John Roger Stephens Quotes
-
Marvin Gaye was one of the coolest. I look to him as a style icon and as an artist.
-
I'm honestly not a great gift giver. I could give better - my girlfriends have always complained about that.
-
In my neighborhood in Springfield, Ohio, there were a lot of young kids. We all played tackle football after school, but I knew very early on that I was not an athlete.
-
I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative. So whatever. I listen to all if it. Classic rock and classic pop, all of that.
-
Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure.
-
In terms of the technology I use the most, it's probably a tie between my Blackberry and my MacBook Pro laptop. That's how I communicate with the rest of the world and how I handle all the business I have to handle.
-
I always felt that rap didn't cause crime; it just reflected it.
-
When I write, I don't really focus on duets or anything like that or whether I'm going to feature this or that rapper. I just focus on just making a great song and figure out the rest later.
-
I always figured I would live long enough to see a black president. The movies predicted it. Usually, Morgan Freeman.
-
Experience is a great teacher.
-
Well, what's interesting, I try not to think about the radio when I'm writing a song. I want people to love the song, and that means it might not be exactly thinking about the radio, but it's thinking about your audience and saying, 'I want people to like this song after it's done.'
-
I've never put out a song that I wasn't completely proud of and that I didn't love. In that sense, I've never felt like I sold out in any way.
-
John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name.
-
I know how it feels to be a singer who wants to get discovered.
-
We have this film that we hope to finance, it's called 'Southern Rights.' It's a documentary about segregated proms that are still happening in the South of America. So there's a black prom and a white prom, so we hope to finance a film soon about that.
-
I signed with Kanye back in 2003, and at that time, 'The College Dropout' hadn't even come out, so he was still relatively unknown compared to where he is now. He wasn't a household name; people were still calling him 'Kane.'
-
I was around a lot of gospel as a kid.
-
Hip-hop is one of the most free art forms there is. There's so many sounds you can use, so many things you can bring in. You never know, man. I bet years ago people would've never said they would hear me with Rick Ross, and we did four classic songs together.
-
Shoes are important, of course. I love my Lanvin sneakers - they go with a lot of things. And then I think a nice bag is great, so you carry your computer or whatever else in style. I've been carrying a Tom Ford backpack lately.
-
The most I ever spent on technology is building a studio - I built one at home in Los Angeles. I can't tell you how much exactly, but the whole process is very expensive.
-
Even with G.O.O.D. Music, we have artists that have done very well, and we've had artists that haven't. Being attached to Kanye is only going to get you so far. You've still got to have the records and the talent and the artistry on your own to carry it.
-
I think writers are prone to hyperbole sometimes.
-
When we meet people who are astronauts or deal in astronomy, it's always really fascinating.
-
My dad liked a lot of Motown, but I didn't listen to it until my teenage years.