Being honest is my job. That’s what music is for me.

I don’t have one song that sounds like another one in my entire catalog.

I planned my success. I knew it was going to happen.

My eyes are green, Cause I eat a lot of vegetables,It don’t have nothing to do with your new friend

I have the ability to sing with emotion and feeling, but if you say I sound like Billie Holiday, that’s cool. Let’s look at who Billie was: she was this person, this singer, this beautiful...

I grew up listening to old soul.

I thought the Billie Holiday comparison was beautiful. I think, Wow, what a wonderful, creative, helpful spirit. She’s someone who wanted to help others by sharing her emotion. That’s what I do, too, so I...

Hip-hop is the people. What the people are moving toward is what hip-hop is. I think people are moving toward a freer way of thinking. Openness.

I started performing at two or three on a tape recorder, one of those little flat recorders where you just push play and record.

And I figured out that the reason I couldn’t get through the day as well as I can now is because I had too many things on my mind, on my plate, you know, for...

I love being an entertainer – not really fond of being a celebrity.

From then on, I realized this is what I want to do, what I’m supposed to do: Giving energy and receiving it back through applause. I love it. That’s my world. I love it. I...

I knew it would happen. I knew I’d be No. 1. I’m a new artist; I don’t know the rules. Nobody told me it wouldn’t happen.