If I can't be honest with music, forget it.
Fantastic Negrito is a persona, an incarnation in my third phase.
My dad was a strict Muslim. He had a lot of rules.
As long as we have have predatory capitalism, we'll have guns because the gun industry loves to make money out of guns.
I hitchhiked to L.A. with $100 and a keyboard.
I thought my story was over. But that was when I realised I finally had a story to tell - and it seems to remind people of their own story.
I really loved the hardcore alternative vibe Prince had on 'Dirty Mind.'
I think that was always my strength. I was never a great player, but I could write.
The one thing I had pure in my life was creativity.
Growing up in the neighborhoods I did in Oakland, you don't know the Beatles, but I started learning their songs.
I like being photographed without glasses. I don't want to be pretentious.
That makes me very happy as a human being to know what I'm doing is an inspiration to people.
I'm not interested in re-creating the same blues I love so much. I'm interested in pushing boundaries.
Doing a concert, I look at a room full of different people, and I see you've got Muslims, you've got Jews, you've got Christians, you've got gays, you've got straights, you've got blacks, you've got whites. I think, 'How can I unite these people through song?'
I came up with the album name 'Please Don't Be Dead' because I felt like we'd lost our way as a society - and I know what happens when you chase the wrong things. It's the story of my life.
I fear for the lives of my daughters. I am uncertain about what kind of future they will face.
Art and culture are the greatest weapons against hate agendas, entrenched ideologies, and power structures that harbor and promote the business of divisiveness.
I like going out and looking at people, and they inspire me so much.
'Fantastic' is self-explanatory, you know? And the 'Negrito' is a way to open up blackness to everyone - you know, make it playful, international. It's extremely positive in my view; it's my affair with this music.
The idea of 'raw' music, to me, is honesty: getting people to feel you with the least amount of production possible, the shortest distance traveled emotionally, sonically.
