ISCA: That's a subject of major debate.

GOTHAM: Because you're at that stage now where everyone is trying to decide how big you are? Your last show sold out?

ISCA: Sold out three days before it opened. So everyone says not to show again for a while. Maybe I'll go to Germany and check out the scene there. Any thoughts on Germany?

LEELEE: I don't like the language. It sounds too harsh.

[Soheil begins speaking German.]

SOHEIL: I learned German specifically for the opera The Magic Flute by Mozart. I grew up loving opera. More than you can imagine. I chose German in the seventh grade. But really I should have learned Italian.

GOTHAM: Soheil is of Persian decent, born in L.A., grew up there and in D.C. Last year he did four concerts in Carnegie Recital Hall and has four more there in the coming year, all without repeating a piece. [To Soheil] Neither of your parents forced you into becoming a musician?

SOHEIL: No. My parents loved classical music so I was exposed to it in utero. They were enthusiastic connoisseurs.

DAMON: I wish I knew how to play the piano. I tried. I played saxophone in sixth grade.

GOTHAM: Where did you grow up?

DAMON: Manhattan.

GOTHAM: Where?

MONKEY BUSINESS Left to Right: Johnson, Greenfield-Sanders, Turley, Nasseri, Sobieski.

DAMON: I had two lives. My uptown life was in Harlem. My downtown life was P.S. 6 on 81st and Park Avenue. Then I went to Dwight. So I got to see both sides. Taught me a lot.

GOTHAM: Three of you grew up in Manhattan.

LEELEE: My boyfriend's name is Manhattan [Perry]. He just graduated from Brown.

DAMON: Then I went to school in Connecticut. South Kent.

GOTHAM: Sounds fancy.

DAMON: Yeah, it was pretty fancy. An all-boys school. I did it for a year. My homeboys out there are still my friends. But I didn't go back. I was in the 11th grade, I couldn't do 12th. So I ended up getting my G.E.D.

SOHEIL: I did the same exact same thing. Left after 11th grade and got a G.E.D. [The fellows exchange high fives.] What kind of message are we sending the youth of America?

GOTHAM: "Leave school as soon as possible."

DAMON: When I got back from South Kent, I went to the worst high school in the city, called West Side High. I was practically teaching the class myself. Then they kicked me out. They thought I was too arrogant.

GOTHAM: So you went into the music business after that?

DAMON: I needed a business where I could have fun and make money.

GOTHAM: How old were you when you met Jay-Z?

DAMON: Twenty-one. I got my first record deal when I was 19. As a manager. Two deals. Both of the groups "caught a brick," which means they didn't sell. They went cardboard...................................