I only collaborate with the people I rock with in life, period. I rock with people where I really respect their craft and respect what they're doing. That's what collaboration should start from.
Honestly, I've learned from results, period. Everything isn't a failure. Sometimes it just doesn't work. That's not a failure. Maybe it just means it wasn't its time.
I think love is important, but it's not popular.
It's crazy all the dreams you have about what you want to do, how you want to do it, and when you're going to do it. As a child, you never know the date or that one person who's going to take you to the next person, who is going to put you in position and give you that one opportunity.
I just love how everyone with that Motown sound seemed to come from a two-block radius from the actual original location. The original location was a house, and then when they outgrew it, they bought the house next door and the house next door and the house next door until they had seven houses on the same lot.
Whatever your purpose is that leads you to the point of no return, that's where you go.
The most important and common thing is to be able to connect with your fans. If you can't live life, then you can't connect with the fans.
The people I'm inspired by and I listen to are all ballsy, and I feel like I'm closer to an artist when they're open and honest.
Every hip-hop artist I have worked with has a respect for higher power, whether that's church, Allah, or any sort of higher being - they all have a humbleness.
Living my life socially means there is a swagger to how I dress, walk; it's not about being 'cool,' it's just being me - that's understanding your place and your center - that's what swagger is, and I guess that's where the soul comes from.
A connection should be natural. Just be yourself, and you will find someone who likes you for exactly what you are.
Have you seen the oddest couple in the world, to your eyes, walking down the street? That means there's someone for everyone.
My dad helped me understand songwriting because of him playing Babyface a lot. I don't even know if my dad realized that him just being him, him just living his life, loving what he loved, poured more into me than anybody ever would know.
You cannot have black music without something soulful in it, whether it's lyrically, how it's performed, or how it's expressed.
There's something about real music, dawg. It comes to you; you don't have to go to it.
Just to be a part of something that can travel beyond and reach the lives of people and help them through a daily problem or struggle or even just giving encouraging words, period. I feel like it's very powerful. I thank God for my gift.
We concentrate so much on anniversaries and birthdays that you forget it's the Tuesday that's tough that really counts. Sometimes she just needs some flowers or even just that ear. It's the little things that count. It's the regular days of the year that you have to keep your attention on her.
On my block, we grew up like family. Summer times, man, psshh, we in the back in the alley or in the front on the block. Somebody has some music playing, and nine times out of ten, it's soul music. We got whatever we drinking that day, we got some food, we probably even grilling. It's just a good time.
I can't be Stevie Wonder; I can't be Marvin Gaye, but I can be the foundation that I think withholds that mold.
Singing is something I do every day - not every other month. When I touch the mic, the same thing happens every time.
