America’s Got Talent returns to TV this week, but once again, a familiar face won’t be in the mix. Nick Cannon hosted the show for eight seasons, but he quit after Season 12 (and was later replaced by Tyra Banks) after NBC threated to fire him for ridiculing the network in his Showtime comedy special Stand Up, Don’t Shoot. Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment a year after the scandal, Cannon says he still has no regrets, saying it’s “probably one of the best decisions” he ever made in his career.

“It was super-controversial for some time… but it was a freedom-of-speech process and me standing firm for my own beliefs and culturally who I am, and really for all the employees who have been thumb-pressed by their bosses,” Cannon explains, discussing the importance of adhering to his brand. “I kind of stood up and said, ‘Yo, I was threatened for some content that I created.’ And they wanted me to shape up and get in line and watch my choice of words or how speak about the network. …I was threatened to be fired. I told them, ‘You can’t fire a boss. I quit!’”

At the time, Cannon’s decision to walk away from a reported $4.5 million salary shocked his fans, but even people in Cannon’s camp thought he was making a mistake. “People on my own team, people that were with me, man, like they scared for me,” he chuckles. “And I was like, ‘Yo, that job doesn’t define me.’ … As an artist, that was a self-defining moment, because a lot of people was like, ‘How can you walk away from such an amazing job? You’re the No. 1 host on television, highest-paid,’ all of that stuff. And I was like, ‘None of that stuff matters to me. I’m an artist and it’s not about money. It’s about having my own self-worth.”

Since wrapping his final AGT season in 2016, Cannon certainly hasn’t slowed down. He’s been working on the 11th of his comedy game show Wild N Out, studying in his “spare time” at Howard University, and, most importantly, constantly releasing new music.

“I’ve probably made so much more money since walking away from [AGT] and doing it the way that I wanted to do it. I’m almost like, ‘Man, I should’ve stepped away earlier,’” Cannon says. “You ever had those decisions where you’re kind of in your comfort zone and so you kind of you go about the mundane process, and as soon as you step out of your comfort zone it’s all of this freedom and just the universe starts to just throw so many things in your direction? That’s what happened. I’m elated with everything that I’ve been doing since I stepped away from America’s Got Talent.”

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This article originally ran on Yahoo Music.

Nick Cannon is known for the raunchy humor of MTV’s Wild ‘n Out and singles like “Gigolo,” “Feelin’ Freaky,” and “Dime Piece.” But for his new track, “Motivation,” released during International Women’s Month, he was inspired to go in a surprisingly serious direction, after having an eye-opening conversation with an important woman in his life, Corinne Cannon.

“I was challenged by my 98-year-old great-grandmother, who actually told me she was disappointed in me, with a lot of the choice words and choice content that I was putting forth, and it wasn’t a reflection of the grandson that she has grown to know and love,” Nick tells Yahoo Entertainment. “I mean, if you listen to some of my other lyrics, or even if you pay attention to Wild ‘n Out … there’s a misogynistic nature in hip-hop that I subscribe to from time to time. And my 98-year-old grandmother probably isn’t too keen on certain terminology and subject matters. My current music video [for 'Only You,' featuring Fat Joe and DJ Luke Nasty], I shot in a strip club, you know what I’m saying?

“She had a real conversation with me, and I bowed down and said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ She gave me some points of reminding me that I have a 6-year-old daughter, and I don’t always want to have to turn the radio down when Daddy’s music comes on.”

The Cannon family matriarch — whom Nick describes as “firing on all cylinders; she’s online, she still sells Avon” — sat Nick down and told him, “You were put here to inspire. You have a gift, and [you should] use it.” So he decided to set Corinne’s message to music — and he even cast her in his self-directed and self-shot “Motivation” video, in which she dispenses nuggets of wisdom like “You don’t have to have someone else to make you know who you are.” Many other strong black women over age 80, including Holly Robinson Peete’s mother and basketball player Chris Paul’s grandmother, also appear.

“I put a camera in front of [Corinne] and said, ‘I want you to say these exact same things and inspire these young women out there too,’” Nick recalls.

Nick is currently working on his supermodel-inspired next album, Model Music, out later this year, and while that record will have a sexier, clubbier vibe, he’s not worried about Corinne’s disapproval. “I think it’s all about balance,” he explains. “[‘Motivation’] was my rebuttal to my great-grandmother. It wasn’t about like, ‘Oh, I’m going to change’; I’d be somewhat foolish to think that I could change the course of hip-hop, as well as even my own creative process, just based off of one conversation, because to me art is supposed to be honest and true and a reflection of the society we live in. I am a person, I go to strip clubs — but I’m also a motivational speaker at times! It’s an interesting dichotomy of an artist.”

However, Cannon — who attends Howard University when he’s not working on music and his many entertainment, entrepreneurial, and activism endeavors — is always trying to better himself, and he hopes for the same for his twins, who are lucky enough to have a great-great-grandmother in their lives. He realizes that his daughter Monroe will face some of the same problems that Corinne has struggled with over the past nine decades, but he’s optimistic about her future.

“When I think of my daughter, I get really sensitive to this, but it’s about equipping her with the essential tools to be the best her in life, and that she has that opportunity to do that,” Cannon says. “I want her to go up against everything. I want her to have all the challenges in the world, because I know it’s only going to make her stronger in that sense. … I pray that my daughter taps into her inner strength and understands that any opportunity that’s placed in front of her, she can overcome it, thrive in it, succeed, and that there’s going be things like everybody is not going to like you. Everybody’s not going to agree with you. Some people are going to be mean to you. Some people are going to be envious of you. But don’t let that feed into your energy. Don’t allow anyone to steal your joy. Don’t let anyone alter your conquest. That’s what I tell her.”

Watch Nick Cannon’s entire Facebook Live interview, in which he discusses his marriage to Mariah Carey, his battle with lupus, his philanthropy, his music, his pursuit of higher education, and more, in the video below.

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This article originally ran on Yahoo Music.