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André And I Are Still Best Of Friends, Always Have Been And Always Will Be. When Our 18-year-old Son, Seven, Started High School, We Both Agreed To Be In The Same City, So André Is In Dallas All The Time, And We're Always All Together Doing Something.

-Erykah Badu

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André And I Are

Erykah Badu

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André And I Are Still Best Of Friends, Always Have Been And Always Will Be. When Our 18-year-old Son, Seven, Started High School, We Both Agreed To Be In The Same City, So André Is In Dallas All The Time, And We're Always All Together Doing Something.

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My Fifth Mother Is Mother Nature - The Things I Had To Learn On My Own, The Understanding I Had To Come To And Still Have To Come To As A Young Woman, As A Responsible Mother, A Responsible Granddaughter And Child. She Teaches Me Willpower, Honesty, And The Things We Need To Heal Ourselves From Moment To Moment.

Whenever I Think About Funk Music, It Has A Look - And That's How It Sounds.

What I Like About Houses Like Givenchy. It's Easy To Pull From. With Givenchy You Can Accessorize To Build Anything, Any Look.

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My Nine-year-old Daughter Is Very Creative And Colorful And Trendy.

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I Don't Think It Matters What School You Go To, But I Think It's Important For Parents To Be Involved. And To Know That When School Stops, Learning Continues, And To Continue Teaching At Home.

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I Started Performing At Two Or Three On A Tape Recorder, One Of Those Little Flat Recorders Where You Just Push Play And Record.

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I Feel Like I Haven't Done Anything. What Have I Done? I've Just Made A Few Records.

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Well, If You Look At All Of The Cultures In America, This Is A Great Opportunity For Us To Really Get Acquainted With The Rest Of The World. America Is The Only Place You Can Do That, But We Don't Have Sense Enough To Take Advantage Of That.

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I Am Not Systematic At All When It Comes To Religion. I Just Love Life. And I'm Not Judgmental. And I'm A Vegetarian.

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We Mainly Focus On Putting Music, Art, Dance, Theater, All Forms Of Art, Back Into The Community, So The Community Can Put It Into The World.

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We're All Friends, Inside The Music And Outside The Music. I Mean, We Don't Sound Anything Alike, We Don't Approach Our Music Anything Alike, But We Come From The Same Genuine Place. We Want Our Music To Be Real And We Don't Want To Compromise Our Art.

I Don't Want To Think Too Much About How I'm Carving And What I'm Carving - You Are Just Carving Away The Excess Clay And There's A Piece Underneath There. And It's Kind Of Like Getting Out Of The Way. Maybe That's What The Commonality Is: It's Getting Out Of The Way So That The Art Can Speak.

I Have A Daughter Who's Four, Who's Dainty And Princess-esque. I Still Get To Dress Her Like My Little Accessory. I Think I Have One More Year To Do That, Then She's Going To Get Her Own Ideas - So I Better Move Quickly!

I Just Love Expressing My Joy And My Mind Through What I Wear, Or How I Cook, Or How I Dance, Or How I Write Or Perform A Song - How I Move.

I Love Putting The Music Together. It's Like Art

Artists Need Some Kind Of Stimulating Experience A Lot Of Times, Which Crystallizes When You Sing About It Or Paint It Or Sculpt It. You Literally Mold The Experience The Way You Want. It's Therapy.

I'm A Pisces, So I'm A Very Closed-book Kind Of Person.

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[the Land] Is A Film That Just Happens To Be Directed And Written By A Puerto Rican Guy With A Black Dad. It Seemed Like A Very Natural, Human Interaction Between People Who All Just Came From One Common Cesspool Of Bad Luck.

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I Have The Ability To Sing With Emotion And Feeling, But If You Say I Sound Like Billie Holiday, That's Cool. Let's Look At Who Billie Was: She Was This Person, This Singer, This Beautiful Diva Who Could Move The Audience With The Slightest Gesture Of Her Hand.

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The Girls Just Like To Be In The Shoes. They Like To Scuff Up The Floors And Walk Around In High-heeled Shoes That Are Too Big For Them, All Over The House.

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I Solidify His [ Riccardo Tisci] Vision And What He Is Trying To Manifest, Make It A Crystal Or Solid Thing Because Of The Relationship I Have With My Culture And What My Music Means To Him.

I Was The Bohemian In My Family, The "this Is My Favorite Shoe And I Don't Care If It Has Tape Around It" Kind Of Person. The Tape Could Become A Fashion Statement. Or A Political Statement.

Some People Come Up And Ask For An Autograph And Don't Even Look At Me. They're Like, 'here, Do It.' That Don't Bother Me, But It Doesn't Open My Heart.

