- All Quotes
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I pride myself on being the type of artist who can work half in the R&B world and half in the pop world.
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In my mind, I was still Chimere's father. I was there when he was born. I saw him when he first came out. I held him. He was my kid.
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I grew up in Las Vegas. My mom worked in pretty much every casino on the Strip.
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R&B is my home. It's who I am. It's who I've been. It's the first genre I fell in love with. It's the reason why I've been able to do other genres of music.
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Via social media, I reached out, asking about relationships, dreams, hopes, fears, the whole gambit, and the stories that really resonated with me, I wrote songs about.
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When 'Red Tails' came along, all I knew was that they were the first African-American fighter pilots in the U.S. Air Force. I had no idea how deep the story went or about all their amazing achievements. There were a few Tuskegee Airmen on the set to make sure everything was as authentic as possible.
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I've never done this from a standpoint of, 'I want to be famous.' I sing because I love singing. I perform because I love performing.
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My 'Slide Some Oil' ain't gon' be Nipsey Russell's 'Slide Some Oil.' Elijah Kelley's 'You Can't Win' ain't gon' be Michael Jackson's 'You Can't Win.'
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I like to learn through doing. Let me make a mistake, and then critique me on what I did so that I learn that way.
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Movies take a long time because movies take a long damn time to put work into. Whereas music, you don't have as much time. I didn't realize that.
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As an artist, you know as a person in the public eye, period, you kind of have a responsibility to the younger kids that are watching and emulating what you do.
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I needed to be sexier. I needed to be more hip. I needed to be more edgy and this and that. 'No, don't write that kind of song, write this type of song. No, don't work with that producer, work with this producer. No, don't wear those clothes, wear these clothes.' And I didn't want to be a puppet, you know?
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Ms. Clinton - Mrs. Clinton, I should say - she's a favorite of mine.
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Sammy was the only one that looked like me, so I naturally gravitated to him. Sammy made it cool to be black at a time when, let's just say it, it wasn't very cool to be black. His name was on the front of the building in lights, and he had to go in the back. But you never saw him sweat.
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Let's make Holberton one of the biggest schools on the face of the planet.
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'Stomp the Yard' was a great film. It was a great film, great opportunity. It's the reason I live in Atlanta to this day, that film. But as far as acting goes, it wasn't very challenging. I played me.
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I always tell the story of 'Irreplaceable.' I initially wrote 'Irreplaceable' with myself in mind, with plans of it being my record. I love that record; however, what I realised about that record was that though given the circumstances of that situation - men and women are not that different - when you sing about it, it changes things, you know?
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I dreamed of one day starring in a film. I've done that twice. Denzel Washington has done it countless times, so I still got some work to do.
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Every song I've ever written has been based in reality, based in fact, things that happen to me.
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I would've given my right arm to do something on the 'Ray' film, the movie about Ray Charles.
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All my musical influences came from my mom, who did everything to music. She played it 24 hours a day, seven days a week in our house. So that's where my love for music came from.
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I want to connect with my fans the way Mary J. Blige's fans connect with her.
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I feel, as an artist, that we don't do enough to appreciate our fans. We are in this position because of the fans, and it's really a blessing.
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I know everyone says attention spans are shorter now, and if you can't get them in the first 20 seconds, you lost them. But I honestly believe if you give someone something worth slowing down to really pay attention to, they will.