Artist Expression Quotes

Bands like Culture Club and artists like me, you tend to concentrate on the live arena because that's where you can be your most authentic. That's where you have the most power.

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.

To get the best idea of who I am, I would probably say listen to my first single, 'The Way I Talk.'

People always tell me I'm the complete opposite of Chief Keef and act like I'm supposed to stop him from making his music. But I like Chief Keef, so it's always super awkward. I just make music I like.

I think, for myself, as an artist, the progression is a lyrical progression and what I choose to target my lyrics at and how I construct the rhymes.

The road, lyric-wise, is a trap, and a bore. Maybe it's interesting to me, but I don't think it's a connecting thing with other humans. What is there to write about? Truck stops, hotels, clubs?

I've always felt that if people just came to one of my gigs, all would be revealed.

The sincerity of delivery is what always strikes me when I hear a good band. It's artist-expression driven, as opposed to being record-producer driven. There's a huge difference. One's motivation is impure, while the other is the highest form of expression, so that's what you aim for.

I don't think that Dreamworks would have signed me expecting to really mess around with whatever it is I do.

You can hear some artists, hear five of their albums and still have no idea who they are. But if you've heard most of what I've recorded, you know me. You go from 'Honesty' to 'Going Through Hell' - you can listen to the hits, and they pretty much reflect who I am. 'Take a Back Road' is the same thing.

Normally doing an album you go from track to track and go, 'Let's not work on this one today, let's go work on the other one,' and I think you tend to get more self-indulgent that way.

I always thought that it was every performer's dream. That's the epitome of being an artist, being able to express song, dance and acting in a live theatre setting and really connecting with an audience on that level.

'Al Green Explores Your Mind' is really kind of a very personal record for me.

I probably could have gone in depth about a lot of things, but then the album would've been longer. You can't have a short album when you're talking about suicide and cocaine. That's not going to be a short album.

I think it's good that producers are showing more ways to show their artistry and be more the artist, you know? Not just the producer in the back making the beats.

I don't wanna get into that space where a lot of guys now, their solo album is like eight or 10 songs with other people, you don't get an idea of who this guy is. I just wasn't interested in that.

Whenever I release a record, it's my record. It's not a selfish thought. I may work all year 'round for other people. So, finally, when I come out with my own album, it should be me with the creative help of other musicians.

The people in my songs are all me.

The camera cannot, but the photographer can.

Sometimes I think as an artist you tend to go toward the heartbreak and the sadness because those are the deepest and heaviest emotions you can pull out as an entertainer and as a singer.

Beyonce has a platform; what's a better way to speak on your platform than through your music?

I've recorded a few Bacharach songs over the years and performed some in concert and always felt they suited me.

At the end of the day, Johnny Cash was a poet.

Every teenage artist out there is mostly talking about boys, and I think there's so much more to being a teenager than just boys.