Labels only confuse people. The smarter people recognize artists who transcend categories. But I always try to entertain. It's in my nature; writers are born to entertain. If that means working ostensibly within a genre, fine.

I think all artists want that plaque, whether it's Gold or Platinum or multi-platinum. I think we all look forward to getting a plaque and hanging it on your wall and having something to show for the music that you've created.

I was looking at the work of the New York street artists and then discovering Basquiat and Haring after that and seeing how the contemporary art scene was, and then going back into Warhol and all that was happening in the 60s.

The great music for so many artists - the Beatles, the Rolling Stones - was always at the moment when they were closest to pop. It would be easy for U2 to go off and have a concept album, but I want us to stay in the pop fray.

To the artist is sometimes granted a sudden, transient insight which serves in this matter for experience. A flash, and where previously the brain held a dead fact, the soul grasps a living truth! At moments we are all artists.

The show business has all phases and grades of dignity, from the exhibition of a monkey to the exposition of that highest art in music or the drama which secures for the gifted artists a world-wide fame princes well might envy.

Everybody nowadays rhymes, but out of the people that really, really do it well, it's still a small community of artists. We all tend to be in the same circles - people like my Wu-Tang brothers, or Black Thought from The Roots.

The only thing the Pop Artists had in common is that we all had been commercial artists in some manner. Lichtenstein was a draftsman; I was a billboard painter, but we didn't work together. I didn't meet Andy Warhol until 1964.

I want to be in control of how my music is released and how I create it. What people don't talk about when they talk about major labels is how many artists get dropped or funding gets dropped when they don't recoup quick enough.

You ready? I have gold teeth, I have braids, I'm wearing Rick Owens moon boots, I have rips in my denim, a biker vest, I love artsy girls, my favourite artists are Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. I'm obsessed with being different.

I don't digitally manipulate my images, because I am interested in the spontaneous act of creating images without forethought. I know many artists start with an idea in mind, and then they put it on paper. I don't work that way.

I think I'll be doing music until I die, regardless of whether I'm popular or not. If I ever feel like people aren't receiving my music well anymore, I'll probably go to the backroads and become an executive or just sign artists.

When the magazines talk about artists they talk about the Paul McCartneys, the Paul Simons, they never talk about me. So their readers and contemporary artists are never going to check me out because they're not reading about me.

I'm personally looking for artists that are along the lines of today's pop stars. Whether it be a Rihanna or a Justin Bieber or a Kanye West or a Beyonce or a Lady Gaga, I'm looking for talent that's like that, that's what I love.

The history of art is not just the history of artists; it is also the history of the people who viewed art. And that wider perspective can help us see some of the reasons why the art of the ancient world should still matter to us.

The artists that we grew up listening to was also independent like Master P, like Birdman and Lil Wayne. Those are the people that we wanted to model ourselves after. Throwing on the Cartier frames, the army-style fatigue jackets.

With great artists like Elvis, sometimes the songs weren't the greatest thing about him. When I tried to perform some of the songs, I noticed some of the tunes weren't all that brilliant, but it was the performance that sold them.

I think the best songs are being written by the very under-stated, under-appreciated indie artists. The thing that separates them from mainstream success is they either consciously or unknowingly refuse to deliver on a big chorus.

I think L.A. radio is learning from the Bay. The Bay is a very classic place. Mac Mall, C-Bo, all that stuff, they love their artists, they're old school up there. My first big concert was playing in the Bay; I played the Fillmore.

As much as I preach self-love, it's so hard for me to love myself. It's really hard, and it's just about building a good network of people and, in this case, a good network of artists. Trying to live your ideals as best as you can.

Walking into the studio making 'Scared Hearts Club,' it was important for us as artists to write a joyful record, but using joy as a weapon because joy is the best weapon against oppression; it's the best weapon against depression.

Producers are the people behind the biggest artists in the game. We definitely deserve that title to be considered as an artist, because producers don't get the recognition and the credit that they really deserve a lot of the time.

I have a lot of respect for these rock photographers. You realize that some of them were really led into the inner circles of some of these artists and bands. And you see how those photographs really capture the artist, the moment.

Wisin is my brother. He always will be my brother. We are very happy as solo artists. We had a great musical trajectory together, which will be there forever. And for the future, we won't discard reuniting and making something new.

