MTV News' Chris Connelly recently chatted with Jennifer Lopez in the recording studio about "On the 6." They talked about her cast of collaborators, her first crack at songwriting, the universal appeal of Ricky Martin, and all those pesky rumors about her private life. Now here's the clips from their chatscript.

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Chris Connelly: What does "On the 6" mean?

Jennifer Lopez: I wish I could remember who it was who came and asked me, "How did you go from being a Puerto Rican girl who lived in the Bronx to doing movies and now recording your own album?" And I said, "I used to get on the 6 [a subway train line] and go to the city and do my auditions and take my lessons, voice lessons and dance classes, and all that kind of stuff."

Thinking about that, it just became sort of symbolic. It was a big goal of mine to make a record.... At first it was to be in videos, and then it was to be in television, and then it was to do a movie, and then it was, "I want to make my own album." So this was like that last final thing that I really wanted to accomplish.

The music is also who I am. And the music is what it is, it's Latin soul, because of where I'm from. The fact that I grew up in the Bronx... I was influenced by R&B and hip-hop, but on the holidays I would listen to salsa, merengue... that's what my music is. It's really who I am and where I'm from.

CC: So much about your career has sort of established you as a pioneer and made you a role model for a lot of people who look up to you now. Do you feel that burden at all?

JL: It really happened with the movie "Selena" for me. It was really scary. I remember being very freaked out, like, "Oh my god! What if I disappoint somebody?"

I started out just wanting to do good work. And because of what I do, that inspires people. And so long as I keep doing what I'm doing, it's not so much a responsibility as it is something that's sort of a gift that you get... for actually being able to pursue what you love to do. If you inspire [people] to go after something that maybe they wouldn't have done cause they're not used to seeing people of their culture in that position, that's all just icing on the cake for me.