Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Beyoncé can handle any record you put in front of her. Any record that pushes her in that direction, it would have been good to be on the project.
Some people have a taboo about doing advertising in the States. You know, where they kind of make their bread and butter. But to me, that's crazy.
'Down on Me' can't showcase my true talent. 'Birthday Sex' was robotic. When I perform it, I can't give you this church feeling I know I can give.
When I first got signed, I used to literally pick up a pen and pad. Write bars in my notes, even whole songs. Nowadays, I just go off the feeling.
I've always had a problem within myself of feeling that people didn't really see me as a musician and I'm out to get a bit of musical credibility.
Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'
Do it yourself. Keep going. Many people have said these things to me many times and both are good pieces of advice. I like getting on with things.
I never really think so much about commercial success; I usually just think about records that move me, and 'Baby Got Back' was one that moved me.
I don't really feel McCain. It ain't just because Barack is black; he can make change. Just like Bush equals recession, Barack equals progression.
I'm a big fan of the artist Parra, and the way he draws naked women is really cool to see. It doesn't look perverted, it just looks really awesome.
I don't think my lyrics go so well when I try to sound poetic. Some people do that really well. If I did that I'd feel like it wouldn't be genuine.
When I work with other people, I have to try to make their vision happen. With my own, I don't think about it. The music has its own kind of agency.
Beyonce is such a visual artist. This was just trying to figure out another side to her that could be fun and young and exciteful and a great video.
Our household is built on love and respect. And we don't really let negative vibes stay too long. It's worked out. I got a great family, great kids.
Everyone always wants to say I'm shy. I don't think so, but there's a disconnect with my fans. I want my fans to see me - that's what they never do.
APA is another evolution in my career; they have unique vision and share my goals for the future. I look forward to expanding our horizons together.
Michael (Jackson) was so shy, he'd sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat with my hands over my eyes-and the lights off.
I don't deserve a Songwriters Hall of Fame Award. But fifteen years ago, I had a brain operation and I didn't deserve that, either. So I'll keep it.
When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.
That's common in our industry, where some songs make the cut, some don't. It's bad when it doesn't make the cut and you don't get in on the project.
I used to draw cars when I was growing up. I wanted to be a car designer. I've never been professionally taught. It's something that comes and goes.
Now I know what it's like to be a rock star. No, I didn't sleep with 5 groupies at once. But I was interviewed about 45 times in 5 days in 3 cities.
It is only occasional that talent becomes genius - radiating sparks, brilliance, energy, and charismatic magnetism... such a talent was Janis Joplin.
Sometimes when you're relegated to your neighborhood, you forget that there's more important things than your neighborhood going on out in the world.
The real is always presented. That hardcore record or movie is not needed in the hood, because it's already there. You can see it with your own eyes.
If there were no guns, we couldn't talk about it, ... You turn on TV, you see soldiers marching with guns. We only talk about things that's happening.
I'm always kind of off to the next movie, and focused on making sure that the one I'm currently working on is as good as the one that's already on TV.
I'm not sure if music got a future. We have all these electronic ways to download and steal music and get music, but there's no money in makin' music.
The Who, England's most self-conscious band, have released 'Quadrophenia,' which in turn freezes in time our image of the mid-Sixties Mod sensibility.
There's something really precious in that - if you try to tame something that's meant to be wild you wind up jeopardizing the nature of why it exists.
When I collaborated with Nelly Furtado, the idea for the song structure came from myself, but the lyrics and the ideas behind the songs came from her.
I am here for 5 days to enjoy myself and rest. Israel is a beautiful country and the audience is full of passion and I enjoy everything there is here.
Hell, nobody knows where jazz is going to go. There may be a kid right now in Chitlin Switch, Georgia, who is going to come along and upset everybody.
If everything really does get better, the way everyone claims, then happiness should be graphable. But that's crap, because better isn't quantifiable.
If you love what you do, and you believe in your talent, there's nothing better than breaking through. There's no better feeling than breaking through.
You got to get used to somebody, when you're acting or going through a scene, somebody yelling, "Do it a little louder!" OK, you do it a little louder.
I chose the trombone because the trombone players in the marching band got to be up front with the majorettes (because of the slides) and I loved that!
I always feel like there's something magic in recording studios. There's a reason good music continues to be made in them. It's just some mojo element.
When I was making 'Xen,' I was surprised at how introverted some of the songs were. I wasn't deliberately trying to go quieter, but I had to embrace it.
You don't have favorites among your offspring, and you don't among the artists you're involved with, but clearly among my most favorite was Patti Smith.
'Take My Breath Away' had that interesting bass line, which I hear quite often. It had that terrible change of key, which Terri Nunn hated, but I loved.
I'm not actually from Compton - I'm from South Central Los Angeles, and my father still lives in the same house I grew up in, so I'm there all the time.
I like to deal with things I heard about, ... People are always getting their house broken into around the holidays. That's when the crime rate goes up.
Whatever happened in the neighborhood. That's what I was rapping about. And that sparked people's interest. And that's what kind of put me on that path.
I'm a percussionist, so that's most of what I know when I attack a record. Melodically, knowing the keys - my first love - that makes the perfect blend.
Spin Me Round was number one all over the world, everywhere. It changed the face of pop music, no question. We took technology further than Trevor Horn.
Commercial music is music that a lot of people connect to at the same time, but that doesn't mean it has to be something shallow or without personality.
One thing is relationships: Don't get in a relationship if you're going to leave a man if he cheats on you. Because 99% of the time he's going to cheat.
How can you build a relationship when you're just sending out beats? Most people will come in and play their beats, but I like to make mine on the spot.
There were a lot of songs that I still wanted to put on the album but it worked out. I can only fit 18 [tracks] on the album, I would put 30 if I could.