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My influence is everywhere. You know when you're touching people.
The-Dream
More than anything, 'Purple Kisses' just came about because I'm very hands on, especially in relationships.
I paint. A lot of people don't know that.
What I look forward to the most is influencing an individual to go out into the world and make the world a better place.
It's hard doing something that nobody actually wants to hear.
Rhythm and blues is about what life is, it's about being able to talk heartbreak and understanding that people go through it, not about this fantasy in how much you're spending.
The business of a label is to make money - my business is to make music. I'm gonna get paid if I do it right.
When the Atlanta Braves were owned by Ted Turner, he was very passionate and did whatever it took to do something good - and eventually he made money. Labels used to be the same way. Now they're corporations, and it's only about their stock.
People are so over what they did yesterday, they don't even sit and discuss what made it a great time. They'd have to be reminded by their Instagram, after 52 weeks, and it's like 'Oh, I remember that now.'
Men don't really change. That's just how it is.
I listen to Sinatra way more than a person my age probably should.
I'm not arrogant but I'm confident enough to know what I can do and what I can't do. And I'm fine with what I can't.
I love Kanye. He's literally the only person that challenges me. He has an overwhelming love for music also, and that's why he's misunderstood. The boy is a genius. You can be mad all you want, but he loves what you listen to more than you love it. When he lost his mom I cried.
I don't think anybody does contemporary R&B albums better than me.
I learned to play instruments and I've been in bands since I was 13, but I wanted to be an artist and I really wanted to design cars.
I love Rihanna period!
My days, sometimes, it's just about work. I'm not thinking about taking a picture in the studio, and I don't have the time to stop being creative to stop and post on Instagram. That's not a part of my creative process.
I really love customising certain songs for certain people. No matter what weight that comes with it - whether it comes with it not being a number one on the Top 100 or whatever. I'd rather write someone a career defining record.
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.
You never know somebody till you get in the room with them.
I think of myself just as a writer.
If you got a hit and you're white, there are no limits to what you can do.
I'm an oddball Georgia working guy.
I've always had a soft spot for women because of my mom. Just their power.
I'm everybody in music's guilty pleasure.
I call my attorney three times a day.
Writing a song is about inhabiting a specific frame of mind and conjuring a mood, a character, an entire vision.
Some of the time, I am competing with myself.
I think what makes me great as a songwriter is there's still an artist behind it.
Politics changes music most of the time. Ronald Reagan - you can kind of say that he made hip-hop what it was by the embargoes that he set. Certain things that he did created N.W.A in a way. Politics has always done that.
There's nothing I can't do musically.
I'm just not Mr. Joe that goes to work nine-to-five. I never will be.
The cultural impact of records is more important to me than a No. 1 record.
It was always in me to just put records out. I don't like holding on to records.
At the end of the day, I'm a songwriter.
I would never intentionally hurt a soul and everyone around me knows that!
You don't need a band to do hip-hop; you only need a DJ.
I'm talented in other places, not only in songwriting, but music is always going to be the backdrop to whatever happens in life.
My mama died when she was 35 years old.
My grandfather would go to work at 6 A.M.
I love Aaliyah.
You can't just keep stacking up things and not go and live.
People aren't really honest with themselves about anything. That's one of the reasons why we ended up with Trump in the White House.
Life gets you hurt. Love didn't do it. Life does it.
I am pretty frank of a guy. That used to be appreciated, back in the day.
When people try questioning my artistry or what it is that I do, it's because it doesn't look like everybody else's art.
The world gets better as soon as people start doing exactly what they're great at.
I'm a hopeless romantic, of course.
There are certain people who respect me in the dark. Some people who don't know me are afraid to say, 'What you doin' is kind of incredible.'
Every time you hear an 808 drum machine beat on one of my songs, it comes from Freaknik.
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