Portland is a place where you can find a community as a feminist, a vegan or a fat activist. Artists, musicians, knitters, and filmmakers can all meet like-minded souls. It's proved the perfect place for me and all my punk friends.

But with rap music - not just N.W.A. - but rap music in general, seeing these artists wearing these team logos all the time started bringing a synergy and energy about having to rep your city, your team, everywhere and all the time.

Fraud really thrives in moments of great social change and transition. We're in the midst of a technological revolution. That gives con artists huge opportunities. People lose their frame of reference for what can and can't be real.

Greedo taught me a lot. I don't say that about every artist. Some artists might teach me stuff musically, but Greedo taught me stuff about being a man and being a musician and being a creative, and being different from other people.

I think for us up-and-coming artists, once you're out there, once you've put stuff up, once people know who you are, once you discover who you are, we're all in the same boat: it's down to whether people appreciate the music or not.

I had a lot of fun during all the performances, but the most memorable one was 'Born This Way.' Lady Gaga is one of our favorite artists, and I remember the Once in America had the best reaction when we performed that song for them.

The artist forges himself to the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from. That is why true artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.

We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.

Signing with Fantasy is an absolute dream come true. It's such a blessing to work with a label that truly cares about the soul of the music and to be on the same roster as artists that I've looked up to for as long as I can remember.

There's not a lot of pretty, young female artists that's out. It's a lot of talent out there, but they don't know how to go about it. I feel like there should be way more sexier women in hip-hop and R&B then it is - more originality.

You got some artists who want street credit. Like, they market street credit. They take certain incidents and turn it into marketing to try and boost the sales. You don't never see me speaking on that. I'm trying to stay away from it.

I'm a producer. I'm a musician. And my job is to come in and, you know, put - you know, I treat all of the artists that I work with, like, you know, the way da Vinci was looking at Mona Lisa, you know, there's an interesting backdrop.

I came into my own, you might say, in terms of putting out my first record quite late in life. And yet there's some authors and photographers and even probably recording artists that didn't really hit their stride until their mid-50s.

Magic Johnson was in the seventh year of his Hall of Fame career when thoughts of his basketball afterlife led him to the office of uber-executive Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, Hollywood's most powerful agency.

Serious art has been the work of individual artists whose art has had nothing to do with style because they were not in the least connected with the style or the needs of the masses. Their work arose rather in defiance of their times.

I didn't see spaces where female artists could exist and exhibit their work. So I created a platform for this - one that allowed our works to be seen, but to also weave a community of women that could lean on and work with one another.

The only logical thing I can think of is that I knew there were such things as artists, and I knew there were none where I lived. So I knew that to be an artist you had to be somewhere else. And I very much wanted to be somewhere else.

I am one of those artists who knows where their money is. I pay my bills; I take care of my mama. I handle my business. I am a businessman. I go to meetings and take care of things, so it's a lot more than just partying and turning up.

When I listen to Amy Winehouse, I believe that her heart and soul is in the music, or if I listen to other British artists like Duffy or Estelle. The aesthetic of it is different, and it's my point of view. It's not anything formulaic.

Every artist has different priorities. Some artists I know don't make as much music as they used to, because social media has taken over their lives. I work at what I feel is a very normal pace, and things keep clicking. It's rewarding.

As far as long-term goals, one of my favorite artists ever is Tegan and Sara, because every single one of their albums sounds different. Or Beck. I want to be like that because I come from so many different types of musical backgrounds.

If all I hired were cake decorators, our cakes would just look like cakes that people decorate. We do astounding work at Charm City Cakes and to do that you need people who think in astounding ways. Artists just think in different ways.

We at Hoods Up aren't just about celebrities. I am a huge fan of a lot of artists and actors, although I don't feel it is necessary to put it on them to help sell the brand. It would an honor if anyone were to wear it, celebrity or not.

I have to have music playing constantly. It creates the tone and mood for anything you are doing. I specifically love rock, and Jimi Hendrix is one of my favorite artists. My favorite song is 'Red House,' because it's heavy on the blues.

For me, I feel like the most important part of music is the storytelling behind it, and that's my favorite; that's what makes my favorite artists my favorite artists, having the story that I relate to the most and that helps me the most.

It's cool to see a bunch of brown kids in the crowd. I wanna be a brown artist that they look up to. I didn't see that many artists with my same culture that I looked up to when I was growing up. The industry has always been whitewashed.

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