The Reason Why You Don't See People Looking Like Me Is Because I Don't Encourage That. I Encourage You To Be You.

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I Think What Makes People Think That Is Because Of Things People Write. It Really Doesn't Have Anything To Do With The Artist.

Society Has A Problem With Female Nudity When It Is Not . . . ”—badu Pauses To Get Her Words Together; She Wants This Point To Be Very Clear—“. . . When It Is Not Packaged For The Consumption Of Male Entertainment. Then It Becomes Confusing.

I View My Hair And Clothes As Functional Art.

People Are Uncomfortable With Sexuality That’s Not For Male Consumption.

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I Think The Job Of An Artist Is To Be Honest And Fearless.

The Wise Healer Endures The Pain. Cry. Tears Bring Joy.

I'm Only In Competition With My Last Level.

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I Create My Own Calm And I Keep My Balance, Because I Know That It's Not Really Me, By Myself... The Creator Always Gives Me The Energy.

I'd Rather See A Person With A Natural Mind And Processed Mind Than A Processed Mind And A Natural Head.

I Think [ Fashion Philosophy] It's About Your Smile And Your Smell.

This Pain To Remain The Same Outweigh The Pain To Change... When You Get Tired Enough Is When You Begin To Want To Sacrifice Everything Inside Of You—the Fear Just Leaves

I Consider My Musical Ability To Be A Gift From The Creator. It's Not That I Try To Work Hard Or Nothing Like That, It's A Gift, It Was Given To Me, And I Appreciate It.

Musical Ability

I Think A Lot Of People Have Lost Respect For The Individual, You Know, The Individual, The Person Who Doesn't Conform.

I Have An Apartment In Brooklyn - I Guess I Call It My Shrine. I Go There To Create And Recoup, Or Hibernate Sometimes, But My Home Is In Dallas Where I Live With My Children.

I Love Watching Rihanna In Fashion. I Like To See Her Take Chances And Risks. I Like Seeing Naomi Campbell In The Forefront. They're Both Women Who Stand Out And Use Their Bodies As Canvases To Introduce This Functional Art To The World. They Carry It In A Way That Is Very Inspiring.

I'm More Like An Oven Than A Microwave.

Poor Is The New Black.

Be You. Make Sure You're Saying Something When You're Saying Something. It's Important To Sound Like You, To Feel Like You, To Be Like You. Be You.

Personally, I Don't Choose Any Particular Religion Or Symbol Or Group Of Words Or Teachings To Define Me. That's Between Me And The Most High. You Know, My Higher Self. The Creator.

I Encourage Breaking Free Of Self Inflicted Holding Pens. I Encourage The Use Of Intelligence In Every Decision. I Encourage Creating.

My Truth Is Relevant And My Songs Are Relevant, But I Have To Recalibrate Myself And Speed Up My Vibrations So That I Can Communicate With The Voice Of This Generation.

This Generation

Through [my Children] Patience, They're Showing Me How Much They Support What's Going On, Because I'm Having To Do A Lot Of Work Right Now.

When It Comes To Fashion Or Any High Art, You Have To Have A Combination Of Delicacy, Along With Taste.

I Think We [with Riccardo Tisci] Share A Sensibility About Art - We Pull From The Ancient Future.

All The Women In My Family Were Very Creative.

I Actually Started Writing It Because I Was Inspired By My Own Personal Growth.

When You're In A Relationship You Want It To Work. My Parents Did, I Did. But We Are Not Taught How To Make It Work.

A Home Birth Is About Being Able To Create Exactly What You Want, Because It's Such A Violent Moment Inside Of The Body That You Want Everything Else To Be As Beautiful As It Can Be.

I Don't Plan How Many People I Work With. I Don't Charge Anything. It's For My Own Learning, And I Just Enjoy Being The Welcoming Committee. I Became A Doula By Default.

What Singing Means To Me, I Never Did Consider Myself A Singer, I Just Let People Watch Me Feel Music And How It Comes Through Me. I've Worked On It And Practiced A Lot. I Mean, Music, I Dance To It, And Singing Is Just One Way Of Getting It Out Of Me.

It Just Works Better For Me To Discriminate Between Which Thoughts Are Mine And Which Come From Elsewhere, Before I Even Talk About Them Or Express Them - It Helps To Keep Me Focused On My Path.

I Go Through Phases Of Stuff.

It's Just That Little Box In The Middle Of Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Most Of The Time I Go I Don't Even Leave That Apartment. I Have Just Enough: A Little Bed, A Little Kitchen With Two Pots. I Make Some Tea And I Look Out The Window Or Just Lay Down.

