Erykah Badu Quotes
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All I want to do is give the world my heart... Record label tryina make me compromise my art.
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Because you're responsible for [children]. You are there to protect them, not possess them. I tell them, "Watch me and you might learn something."
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My fifth mother is Mother Nature - the things I had to learn on my own, the understanding I had to come to and still have to come to as a young woman, as a responsible mother, a responsible granddaughter and child. She teaches me willpower, honesty, and the things we need to heal ourselves from moment to moment.
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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.
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I grew up listening to old soul
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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.
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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.
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I'm more like an oven than a microwave.
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In the morning, instead of saying to yourself, ‘I got to wake up’ say ‘I get to wake up!’
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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.
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I love being an entertainer - not really fond of being a celebrity.
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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.
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Breathing becomes really easy when you're laughing. It kick starts that feeling of joy.
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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.
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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.
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A lot of people have dementia, which is great, because then they don't recognize me.
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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.
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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.
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What a frequency What a voice. I love Bilal. I couldn't imagine a music world without his voice.
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We literally just finished making this gown 20 minutes ago. I love it. It's my favorite color.
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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.
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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.
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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 think that's a great comparison.
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He definitely does what a partner is supposed to do, that is, evolve you.