Seven-time Grammy nominee is sitting comfortably in his lane right now. Despite his legal woes, the Hawaii native has a bevy of chart toppers under his belt, a debut album that projects timeless material, co-wrote two of 2010′s most contagious anthems (Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You” and his collabo with B.o.B. “Nothin On You”) and is slated to hit the road with label mate Janelle Monae.

So, how does he do it? How does one compose such awesome material? Well, Toure sat down with the Atlantic Records hit maker to discuss his musical roots, which derived from his Puerto Rican father, his love for Elvis Presley, his false start over at Motown when he was 18, working with Cee-Lo Green and being nominated for seven Grammy’s.

Below, Mars breaks down the process of his songwriting talents and how he compares writing the perfect song, to him, is handled like telling a great joke.

“You know, it’s always different. But to me the best songs are like a joke. Like, you have to set it up in a way that no one’s ever heard it before. And then the hook is the punch line. So in, “Nothin On You” , I say, “Beautiful girls all over the world/I could be chasing/but my time would be wasted. They got nothing on you.” I ain’t saying nothing that aint never been said in a million love songs before. But I feel like the way its set up is what makes it magical. I’m telling a girl, “Look, there’s beautiful girls all over the world.” Already that’s different. How you gonna tell a girl that’s beautiful there’s beautiful girls all over the world? I could be chasing them, but they got nothing on you. There’s the punch line.”

VIBE’s February/March issue should be on newsstands this week.