A: It has a lot to do with the completion of a lot of cycles I'm going through. First of all, this is the 10th cycle, the 10 year cycle that I'm ending, '85 to '95, or should I say '86 to '96. When KRS-One came into being actually as Boogie Down Productions, it was like '85-'86. So I'm celebrating a ten year thing. Usually when you complete a cycle you're on to a new one. So this is the beginning of the next ten years, where I'm going from this point on. There's a lot of things I'm ready to get involved in. One is, I just finished a book called "The Science of Rap", and I snuck out with it, because it's really on the low, and this book basically takes rap artists to rap specialists.

Q: So it's like a guidebook.

A: Exactly.

Q: For example, it says "the rapper should only wear light-weight, loose fitting shirts and pants, the rappers clothes should be bright and vivid. The light-weight loose fitting clothes give the rapper the illusion that he or she is moving more than he or she actually is." My, my!

A: You know you're maintaining an audience of several thousand people, so you have to capture the energy, throw it back, and then they throw it back, you gotta know how to deal with it. You can't turn your back to the audience, you don't lie with your head down...

Q: You know, people would say, there's goes KRS-One again, always trying to educate us. People would say, what gives him the right to tell us what it takes to be a hip-hop artist?

A: Well, I'll tell you several things. Number one, one thing that I have that I notice a lot of people don't have is self-confidence. So starting there, not ego, self-confidence. Now, anyone who has seen me live knows, can't none of y'all really hang out, so...

Q: You modest fellow you!

A: No, not egotistically, but there are a few rappers out there, like Tribe Called Quest, Naughty By Nature, The Roots, myself, that have top notch hip-hop shows, you know, you come and spend your money you want to see something for real. So, after rocking parties for ten years, and people asking me, well, how do you stay in the business for so long, what's your secret? I finally said, well, it's called the science of rap. There is a science to what we do. We're not just artists, we're rap specialists.

Q: OK. And you're working on another book? This is not your first foray into penmanship.

A: Yes. Well, there's more of a philosophical book that ties in with my lecture tour series, those that always come to the lectures good lookin,

Q: And for those who don't know, KRS really is very prolific. He's on the lecture circuit, goes to all the colleges and just talks about hip hop.

A: Those that know that side of me know that there's a philosophical side, a theological side, where we question the validity of God...

Q: We're not going there today.

A: OK, but what I will say today is that hip hop is the philosophy of the inner city. And that's what this other book is really all about. I'm taking my time with it, it's taken me several years to write it, but when it's finally done, I guarantee that not only will femininity once and for all be respected in theology, but also, self and the need for self knowledge will be respected in theology.

Q: All right! Now, when is this going to come out?

A: Around February, I'll probably drop it for Black History Month.

Q: There you go. I'm sure it's going to be very educational, because you are known for educating as you entertain, although I think your last album, you went back more to the street, to the underground, more to the "Boom Bap", was more of the street thing, so is this a return to the edu-tainment thing?

A: Actually "Return to the Boom Bap" was just that, a return to the party-style kind of thing because you don't want to get too far away from rocking the party in the midst of edutainment. But this album is more a culmination of all of that. It's more, the past ten years, the way I see it, the way I viewed myself, the way I viewed rap, it's sort of the focus.