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I'm a product of its [american] teaching, of its thinking, of its -isms, of its religion, of its education. I am conditioned, raised and developed by America; I am America. And as it changes, my thoughts also change. Because no matter what I believe, what the powers-that-be believe will affect me.
Erykah Badu
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Hip-hop is not something we do, it's something we live. It's the way we dress, the way we talk... everybody bobbing to the same beat. It's a culture, and you have to find your own place in that culture. Top 10 or Top 40 can't dictate that. They can only dictate what's marketable.
Erykah Badu
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Discipline is important, we need to be more focused on what we put into our bodies.
Erykah Badu
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All I want to do is give the world my heart... Record label tryina make me compromise my art.
Erykah Badu
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I grew up listening to old soul
Erykah Badu
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Whereas I want everything to be peaceful during a birth, I take the total opposite approach when I'm helping someone come to terms with leaving this place - I play Richard Pryor records.
Erykah Badu
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I'm more like an oven than a microwave.
Erykah Badu
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I started performing at two or three on a tape recorder, one of those little flat recorders where you just push play and record.
Erykah Badu
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My truth is relevant and my songs are relevant, but I have to recalibrate myself and speed up my vibrations so that I can communicate with the voice of this generation.
Erykah Badu
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Breathing becomes really easy when you're laughing. It kick starts that feeling of joy.
Erykah Badu
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Society has a problem with female nudity when it is not . . . ”—Badu pauses to get her words together; she wants this point to be very clear—“. . . when it is not packaged for the consumption of male entertainment. Then it becomes confusing.
Erykah Badu
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In the morning, instead of saying to yourself, ‘I got to wake up’ say ‘I get to wake up!’
Erykah Badu
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What does music mean to me? I don't think I would really be much without it, without it coming through me. It's my means of communication, my means of growth, my means of transportation from one point in my life to another.
Erykah Badu
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We literally just finished making this gown 20 minutes ago. I love it. It's my favorite color.
Erykah Badu
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What a frequency What a voice. I love Bilal. I couldn't imagine a music world without his voice.
Erykah Badu
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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 diva who could move the audience with the slightest gesture of her hand.
Erykah Badu
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I love being an entertainer - not really fond of being a celebrity.
Erykah Badu
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My mom was the Diana Ross of our clan. She was always up-to-date, and always knew what to do and what not to do in a fashion sense.
Erykah Badu
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A lot of people have dementia, which is great, because then they don't recognize me.
Erykah Badu
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I thought it was cool how [ Riccardo Tisci] wanted to blend Africa and Asia because they relate to each other in so many different ways.
Erykah Badu
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During childbirth and hospice I'll sing gospel songs that my grandma taught me when I was younger, or something I've made up, or I'll hum. I just play things that I think the audience will like.
Erykah Badu
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The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.
Erykah Badu
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All of my children are the same way I am. They're little artists too, in their own ways.
Erykah Badu
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He definitely does what a partner is supposed to do, that is, evolve you.
Erykah Badu
