R&B singer/actor Tyrese takes on the cover of the April 2012 issue of Defy Magazine. During his sit down with the publication, the "Stay" hitmaker discuss his longevity, challenges, the current state of music and more.

Check out some excerpts below and visit Defy if you want to cop the mag.

On having Longevity...I say this as humble as I can: I’ve seen a lot of people, a lot of singers, actors, public entertainers. They come and they go. But my mentality is the turtle wins the race. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. But these artists, they come out and they’ve got the—Oh my God!—they’ve got the hype and the smoke and the paparazzi and the hoopla, and all this sh-t, and it’s like a big public spectacle and, ahh, the arenas.. and then they disappear. They go away and they don’t come back. So I look at myself and I say, I’m not the biggest star in the world. I’m not. But I’m doing me. I believe in showing up and being the best version of me that I can be.

On Facing Challenges...I don’t believe in walls, levels, challenges, politics, bullsh*t. Those things just don’t exist in my mind. Everyone that will try to get in the way of where I’m going will be removed. Yes, at some point I’m going to have to deal with the challenges and the issues, but I don’t think about them when I’m getting where I need to go.

On the current state of music...What’s lacking in music these days is the conviction. I don’t believe you. Why are you singing about sex when you don’t even know what good sex is? You’ve never had good sex. You have to be able to sing about it and come from that real place. People think you can take some sexual lyrics and get up on the mic and have a good voice and that’s it, but there’s going to be a disconnect … I think people are convinced that I know about love, and I know about relationships and the challenges, and I sing about the things that are real to me. People connect to it because it’s real and that’s why it works.

Excerpts courtesy of NB.

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