A while back, I had this realization. I just started thinking, like: I could do more. I could still be grateful for my success and all, and like, I could still wake up every day and try to kill it, but I could do so much more. And that’s when I decided to write this book.

The publishers had been reaching out to me for a while. It’s no secret that any book with my name on it is gonna move a lot of units. That’s not me being arrogant or whatever, that’s just a fact. They had been on me to work with a ghostwriter and churn out a memoir, and a little while back, I finally said to myself: You know what? It’s time. I’m ready to tell my story. I’m ready to put into words what I’ve learned about life. No ghostwriters, though—this shit’s gonna be straight from the source.

And I don’t mean to say that I have anything to teach anybody—really I don’t. If anything, this book is about the people who taught me, the people who made me who I am.

I guess it’s more like this: I’ve led a very singular life—I’ve had a very particular kind of experience on this Earth—and I think people might be interested to hear what the world looks like through my eyes, to step into my mind.

Why I really decided to write this book now is like, the world seems to be spinning out of control, you know? People are so mad at each other. People are taking life so seriously. People are losing hope. And I think, honestly, it’s because people are so rooted in their own particular spot in the universe.

But something happens to you when you’re touring all around the world all the time. Something happens to you when you visit some country you’ve never heard of and you see your face on the side of a bus being used to sell some soda that you didn’t even know existed, and you call up your people and you’re like: Yo, did we agree to this? And they tell you: Yes, it was part of an overall deal with East Asia.

Something happens: You realize how fucking tiny you are.

Honestly, that’s what amazes me the most with a lot of the people I meet: They think they’re so big. They think, ultimately, that the universe revolves around them. And I’m beginning to think that it’s only when you live a life like mine—it’s only when you’re in a position where you don’t even really own yourself, when you can’t even really say that you’re a citizen of any particular country—that you realize that we’re all just tiny pieces of cosmic dust floating through the void until we disappear forever and we’re never heard from again.