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I Don't Think About The Styles. I Write Whatever Comes Out And I Use Whatever Kind Of Instrumentation Works For Those Songs.
-Lenny Kravitz
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I Don't Think About

Lenny Kravitz
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I Don't Think About The Styles. I Write Whatever Comes Out And I Use Whatever Kind Of Instrumentation Works For Those Songs.

Understanding the Quote: "i don't think about the styles. i write whatever comes out and..."

This quote by Lenny Kravitz reflects deeply on the theme of song. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Song, Writing, Thinking, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Lenny Kravitz interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz is celebrated for insightful thoughts on song and writing. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Song
Writing
Thinking
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I Was An Actor When I Was A Teenager And It Could Have Been The Direction That I Headed In. But Music And My Relationship With Music Is Quite Deep, And It Really Is The Nucleus Of My Creativity. So I Gave Up Acting So I Could Pursue Music Fully, And I Never Thought About Really Going Back. And Then [director] Lee Daniels Met Me And Wanted To Work With Me, And That's How It Started.
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We're Beginning To Play God And Get Into Cloning. We Give Up Quickly. Divorce Is An Easy Option. So Why Not Just Create Your Own Mate? Synthesize A Human Being. You Get Tired Of It, Turn It Off And Put It In The Closet Like The Vacuum Cleaner.
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When It Comes To Acting, It's About Creating A Character And Bringing Forth A Director's Vision. It's A Weird Feeling, Because With Acting, It's Just Not About Me. I Love Being In That Position, Because With The Music, It's Always About Me.
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My Mother Always Told Me To Embrace Both Sides Of My Background. And She Also Taught Me One Very Useful Thing When I Was Going To First Grade. She Said, "you're Bahamian And African-american On One Side, And Russian-jewish On The Other. You're No More One Than The Other, And It's Beautiful That You Have All This. It Makes Your Life All The More Rich. But Society Will See You Only As Black."
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Personal Relationship With God Is Not All Just The Ceremony And Not The Religion Of Doing Something Because You Were Told That's What You Have To Do; It's Relationships, It's Like We Have Relationships With Our Families, With Our Friends, With Our Loved Ones.
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I Want To Do Interiors, Furniture. I Want To Do Architecture, Although I'm Not An Architect. Nor Am I A Trained Interior Designer.
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For The Last Few Years, It's Been So Chic For Everybody To Be Miserable. Like If You're In With The Cool Crowd, You Can't Be Happy.
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I’ll Be Quite Frank With You — I Didn’t Know About Hunger Games — So When I’m Telling Kids And They Say, ‘who Are You Playing?’ And I Say Cinna, They Go, ‘oh You’re Playing The Gay Guy.’ That Was An Actual Answer. I’ve Never Brought That Up Yet. That’s How They Perceived It. So I Thought About It, And I Read The Book And I Don’t See That He Is Or Isn’t [gay]. He’s A Designer, He’s A Stylist, He Has Gold Eyeliner—that Doesn’t Mean Anything Either Way.
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A Dramatic Thing, The First Time You Stand Up To Your Dad.
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I Wasn't The Kind Of Person That Liked Waiting For Autographs Or Following Them, I Just Liked To Go To The Shows, Study Their Records, Driving Many, Many Hours To Different States To Go To Concerts.
Waiting
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Character
Exercise
To Let Go Of The Illusion That I'm In Control Is An Important Lesson, Because I Tend To Be A Person Who Likes To Be In Control, Not Only Of My Art But Of My Life And Things Around Me, And It Can Be Healthy Up To A Certain Point, But At The End Of The Day, We Have To Go On Faith And Learn To Let Go And Ride The Wave.
Letting Go
Art
Healthy
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Letting Go
Grandmother
Sky
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Years
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Funny
Book
Games
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Believe
Want
I Believe
I'm Just Looking For Interesting Roles And Giving Acting The Respect It Deserves.
Giving
Interesting
Acting
I Identify More With Women Than With Men. I Guess I Have A Strong Feminine Side.
Funny
Witty
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Reflection
Music Is My Life
Music Is
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Unity
Don't Take It So Seriously.
