I make soul music for hip-hop heads. It's music I'd want to sample if I were a rapper.

There's a constantly applicable nature to soul music, whereas sometimes pop music can be a periodical.

Salsa, classic rock, soul music, jazz... all of that was a part of my education in making hip-hop music.

The blues echoes right through into soul, R&B and hip hop. It's part of the make-up of modern music. You can't turn your back on the blues.

Soul music is timeless.

Soul music is soul music. It can be wrapped up in a neo soul package; it can be called hip-hop soul. But soul is soul, and it's been around; it will never go away.