Rick James Quotes
I'm trying to change the root of funk, trying to make it more progressive, more melodic and more lyrically structured.

Quotes to Explore
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As a songwriter, you tend to develop your own style, your own technique, based around what it is you're trying to write and perform, in terms of your own music. So a way of evolving a guitar style as a songwriter is much easier, I think, than developing a true style of your own just from listening to music or playing other people's music.
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Back in the day, when the D.J. would be playing a record, I'd be on the mic trying to hype up the crowd. So once Public Enemy became a rap group, I decided that that's the role that I wanted to take on. I wanted to be the one that was hyping, because I've always been good at it. I can hype up any crowd.
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If I hadn't spent many years trying to be as compassionate as Mother Teresa, as positive a thinker as W. Clement Stone, as prolific a writer as Stephen King, and as good a speaker as many of the legends I have studied, I would not be as successful as I am today.
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The first time I ever recorded, which was into my boom-box, I was like, 'Wow, check that out.' It sounded great. The narcotic of it was so intense - it was pleasurable. I was like, 'You sound like a band.' Then I ended up spending the rest of my life trying to chase that initial high again.
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I'm always trying to learn and grow, so my diet has, over the years, evolved.
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I'm at this point in my career where I'm trying to step away from the realm of fine arts, because I think it's a very exclusive, very restrictive place to be. What I want to be able to do is to change the lives of people with the same materials they deal with every day.
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I don't burn any calories trying to be masculine; I just happen to be from that world.
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We not trying to do what everybody else is doing.
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I've been trying to understand conflict and violence ever since I was a kid. You know. There were a few things that happened even on my block - the Black Panthers used to be right around the corner from where we were.
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It is inexcusable that the richest country in the world does not take care of all of its people. We don't consider ourselves idealistic; we're thoughtfully trying to make a beautiful health care model.
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I guess my feeling is is that if you're going to make a joke, that's fine, but you should also sort of stand behind it, you know? A joke should be more than a joke, it should be a point that you're trying to make.
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The Syrians are trying to say that the Lebanese are not capable of ruling themselves.
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For me, trying to connect our team together is so important. I know we'll play really well when our team gets really tight. So I want to make sure I connect with the players so that I can help them be at their best.
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I was a pretty angry kid, and I got into military history largely as a way to vent my own anger. As I got older it narrowed down to a more specific focus on individual violence. I'm just trying to understand where it came from.
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We've all made mistakes that are similar in just trying to get by or make some money or feel good about ourselves.
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It takes a tough, stand-up governor to stand up to the president of the United States - speaking out against the president, speaking out against his policies and, more than that, having actual policies that will help expand health care while... Trump is trying to diminish it for Illinois families.
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Every time I step onto the field, whether people like it or not, I'm not trying to play dirty - I'm just playing tough.
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It sounds so dramatic, but I'll say it: Hollywood just doesn't know what to do with me. And it's not for lack of trying.
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We must occupy the food system to create food democracy.
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I drew a lot of inspiration from the Ginuwines, the Ushers, the Michael Jacksons, the James Browns, Sam Cooke.
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My family doesn't understand trying to chase your dreams because they were all about survival.
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Beauty is a terrible and awful thing! It is terrible because it has not been fathomed, for God sets us nothing but riddles. Here the boundaries meet and all contradictions exist side by side.
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I'm trying to change the root of funk, trying to make it more progressive, more melodic and more lyrically structured.