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Musician
Inspired
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Stars
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Order
I Think It'd Be A Real Nightmare To Put A Record Out And Sell 20 Million Copies And Then That's It.
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Keeping Grounded And Keeping Focused And Keeping Calm And Thankful, That Comes From God.
Calm
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I Don't Play The Tuba.
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A Lot Of People Pretty Much Only Listen To The Chorus.
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Simple
Speak
I've Woken Up From Dreams And The Whole Song Is There. I'm Listening To It In My Dreams. I Consciously Have To Wake Myself Up And Get A Tape Recorder Because I Hear It Like A Record.
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Song
Listening
I'm Not One Of Those Artists Who Refuses To Play Their Hits. I Find That Ridiculous. Hits Are A Blessing.
Artist
Blessing
Play
I've Always Been Into Films. I've Been Offered Lots Of Films But They've Always Been These Very Stereotypical Roles. They Wanted Me To Play Some Gangster Or Street Guy, Or Pimp, Drug Addict.
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Guy
Drug
I've Always Had To Deal With Being Biracial, Even In Music. When I Came On The Scene, I'd Go To These Record Labels, And They'd Say Things Like, "lenny Kravitz. That's A Weird Name." I'm Brown-skinned And I've Got These Dreadlocks And I've Got This Jewish Last Name.
Names
Labels
Records
I Haven't Thought About Making A Music Film, But If I Did, That Would Be A Very Interesting Idea.
Ideas
Interesting
Would Be
I Basically Camped Out For A Year And A Half In An Airstream Trailer On The Beach Out In Front Of The Studio. I Had No Idea What I Was Gonna Do, What Kind Of Album I Was Gonna Make - All I Knew Was That I Wanted To Sit There And Just Take In Whatever Came.
Beach
Years
Ideas
One Day We're Going To Watch People Fight To The Death, Like Roman Times. Instead Of Being In A Coliseum, We're Going To Watch It On Tv.
Fighting
People
One Day
You're Never Promised Your Next Breath.
Next
Breaths
The Most Important Thing For Me Is The Moment, Going From One Thing To The Next And Hitting All The Different Levels And Different Points That Make The Whole What It Is.
Important
Hitting
Next
My Mother Gave Lots Of Good Advice And Had A Lot To Say. As You Get Older, You Realize Everything She Said Was True.
Mother
Advice
Realizing
I've Lived My Life Dealing With Everybody. And That's How It's Always Been For Me.
You Never Know Where You're Going To Find A Great Actor.
Actors
Great Actors
Knows
The Idea Of Having To Conform To Someone Else's Ideal Is Unacceptable. I'm Gonna Be Me. And If I Can't Be Me, Then I'd Rather Not Do It.
Music
Ideas
Conform
We Have So Many Distractions. We're Losing The Family Unit. We're Losing The One-on-one. We're Becoming Extremely Narcissistic. And We Have To Be Careful About That. There's A Lot To Deal With Out There.
Becoming
Narcissistic
Losing
You Can Be Around 100 People And Be Completely Alone. People Don't Realize What It's Really Like.
People
Realizing
Let's Look At Human Interactions. I Really Believe That There Is A Way For Us To Settle Disputes Nonviolently, Using Our Minds, Using All Of That Was Given To Us.
Believe
Mind
Looks
It's A Trip To Have A Greatest Hits Record. It's A Trip.
Journey
Records
Music, For Me, Is Completely Self-indulgent. I Write It, I Play The Instruments, I Arrange It, I Produce It. It's All About Me - As It Should Be.
Writing
Self
Play
I Bought [john Lennon's] 'plastic Ono Band,' And I Listened To It Over And Over For Months. It's A Monumental Work Of Genius.
Band
Genius
Months
When I Was A Kid And I Bought A Record, I Ripped That Thing Open, I Wanted To Know Who Was Playing What, What Studio It Was Cut At, Who Was The String Arranger, Who Was The Engineer.
Kids
Cutting
Records
I Don't Think About The Styles. I Write Whatever Comes Out And I Use Whatever Kind Of Instrumentation Works For Those Songs.
