“When we did the big meeting with Interscope, Jimmy Iovine was telling me all about how badly their business has been harmed by the internet,” Ninja says, sipping black coffee. ” I can understand that but I said, ‘Jimmy, I want to give you a piece of samurai advice: Become the enemy.”

Tom Waits: The whole town is kind of like a folk song. It’s like public domain. You do have a hand in the building of it. It didn’t get built by one guy. This is what I envisioned, we all work together. Even in your house, the things you do to your house, well, someone will be living in it, and its what you did to it. And someone after them will be living in it. I get bothered by all the people you see every day that I’ll never see again. We’re surrounded by strangers. Millions and millions of people you see every day that are just like fish. They’re just extras in the movie starring you and you’re an extra in the movie starring them. It’s just peculiar. Then you’re really aware of it in a city ’cause there’s so many people and you’re just pushing through. You’re just like a sperm flipping your flagellum around, you know, trying to make your way through the city.

Beck: Who you know and whatever situations you find yourself in with whatever people—it’s all sort of arbitrary. There are an infinite amount of doors you could’ve opened.

Tom Waits: And walk right out and walk right into another door and start another life six blocks away.