You can't be afraid to be honest and to be yourself. We all have imperfections and fall short at some point. Showing your human side creates a sensitivity, openness and trust. That's the beginning of the demise in a relationship - not being honest and not being you.
In a compass, we got north, south, east and west, right? But in between that, you got things like north-east - now that, to me, is where real life is. Everybody's life is not straight: it's often 30 degrees to your left, or in the hardest part of the reach.
My mom and my dad was the best example of unconditional love I could see as a kid. I've known it my whole life. Interactions, kissing, hugging - it definitely wasn't the fake love.
Success for me is being comfortable, and not in terms of a certain level of financial status, but that comfort comes from within.
I started singing backgrounds for Mary Mary and Usher during 'Confessions.' Then I jumped to working with Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott; jumped again to Kanye West, The Killers. I kept saying, 'OK, this is the last time; then I get to do my music.'
Passion without purpose is kind of pointless. I think God gives us the vision and wisdom to help enforce what he sees for us. You don't just sit at home and end up on 'Empire.'
What's love without a soundtrack, you know?
My whole childhood was church. But as an adult, I've grown to understand my relationship with God versus how I sing. People in church are like, 'You sing the devil's music,' but I believe in balance. I can't just party with you. I got to help you, too.
Chicago taught me when to talk, taught me when to shut up, taught me when to stay, taught me when to go. And really it all forms to make BJ the Chicago Kid.
Falling in love in our generation just isn't as popular as it used to be.
I definitely have a relationship with God for myself, and yes I grew up that way, and I choose to keep the relationship that way. It's real; that's my balance. Sundays, I was in church, and Monday through Friday, I was with the knuckleheads having a little fun.
As a man, if you're married, your happiness is with her happiness. If she's unhappy, everything's messed up. It's a woman's world for sure.
Style is a big part of my life. I used to work in retail before I was an artist; a lot of people didn't know that. I was so good at selling clothes and shoes, and just the lifestyle, that I could tell what size someone was wearing just by looking at them.
I love loyalty, and I love paying back my end of loyalty, you know what I'm saying? I love making it full circle.
I ain't rocking with Trump, but politics I kinda keep to myself.
I feel like Black Milk has found his way of putting his life into his music. I feel like, lyrically, he is a beast; a lot of people sleep on Black Milk. Black Milk is a monster. He from church. He from the street. He get down how I get down. He's a soulful cat, and I love how he get down.
I grew up in church and on the block; the best of both worlds.
The world hasn't noticed, but R&B has shifted. It's changing course.
I realize how much my life lines up with artists like Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. My sound comes from church, but the stories come from actual personal experience, being out there in the streets living life.
The aggression. The love. The joy. The pain. All those feelings and emotions that come from the music are Chicago. Chicago pretty much made me the man that I am. It's in my name. I have no choice but to accept and embrace that.
