lot of people don't really have the patience for it, and they don't stick around. Dre and I are still working together, and we have plenty of music for the future.

My mom had a produce business in in Oxnard, and we used to take these long trips to talk to farmers and different distributors. She'd take us with her after picking us up from school, and she'd be blasting all this old soul music and R&B. I knew all those O'Jays songs before I knew Snoop or Dre or Tupac.