"I just had a bunch of knuckleheads around me," he said of weeding some former members of his entourage. "I just went through a place of trying to figure it out. You have to figure out what you're OK with, and what you're not OK with."

As for why he got so emotional following his performance at Sunday night's MTV VMA's? He said, "Last time I was at an award show, I was booed." He was moved by the overwhelming support he felt from the audience during his performance of his new song, "What Do You Mean?"