Song
Writing
Thinking
I Get A Lot Of Joy From Playing Instruments, And I Have A Different Personality On Each Instrument. I Like To Let That Come Out. I Get Kind Of Selfish.
Selfish
Personality
Joy
My Mother Passed At The End Of The Circus Tour. After That I Really Needed To Take Some Time And Just Chill Out And Get My Head Together.
Mother
Together
Circus
None Of Those Material Possessions Do Anything To Make Your Life Any Better.... I Know A Lot Of People Who Have A Lot Of Everything, And They're Absolutely The Most Miserable People In The World. So It Won't Do Anything For You Unless You're A Happy Person And Can Have Peace With Yourself.
Happiness
Gratitude
People
Every Night Is Different, You Never Know What It's Going To Be Like. I Remember Every Night. I Don't Like To Compare Them.
Night
Different
Remember
It's Like A Dream To Come To Spain And Stay For A Couple Of Years And Get Somebody To Teach Me Spanish Music.
Dream
Couple
Years
I Get Hired As A Writer Or Producer And I Do The Best I Can To Bring Out That Artist. If Somebody Calls You To Do Something, You Go Right For That Vision And You're Aware Of That Person's Vibe. You're Trying To Get Inside Of Them.
Artist
Vision
Trying
If You Ask A Hundred People, They All Give You Different Answers.
People
Giving
Different
I'm Sure Great Scripts Are Hard To Find, But I'm Definitely Open, And Waiting To See What Comes My Way.
Waiting
Way
Scripts
When You See A Close Person You Know Pass In Front Of Your Eyes, It's Hard Core. After All That, I Just Wanted To Enjoy Every Day. That Was My Goal. And To Give Thanks And To Live Fully.
Eye
Giving
Goal
When I Make Music, I Play It, I Produce It, I Write It. It's A Very Self-centered Thing, Not In A Negative Way. But I Primarily Work By Myself, That's My Process. When I'm Acting, I'm There To Serve The Director And The Character. I'm Here To Give You What You Need. Communicate That To Me And I Will Do What I Need To Do To Get That. So That's What It's About.
Writing
Character
Giving
We Weren't Put Here To Be Miserable. We Were Put Here To Do The Best We Can, And We Should Take Our Energy And Improve Our State Of Being.
Energy
Miserable
States
Where I'm At In Life, The Women Have Got To Come With Something Else, Not Just The Body, But The Mind And Spirit. It Usually Trips Them Out, But That's The Way It's Going To Be. I'm Looking At The Big Picture.
Mind
Body
Way
I Never Sit Down To Write Or Say, "today, I Have To Record Something." I Wait To Hear It And Then I Go For It.
Writing
Waiting
Records
I Feel Like My Best Work Is In Front Of Me. I'm In The Studio Now, And I'm Having An Amazing Time Making This New Album. It's Something I Can't Help.
Albums
Helping
Best Work
I Was Taught By My Grandfather That Anything That Your Mind Can Conceive, You Can Have. It's A Reality.
Reality
Mind
Grandfather
I'm So Happy. I Am Able To See The World Just By Making Music, Just By Doing The Thing That I Loved Doing When I Was Five Years Old.
Years
World
Able
I Found It A Really Refreshing Change Of Pace To Suddenly Be Completely Directed. It Was A Type Of Collaboration That I Don't Normally Have.
Collaboration
Pace
Type
I Am Trying To Get Closer To God.
Trying
Love Is The Most Powerful Energy There Is.
Powerful
Love Is
Energy
I Used To Do Plays And Some Television Commercials When I Was Younger. I Guess My Mom's Being An Actress Got Me Interested In That, But Music Definitely Took Its Place.
Mom
Television Commercials
Play
I Knew What I Wanted To Do From The Time I Was 5.
Wanted
I Always Read The Capitol As F—ked Up Pansexuality, Everybody Is Doing Everybody. Back To Greek And Roman Times! It’s All Happening.
Greek
Keds
Happenings
I Mean, Look At The People We Celebrate - A Lot Of People Who Really Don't Do Anything. They Just Walk The Red Carpets And Go To All The Parties, And They're Hooked Up With The Right People, So They're Celebrities. But What For?
