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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.

-Erykah Badu

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Hip-hop Is Not Something

Erykah Badu

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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.

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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.

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I Don't Feel Like I Need To Preach To The World Or Nothing Like That. I Just Feel Like I Share What I Say, And If Listeners Get It, They Get It. And I Never Underestimate The Audience's Ability To Feel Me.

Honey Isn't Really That Good For You.

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.

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.

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My Second Mother Is My Maternal Grandmother. Her Name Is Thelma. She Also Gave Me A Very Powerful Medicine; She Made Sure That I Knew My Role As A Young Lady And As Someone With Moral Structures And Principles. She Taught Me That If I Was Going To Be Involved With Anything, Whether It Be Spirituality, Music, Or Some Skill, That I Have To Practice.

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

I'm A Performance Artist First; I'm A Recording Artist Second.

All The Women In My Family Were Very Creative.

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

My Style Is A Little Masculine, And What I Loved About Pyer Moss Was How Well He Can Make A Blazer, The Looseness Of Those Pants, Or Color Palette That He Chooses From Season To Season.

Man, I Don't Want To Have Nothing To Do With Computers. I Don't Want The Government In My Business.

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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

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Don't Let Anybody Infiltrate Your Dream

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

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

I Remember When I Signed With Kedar Entertainment Through Universal Records. It Was My First Record Deal And It's The One I Still Have Now. At That Time, There Had Been A Couple Of Opportunities I Was Almost Given, But At The Last Minute The Giver Came Back And Told Me It Couldn't Happen.

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.

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

I Believed In Myself, And I've Always Worked Very, Very Hard As An Artist, And I Am An Artist In Every Sense Of The Word.

I Go Through Phases Of Stuff.

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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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.

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

I Come From A Long Line Of Matriarchal Women, And My Greatest Teachers Were My Mothers.

The Light Always Shows On The Outside If You Are Striving To Be Good On The Inside.

I'll Dabble Here And There In Different Forms Of The Art, But The Label Has Me Locked Down Like A Slave So, Of Course, I'll Be Doing Albums During This Time

Now My Record Deal Helps Me To Do Things For Free Or Give More Time To My Community Than I Could Otherwise.

Hopefully My Music Is Medicine, Some Type Of Antidote For Something Or Some Kind Of Explanation Or Just To Feel Good.

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.

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 Learning From Them! Everyone Says That, But It's True. You Learn More About Yourself From Them Than From Any Other Lesson.

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 Really Enjoy Being The Child's 'welcoming Committee' And To Help Someone Usher His Or Her Spirit Into The World In A Very Peaceful Way Is Very Effortless To Me.

Hip-hop Is Bigger Than The Government.

Things Are Useless Without Practice.

But Now I Realize That This Record Business Really Needs Me. No One Else Is Trying To Take A Chance Or Do Something Different.

I've Been A Vegetarian Since I Was 19.

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

I Know The Community Mostly For Its Art And Culture... And Of Course Its Food, I Eat At Their Restaurants." "they Make You Feel Like Taking Off Your Shoes... It Feels Like Home.

I Have A Pinterest, And If You Look There You'll See The Things I Really Like And Adore, Have Crushes On, And There's A Lot Of Stuff From Riccardo's [tisci] Line On There.

I Bring The Staple Of My Culture.

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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.

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

Now Keep In Mind That I'm An Artist And I'm Sensitive About My Sh*t

The Metal Or The Stone That's Helping Me .i'll Incorporate Them Into Anything I Wear - But I Think It's About Accessories More Than Anything, Because It's How You Accessorize Yourself That Gives You Your Own Unique Style.

That's The Moment I Learned That The More You Believe In Yourself, The Stronger The Vibration Touches Someone Else, And Things Begin To Happen The Way You Dreamed That They Would.

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

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.

I Have So Much Music That I Do. Just Like How A Visual Artist Is Always Sketching Something But They Might Not Share It, I'm Always Writing Songs Or Coming Up With Melodic Lines On Piano Or Guitar. It's Therapy. It's Always Happening.

I'm Only In Competition With My Last Level.

I Don't Sing Melodically. Rhyme Pattern Is How I Sing. I Also Write Like A Lyricist Or An Mc Because That's What I Was Before I Was A Singer. I Just Took Those Elements And Put Them Into Music.

What Does Music Mean To Me? I Don't Think I Would Really Be Much Without It, Without It Coming Through Me. It's My Means Of Communication, My Means Of Growth, My Means Of Transportation From One Point In My Life To Another.

I Mean Thats A Big Part Of Our Existence Here On Earth, The Personal Relationship We Have With The Person That We Love, With The Person That We Make Love To, With The Person That We Share Our Lives With. We Expect A Lot Of Things Back From Our Loved One, And The Lesson Is To Accept And Not Expect.

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

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.

Different Periods, Different Cultures - It's Just The Way My Mind Works. My Music Is That Way As Well. There's A Foundation But The Inspiration Comes From Everywhere. I've Been Influenced By So Many Things.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

If You Make A Decision, A Pact With Someone, Your Friend, You Should Say, 'i'm Gonna Do This,' And You Should Stick To It.

My Girls Are Very Fashionable. They Have A Very Good Eye For Marrying Style And Fashion.

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 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.

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

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

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

I Just Keep Going. When The Water's Too Still, I Start Splashing Around And Things Jump Out Of The Water.

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.

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