Kelli Giddish

I had never been to Texas. I'd been through Texas, but I'm so glad to be back in a place that's not L.A. or New York. To talk about Dallas, to talk about there being sweet tea on the catering table, it's rich and saturated in American-ness.

I went down for a week with the Houston Marshals. I didn't know that they hated paperwork as much as I hated it. They loathe it, man. They want to be in their cars catching the bad guys. They don't want to be filling out paperwork about the bad guys, you know, and the ones they've caught.

You make your first album, you make some money, and you feel like you still have to show face, like 'I still go to the projects.' I'm like, why? Your job is to inspire people from your neighborhood to get out. You grew up there. What makes you think it's so cool?