Party
Mean
People
I Am Not Trying To Change The World. I Am Just Offering My Gift That God Gave Me, And If Somebody Is Moved By It, That's Beautiful.
Beautiful
Offering
Trying
I Think That We Have To Be Very Careful And Get Back Into The Loop, Get Back To Nature. Get Back To God And Not Let The Technology Send Us Somewhere That We're Going To Regret.
Regret
Technology
Thinking
The Thing I Love About Acting Is That It's Got Nothing To Do With Me; It's About Bringing Forth A Director's Vision. It's Like A Release. I'm Glad It's Come Back Into My Life.
Vision
Acting
Directors
I Have A Great Time With My Band And On The Stage We Get Along Well.
Band
Stage
Wells
I Want To Get Away, I Want To Fly Away. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
Want
Fly Away
Yeah
There's Certain Things In Life That I Love. One Is Architecture. And Music, Culture, Food, People. New Orleans Has All Of That.
New Orleans
Things In Life
People
Later On In Life I Was Like, "wow!" Because That's Exactly How It Was. They Don't Care That You're Mixed. They See You As One Color.
Color
Care
Wow
I Was Always Talking About Peace And Love, Even When I Was A Kid. That's How I Grew Up In My Family.
Kids
Talking
And Love
Jimi Hendrix Was Just So Fluid. His Hands Were Connected To His Soul, You Know? His Playing Was Just So Emotional. You Could Feel The Fire, You Could Feel The Blues. You Could Feel The Sadness. It's Unbelievable.
Sadness
Emotional
Fire
They Think I'm Being Serious When Actually I'm A Very Big Clown. But You Have To Know Me To See That. I'm Constantly Cracking Up And Cracking Everybody Else Around Me Up.
Thinking
Serious
Clown
God Forbid You Sing About Love. It's A Lost Concept.
Lost Love
Lost
Concepts
After Listening To "machine Gun" I Have To Take A Nap.
Gun
Naps
Listening
We Should Take Time Out To Really Love; We Should Take Time Out To Find Out Who We Are.
Who We Are
Should
Take Time
The Loyalty Rate Isn't That High. I Could Have A Big Hit, Then Put Out The Next Single, And They Say, Oh Yeah, Who Are You? Prove It Again.
Loyalty
Next
Yeah
I Just Need To Know That I Did The Very Best I Could And That I Was True To Myself.
Needs
True To Myself
Knows
People Don't Realize It, But No One Lives That Rock And Roll Life 24-7. They Think It's Hundreds Of Bottles Of Champagne Flowing And Private Jets And Money. But There's A Lot Of Time When You're Traveling - Time To Think, Time To Be Lonely. Sometimes It Gets To You.
Lonely
Thinking
Rocks
I Don't Go To Church So Much, The Way My Life Is, But It's In Me Every Day.
Church
Way
Life Is
Music Definitely Inspires My Design All The Time.
Design
Inspire
I Went To Paris In 1989 When The Americans Didn't Quite Know What To Do With Me At First. Now, All Those Years Later, It's Kind Of The Same Story. Not The Same Scenario, But Kind Of The Same Story.
Years
Paris
Stories
Tape Machines Are Effects Boxes As Well Because Each Tape Machine Has Its Own Sound. You Can Over-load A Tape Machine Or You Can Bump It A Certain Way So It Compresses Or Makes A Sound, Tape Saturation.
Sound
Tape
Machines
It's Very Important To Vote. People Died For This Right.
People
Political
Important
Life, The Moment. Where The Magic Is. That's What Really Keeps Me Motivated, Alive, Hungry. I'm Still As Excited And Motivated Now As I Was Twenty-five Years Ago, And That's Because I Really Live For Those Moments. And That's Where The Art Comes From, That's Where The Music Is Born, That's Where It All Appears. I Love It.
Art
Years
Magic
I Fell In Love With Paris The First Time I Went.
Paris
Firsts
First Time
Change Is Growth. For Me It Has Been A Very Spiritual And Musical Rebirth.
Spiritual
Growth
Musical
I'm Half Jewish, I'm Half Black, I Look In-between. I Dress Funny. I Play All These Different Styles Of Music On One Record. It's Like, What Is He Doing?
