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I want people to notice my writing abilities are real and that I'm not just stuck in one situation.
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As a businessman, I saw club tracks as a new franchise that could be profitable for years to come. It was like being in McDonald's and realizing that even though cheeseburgers and fries sold big, you could also make money serving up McRibs, which are always available for a limited time only.
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I'm not gonna be broke, like my mom was broke, my uncles were broke, my sisters didn't have money, my cousins on down.
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Everywhere I go, from malls to restaurants to sold-out tours overseas and back, everywhere I've been, I get nothing but love.
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I have fans, and I have family that love me, and I have my music, and I have my breath going in and out.
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As with all the other rappers I've worked with, Biggie and I shared common ground. Even though Biggie grew up in Brooklyn and I grew up in Chicago, we came from the same 'hood.
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Nobody knows 100% what affects the human body, mind or spirit.
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I just never, in my career, got into doing a lot of press.
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Love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forever more it will go on undefeated. I'm also a very loving person.
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R. Kelly is an image, a brand. That's my job. There's a whole other side of me that's Robert, who is a father, a friend. But then I put on the game face and go into the studio and do the music. That's just another day at the office.
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Before I can finish one song, another is knocking on my door in my head.
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My friend, there is no end when it comes to 'Trapped In The Closet.'
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I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
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I started learning everybody's riffs, from Donny Hathaway to Jeffrey Osborne to James Ingram. That helped me create my own style of singing.
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When I first came in the business, I had a couple of close calls on planes going to London for shows. There was one time where the plane had to fly around until a storm ended, and then we started having a question about fuel, so we had to go through the storm. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. That really messed me up.
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You don't see me in the club. And the reason is because I would rather be in the studio mixing these musical potions. Now sometimes they blow up in my face, and there's a lot of smoke. But that's who I am. Music is what I do.
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My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don't write songs... write life. I decided to take her up on that.
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I couldn't believe I was working with Michael Jackson. I thought, growing up as a kid, I thought Michael was a cartoon.
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If I'm going to be a leader then I have to go places that other people are afraid to go to. That's what makes a leader. To be not afraid to step out and go over the frontline. To stare darkness right in the face.
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When I met Michael Jordan on a basketball court at an athletic club – we hooped together in Chicago – he came to me and asked me if I wanted to do a song for his upcoming movie. I was like, 'Yeah!' I didn't even ask what it was.
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You don't want R&B singers to get into beef. Leave that to the rappers, let them do that - R&B, be classy.
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I wouldn't be able to do the songs as long as I've been doing if I didn't feel the pulse of the world. But I can feel people and I know what they want. I feel like I know how they are, because I am the people. And I just have a gift.
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I will always do R. Kelly – I'm not perfect, but I'm perfectly me.
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I look at my music in the beginning, and the sexual songs, the partying songs, those are the realities because those things happen.