You Don't Have To Believe Everything You Think.

Honey Isn't Really That Good For You.

I've Had Two Children. I've Had Three Boyfriends. I've Had A Lot Of Things Happen That Can Change Your Opinions And Values And Philosophies.

Hip-hop Is Not Something We Do, It's Something We Live. It's The Way We Dress, The Way We Talk... Everybody Bobbing To The Same Beat. It's A Culture, And You Have To Find Your Own Place In That Culture. Top 10 Or Top 40 Can't Dictate That. They Can Only Dictate What's Marketable.

Breathing Becomes Really Easy When You're Laughing. It Kick Starts That Feeling Of Joy.

I'm Only In Competition With My Last Level. It Don't Have Nothing To Do With Music Or Anything. And The Last Level Is Hard Competition, The Last Place You Were.

Even If The Project Requires You To Have All The Ducks In A Line, I Can't Do That. I Don't Create Way.

I Could Do A Few More Sit-ups And My Waistline Would Be Less Difficult.

As Erykah Badu, It Has Nothing To Do With Me, The Way I Look, My Hair Wrap, My Style, It's About You And What You Feel For My Music. If I Can Make You Feel Like The Way That People Who Influenced Me Made Me Feel, That's Completion.

We Literally Just Finished Making This Gown 20 Minutes Ago. I Love It. It's My Favorite Color.

They Usually Have A Piano In Every Nursing Home, And I Always Wanted To Perform For Whoever Would Listen When I Learned Something. I Grew To Understand Very Early That A Lot Of These People Who Are In Nursing Homes Are Elderly And Don't Have A Lot Of Things That Give Them Joy From Day To Day.

I Strongly Believe That The More Positive My Vibration Is, The Clearer My Message Will Be. I Keep My Negative Thoughts From Infiltrating My Pathway And My Dreams. Other People's Thoughts Are None Of My Business.

I Have A Master Plan As An Artist. I've Always Said I'm Not Going To Be Punching Nobody's Clock. I Will Work As An Artist To Survive In This World.

My Work As A Doula Also Extends All The Way To The End Of Life. I Sit At The Bedsides Of People Who Are Passing On In Hospices Or Nursing Homes, For The People And Families Who Want That Kind Of Thing.

We Lock Ourselves Into Our Own Philosophies, Our Own Religions, Our Own Walks Of Life, And If We Fail, We Condemn Ourselves And Then We Get Sick.

From Then On, I Realized This Is What I Want To Do, What I'm Supposed To Do: Giving Energy And Receiving It Back Through Applause. I Love It. That's My World. I Love It. I Enjoy It. I Live For It.

I'm A Woman Who Has Gone Through Many Heartaches, Enough To Dedicate My Whole Life To Trying To Figure Them Out.

In The Morning, Instead Of Saying To Yourself, ‘i Got To Wake Up’ Say ‘i Get To Wake Up!’

When I Get Ready To Do An Album, That Means I Have Something To Say For The Sake Of Words, And I Listen Back To All Of The Things I've Been Creating And Pull Things From Out Of The Air To Go With Them. It's Almost Like I Start Creating The Album Before I Even Think About Creating It.

He Definitely Does What A Partner Is Supposed To Do, That Is, Evolve You.

The Man That Knowz Something Knowz That He Knowz Nothing At All.

I Take The Same Approach In All Genres Of Art, Across The Board. It's Intuitive.

...when It Come To Da: " What It Do?! I Don't Fall For Da: "woop- Tee- Woooo!

I'm A Complete Human Being. I'm Very Emotional And Loving. I Feel, I Hurt, I Give, I Take, And Also I Think. I Analyze. I'm A Sociologist, Anthropologist.

People Who Say That Music Is Dead Or Hip-hop Is Dead Are Refusing To Evolve.

I Think That When Riccardo Tisci Wanted To Bring More Attention To The Lack Of African American Presence On The Runway, He Also Wanted To Bring Attention To The Lack Of A Sensibility Of African And Asian Art.

African American

My Favorite Jewelry, It's Just What I'm Feeling At The Time.

I Had The Opportunity, As A Child, To Grow Up In A Community Center Where I Was Exposed To Theater, Music, Art, And Computer Science; Things That I Would Have Never Had The Opportunity To Even Meet Had It Not Been For Those People Taking Time Out Of Their Schedules, Helping Us As Children To Travel All Over The World While Sitting In A Gymnasium. That's What I Did Before I Was A Musician, Before I Was A Recording Artist, I Was A Teacher And A Community Leader.

