"I realize how much my life lines up with artists like Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. My sound comes from..." — BJ the Chicago Kid

I left the city to accomplish something. And by leaving the city and trying to accomplish something, I've been a terrible cousin, brother, son some days.

There's something about real music, dawg. It comes to you; you don't have to go to it.

You cannot have black music without something soulful in it, whether it's lyrically, how it's performed, or how it's expressed.

My dad helped me understand songwriting because of him playing Babyface a lot. I don't even know if my dad realized that him just being him, him just living his life, loving what he loved, poured more into me than anybody ever would know.