control of me, I didn’t

even see it happening … just going further out there. Then you look

in the mirror one day and realize, ‘Wow, I don’t like what I see.’ I

knew I had to do something about it. I had a long run for, like, probably 10 years with no

vacation,” he explained. “I never went out. I was not the guy at the

club. I was almost scared of going to the club. All of a sudden, I

found myself working with certain artists from L.A. and hanging out in

L.A. and being introduced to a whole new lifestyle … and getting in

trouble with them…It wasn’t like an escape for me. It was more like I was having

so much fun and, for the first time being let out of the studio, it was

like the mad scientist on the loose,” he continued. “All of sudden,

pictures were snapping and I was famous and it went to my head, I

guess. I had to come back to earth…We all think we’re not going to get that point,” he said about

losing control. “It sneaks up on you real fast. … You don’t think

it’s affecting you, but it does. People probably didn’t enjoy talking

to me when I was high on cocaine, ’cause I had a friend of mine saying

[recently], ‘This is the first time I talked to you ever. You’re

focused on the conversation; you’re focused on everything you do.

You’re more methodical with your thinking.’ It’s serious.”