During Childbirth And Hospice I'll Sing Gospel Songs That My Grandma Taught Me When I Was Younger, Or Something I've Made Up, Or I'll Hum. I Just Play Things That I Think The Audience Will Like.

I Have An Organization Called Blind [beautiful Love Incorporated Nonprofit Development], So Named Because Even Though My Interest Is In The Black Community, Because That's Where I Grew Up And That's Where I'm Most Skilled In Fixing Things, It Doesn't End There.

I'm A Product Of Its [american] Teaching, Of Its Thinking, Of Its -isms, Of Its Religion, Of Its Education. I Am Conditioned, Raised And Developed By America; I Am America. And As It Changes, My Thoughts Also Change. Because No Matter What I Believe, What The Powers-that-be Believe Will Affect Me.

I'm Inspired By Earl Sweatshirt. He's A Really Honest Writer, And He's Unusually Intelligent.

They Play It Safe, Are Quick To Assassinate What They Do Not Understand. They Move In Packs, Ingesting More And More Fear With Every Act Of Hate On One Another.

What I Work Hard At Doing Is Staying On A Path Of Being Kind And Showing And Proving That I'm A Good Person To Society. That's Hard. The Talent, That's A Gift. I Just Came Here Like That.

I Relate To That - He Inspires Me Across The Board. His Music Inspires Me And Reminds Me To Maintain Honesty In The Things That I Do, To Have An Absence Of Fear. Listening To Earl Sweatshirt's Music Is Like Therapy To Me.

We As Black People Have To Tell Our Own Stories. We Have To Document Our History. When We Allow Someone Else To Document Our History The History Becomes Twisted And We Get Written Out. We Get Our Noses Blown Off.

I Don't Read Music Or Anything, So When I Produce, I Go Basically By Ear.

I Imagine That When I Am Creating A Song Or A Project Or An Album Or Putting Some Clothing Together Or Cooking A Meal, Whatever It Is, I Don't Really Have A Recipe. The Fun Part Is To Throw That Big Piece Of Clay In The Middle Of The Table As Hard As I Can, And Whatever Shape It Takes, That's What Shape It Takes, And Then I Start To Carve Away.

What Draws Me To A Project Is How Sympathetic I Am Toward It, So That I Can Relax Into It And Give Up Myself.

I Knew It Would Happen. I Knew I'd Be No. 1. I'm A New Artist; I Don't Know The Rules. Nobody Told Me It Wouldn't Happen

It's Weird, But If I Decide To Do An Album, Then The Ideas Start Fitting Themselves Together. I Consider Myself A Nice, Slow Burn. Plus, It's Not A Race. And I Have A Lot To Share.

My Third Mother Is My Paternal Grandmother. Her Name Is Viola. She Gave Me My Sense Of Knowing Why, Or Knowing Why It Was Important To Ask Why. She Made Me Understand That I Don't Have To Believe Everything I Hear.

Things Are Useless Without Practice.

What Opens My Heart Is When My Son Wakes Me Up In The Morning, Nudging Me And Saying, 'mommy, Mommy!'

Im A Hip-hopper, And Its Something You Live And Do. It Makes Me Angry That Were Misrepresented, That Were Being Killed Every Day By One Another, By The Government, By The Food We Eat, The Choices We Make. It Makes Me Angry Because It Doesnt Have To Be That Way And It Is.

I Don't Know If I'll Ever Accomplish Most Of My Dreams - I Have So Many.

I Love To Leave The Interpretation Of My Music Up To The Listener. It's Fun To See What They'll Say It Is

I Live In A Queendom, Ruled By A Womb-iverse.

I Bring The Staple Of My Culture.

Better Think While It's Still Legal.

I Know That I Want To Concentrate More On My Inside-pretty Than My Outside-pretty, Because Thats Gonna Go Away. But If Your Inside Is Beautiful, It Never Wears Away. The Light Always Shows On The Outside If You Are Striving To Be Good Inside.

Peace And Blessings Manifest With Every Lesson Learned. If Your Knowledge Were Your Wealth Then It Would Be Well Earned.

If We Were Made In His Image Then Call Us By Our Names. Most Intellects Do Not Believe In God But They Fear Us Just The Same

If You Want To Relate To A Certain Audience Or Generation, You Have To Speak Their Language. I Truly Believe That.

And I Figured Out That The Reason I Couldn't Get Through The Day As Well As I Can Now Is Because I Had Too Many Things On My Mind, On My Plate, You Know, For One Person To Have. So I Started To Eliminate Some Of The Things That Were Too Heavy To Carry And Unnecessary.

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Diane Von Furstenberg

Zack De La Rocha

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