Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I didn't get to have a girlfriend, bring her over to the house. I'm a lot slower understanding some of those things, but I never see it as a disadvantage.
The West Coast really allows you to understand who you are. You come across so many talented people you have to look back at yourself and see what makes you unique.
With 'Lady Lady' I wanted to tell a story bluntly, and that's what happened. The goal is to get Erykah Badu-ish with it because she super bares her soul and she's so blunt.
Jazzy Jeff is somebody who taught me what I really wanted to do for other people. He has the big ol' house where musicians can come there, stay for a while, create music, eat, reset.
My mother had this huge binder of CDs from everyone she loved, like progressive gospel artists. You know, she loved like how Yolanda Adams was kind of R&B, but it was, like, still gospel.
I learn things myself. I call it YouTube University; YouTube has taught me more than anything. I learned how to tie a tie, all my pick-up lines come from YouTube reruns of 'Fresh Prince.'
It's really easy to hide in metaphor or hide in a solo or instrumentation, but when you're saying explicitly this is how I feel it's a bit different - it makes you a more vulnerable person.
When I was about 15 years old, I used to have a lot of jam sessions at my house. And all the kids would kind of come over, and I would kind of deejay some music that I discovered that month.
I've always been attracted to something that's a little bit left - Korean R&B, South African hip-hop. I'm really curious about my homies back in Jamaica, what are they listening to? I'm always searching.
You're allowed to be a little bit weird and still get massive attention. The fact that a Solange can work or a Daniel Caesar can work or even how far Kendrick Lamar has gotten. People are getting more comfortable.
In college, this cheerleader put me on to this artist called Kimbra, and that was huge to me because that's the first time I saw somebody looping. She sampled her voice and made a song with that, and that just blew my mind.
I started playing sax when I was fourteen because I'm like a real competitive person when it comes to winning girls attention. And there was this girl that I really wanted the attention of and I found out she really liked jazz.
I'm on the Internet heavy. I'm on YouTube like it's nobody's business. That's where I discovered a cat like Reggie Watts. By learning that music, I became the black sheep in the group, like 'Here comes Masego with all that weird music.'
I was joked by a lot of older musicians because I was playing saxophone over trap beats or future bounce beats, and it just wasn't what you do. They were just like play some John Coltrane and get in the corner. But that's just not how I work.
I remember my first trip to Toronto. There was this street musician playing an instrument I've never seen before - like, he had a hang drum on the left side and this random bagpipe, bodhran stick type of thing. It was the craziest thing ever! So I sampled it for a beat.
'Melanin Man' was inspired by the words of an Uber driver in L.A. Before I got out of the car he said, 'They're scared of you young man. You're a king and they all know it. They want your culture, your soulful element and your style. You're Melanin Man, a super hero. Be safe out here.' Then I got out the car and took that all in.
