Nick Cannon is "in a relationship" with his music.
Nick Cannon
The 37-year-old star - who has twins Moroccan and Monroe, six, with ex-wife Mariah Carey, and son Sagon, 12 months, with former girlfriend Brittany Bell - has a number of aspects to his career, but while his comedy gigs are "therapy" for him, his true "love" is creating songs.
He said: "Comedy is my therapy, but music is my love.
"I'm in a relationship with music. I'm in no other relationship. Music is my girlfriend, my fiancé, [and] my wife. I'm dedicated to music.
"Therapy fixes people and cleanses people. Music doesn't do that for me. Music makes me happy."
However, the 'Wild N' Out' host admitted his music can be "therapeutic" because it gives him a way of being very honest about his thoughts and feelings.
He told Verge Campus: "My music is definitely personal. I'm a personable person. I speak about everything that I'm going through, and everything I'm feeling at the moment. Even if it's an unpopular feeling, or something that most people would disguise, I put it in my music.
"I guess that it is therapeutic in that sense. It gives me an outlet where I'm more of an introvert other than when it's time to be an artist and make music.
"I'm a real private person unless I'm making a song. If I'm doing an interview I'm an open book, but that's when it's time to be the artist. I guess my art does allow me to get everything out."
And the 'Hold On' singer can see a lot of similarities between comedy and hip-hop, because anything goes.
Asked what he's learned from 'Wild N' Out', he said: "Go balls to the wall. Go all the way out. Rock with it. Don't ever allow someone to tell you that you can't do something.
"That's the beauty of improv. There's no rules to improv. The first rule of improv is there are no rules to improv. Just go in. The idea is to make people laugh.
"That's the same thing with hip-hop culture. There's no rules to hip-hop. You just do it, and you do what you feel. I learned to trust my gut, to trust my instinct, and my inner spirit more than ever because of that show."
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