As far as rap goes, I grew up in Hollis, Queens, so early influences were people like Run DMC and LL Cool J.

Newspapers abound, and though they have endured decades of decline in readership and influence, they can still form impressive piles if no one takes them out to the trash.

What we believe spirit visitors to be influences how they affect our lives. What we believe ourselves to be dictates how we react to them.

Whether I'm being influenced by new music that I'm listening to, books I've read, my friends, or my faith, I'm learning all the time.

I'm an activist. I'm a proud activist. So I want to be someone who is pro-black and pro-Africa and still be somebody that has positive influence.

We see a new Ethiopia, a new Africa, stretching her hands of influence throughout the world, teaching man the way of life and peace, The Way to God.

My biggest influence is rap. It spoke to me, probably because of my upbringing in Christiania. You listen to 'The Chronic' and you can hear that anger and frustration.

“I've always been influenced by soul singers. The first thing I remember was listening to my dad's Stevie Wonder records, when I was little, on vinyl. I grew up on him and Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, these amazing singers. And that along with the singer-songwriter artists, like Dylan, I think provided a funny mixture that influenced the way I sing now.”

He watched over word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass judgement on it... She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence that would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would certainly lose if she were ever false to them.

“Companies get an incredible return on their investment and feel they can't stop spending the money. They're still looking for ways to influence the process, and there are still many ways to do that.”