You have to be sincere in your feelings. And fear is one of those, sometimes; doubt is one of those; jealousy, anger - all your emotions are not going to be considered the strong emotions; all of them are not going to be love, happiness, joy.
I believe that music is about making quality things, making quality art, and no matter who you decide to work with, you and that person have to come up with something special, come up with something that is excellent material, so whoever hears it and...
Maybe I write because I’ve learned to show certain parts of my heart on the page that I still struggle to capture in speech.
One thing I have throughout my career, it felt like I did my best to align myself with quality artists, quality work, and it is a situation of steel sharpening steel.
I come from playing sports. I compete, so I gotta be better than I was last year. I gotta get better, and that better gotta come from just growing. From learning new stuff to working on it, experience it in life, and failing.
Man, if I get a chance to speak on the microphone, I've got to say something somewhere in there. You know, I'm going to laugh and have fun, too, but something has to be said that has some substance, because this is a platform, and the power that we h...
Obviously God knew I wasn't going to make it to the NBA as much as I probably believed. This was divine order.
I feel like God gives you what you deserve. Whatever that time is, you get what you deserve.
My mom has obviously had a powerful influence on my life, and her voice can describe certain things that I couldn't see in myself.
Technically, my first acting job was in one of my videos for a song called 'Retrospect For Life,' which Lauryn Hill directed and featured an actress by the name of N'bushe Wright, who played my girlfriend who was about to be pregnant. I remember bein...
I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore. I definitely felt a connection to the people. They're really hard-working people that want to have a better life. And I saw the struggle that exists there.
Oh man, I love what the South brings as far as the soul, and I really have noticed from even the early days of listening to OutKast and Goodie Mob that Atlanta and the South has a diverse sound to it. You have bounce music. You have soulful musicians...
This is a broad thought, but loving yourself and having the support so that you can love yourself is the most important thing that young people in Chicago can get.
I loved plays, I loved films, but I had no desire to act until I had just put out my album 'Like Water for Chocolate.' Creatively, I felt like I'd hit a ceiling, and I needed something else to express myself, and I just decided to take acting classes...
It was incredible to have J Dilla in your dining room making beats - it was one of the greatest experiences I've had.
I want to be the voice of the people; black, white, everyday, oppressed people. A person trying to make it and to do it right.
Everything I'm saying shouldn't be taken so serious. I'm playing, but at the same token, I'm acknowledging that I'm not always the perfect man; I'm not always doing the right things. That's who I am. I'm working to be better.
I feel, as an artist, I should be able to express who I am and the things I come from, and the places I want to also be.
Doing acting opened up other creative outlets; it made me feel freer as an artist.
The impact of a conscious artist is necessary, and it ripples through the world.
