What Does It Mean to Build Something That Lasts Beyond Your Lifetime?

I think about Electric Lady Studios a lot, because that was different from just making records. When you make a record, it's done — it's a moment captured. But a studio, a space where creation happens, that's something alive. That's where other people can come and discover their own voice. That matters in a way that's hard to explain.

I grew up with nothing in Seattle. My mother left when I was young, and my father couldn't always take care of me the way he wanted to. Music was the only thing that made sense, the only thing that felt like home. So when I got to a place where I could create something physical, something that would help other musicians after I was gone, that felt like I was passing something forward.

You know, everything is temporary. I learned that young. Nothing lasts forever in the way you think it will. But the way you treat people, the quality of what you create, the doors you open for people coming after you — that echoes. That ripples out in ways you'll never fully see.

I think about the musicians I learned from — the ones who took time to show me things, who believed in me before I believed in myself. They're gone now, most of them, but their influence is still alive in me, still moving through my fingers when I play. That's the legacy that matters.

When you're creating something, whether it's a song or a studio or a movement, you have to ask yourself: am I doing this for me, for right now? Or am I trying to build something that can help people I'll never meet? The second one is harder. It means you can't cut corners. It means you have to care about the quality, the integrity, the spirit of it.

I don't know how long my music will last. I hope it lasts a long time. But whether it does or not, I know I tried to be real, tried to push boundaries, tried to help other people find their voice. If that ripples forward, if one young musician hears something in my records and gets inspired to take risks they wouldn't have taken otherwise, then something real has lasted. That's enough.