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At the end of the day I can look back and say, ‘I didn’t take the easy way out when I wrote this song or this record.’ I took a very difficult route, so if anybody likes it, I can be truly proud of it. If I did it the other way and someone told me how much they liked it, I’d be saying, ‘Glad you liked it, but four people helped me write it and six other people helped produce and mix it.’

That’s not something I would be very proud of.

Does trying to make something that’s going to sound brand new to the ears still scare you?

I think it should be scary for me. I should not feel safe. I shouldn’t feel like I’ve arrived. Nothing about it should be easy.

When we recorded this album I went to L.A. and New York and recorded with people I’ve never met before. We walked into the room and set up and started playing. That’s a scary scenario. These could have been people I did not get along with and I took a big chance. But it worked out.

I wanted a lot of different personalities on the record, which I really like.

I get a little bit bored when I listen to an album and all the songs sound the same or they’re in the same mood. It’s nice on a Sunday morning, but as far as putting a record out in the world, I like to put out things that have as many different characters that I can squeeze on there.

Why did you seek out musicians that have backed Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West in a live setting to help you record this?

A lot of hip-hop recordings don’t have live musicians on them in the original recordings. But when Kanye or Kendrick or Jay-Z go out on tour a lot of times they have a live band behind them. Those guys are the ones I was interested in seeing if I could work with. … It takes a special type of talent to pull that off and be able to back up a hip-hop artist onstage.