“What I learned from Michael [made an immense difference] coming into the Monsters of Hip-Hop show... even just in the way I wanted to carry myself when I was around everybody in the [creative] process. I knew it was going to be completely different from how I did [Monsters] the first year because I had now been around some of the most educated and experienced people in [the] industry.
[Monsters] was the first time that I really got to apply all the things that I had learned from Kenny Ortega, Travis Payne, and Michael Jackson. The influence of This Is It really [showed] in my work because I made a very conscious decision while I was [working with] Michael that I wanted to take notes on everything that was said; everything that was done; everything that I could learn from. I was just a human sponge when it came to that project so when I went on to do another job within the realm of storytelling, within the realm of the arts it just seeped out of my work. I was like wow, I am 100% different as an artist now, just from being around him.”