Funny
Play
Black
At 10 O'clock In The Morning I'd Go Right In The Studio. It Feels Good To Be There In The Morning Before The Day Starts To Mess With You - I Don't Mean In A Negative Way, But Before I'd Speak To A Lot Of People Or Get Into Anything, I'd Go In There And Just See What I Felt. A Lot Happens In The Morning For Me In The Studio.
Morning
Mean
People
It's Interesting To Be Playing A Father Who's On The Other Side Because That's Not My World And Not Where I Came From.
Father
Interesting
World
I Am Still Into The People I Listened To Growing Up, So I Completely Remember What Is Like To Be A Fan, I Haven't Changed.
Growing Up
People
Fans
I'm Definitely Happy With Everything I've Done. I Stand Behind It. You'll Always Be Saying, "well, I Could Change That, Or I Would Do That Differently." But You Have To Let It Be What It Is.
Done
Wells
Behinds
Our Music Is Always A Reflection Of Where We Are In A Society. That's What Enables So Many People To Do What They Do. So My Advice Is To Work At Your Craft. Be The Best You Can Be At Your Craft And Do It Sincerely. Even In The World We Live In Today, That Will Give You Longevity. At The End Of The Day, I Want The Quality Of My Work To Stand, Not How Much I Did.
Reflection
People
Giving
You Can't Even Sing Or Play An Instrument, So You Just Scream Instead. You're Living For An Image, So You Got Five Hundred Women In Your Bed.
Rock And Roll
Play
Bed
My Dream Is To Become A Farmer. Just A Bohemian Guy Pulling Up His Own Sweet Potatoes For Dinner.
Dream
Sweet
Guy
This World Is So Crazy. So Many Things Are Based On Popularity Versus Talent. So There's A Lot Of Folks Who Are Not So Talented, But They're Popular And They Have "x" Amount Of Followers On Social Media.
Crazy
World
Social Media
I'm Very Much About The Environment, I'm Very Much About Health, About Being Able To, At The Very Least, Eat Organic, Whole Foods That Are Healthy For Us. And Then, Of Course, Everyone Being Able To Eat And At Least Have A Humane Way To Live. There's Enough For Everybody, But Unfortunately, There's A Lot Of Greed And A Lot Of Ego.
Humane Way
Greed
Ego
I Never Sit Down To Write. When I'm Moved, I Do It. I Just Wait For It To Come. You Just Hear It. I Can't Really Describe Writing. It's In My Head. I Don't Think About The Styles. I Write Whatever Comes Out And I Use Whatever Kind Of Instrumentation Works For Those Songs...a Lot Of People Don't Listen To The Lyrics, Really. A Lot Of People Pretty Much Only Listen To The Chorus.
Song
Writing
Thinking
I'm Sure At One Point I Will Do Some Acting Again, But It Would Have To Be The Right Thing. I'm Not Going To Do It Just Because People Are Offering It To Me. Not For Those Box-office, Bullshit, Money, Noncreative People. But I'll Do It When It's Right To Do It.
Offering
People
Bullshit
I Mean, There Are Only So Many Notes. What Makes Something Original Is How You Put It Together.
Mean
Together
Notes
I Think Kids In Europe Have Developed A Deeper Knowledge Of Music And Of Black Music In Particular. You Go To Europe, And These Kids Know About All This Obscure Funk And Soul That Kids Over Here Wouldn't Know. I Think It's Getting Better In The States, Though, With The Age Of The Internet.
Kids
Thinking
Europe
I Come In With This Rock 'n' Roll-oriented Music, And It's Not Black Enough . . . I've Always Had To Deal With This Black-white Thing.
Rocks
White
Black
There's Definitely An Old School Element To My Music, But I Also Think It's Modern.
School
Thinking
Elements
If I Were White, I'd Get Less Criticism.
White
Criticism
Ifs
Good Design Is Being Able To Put A $100,000 Thing Next To A $20 Thing. If It Looks Right And It Works Then It Works. It Doesn't Have To Be Expensive; It's All About The High Meets Low For Me.
Design
Looks
Able
If You Listen To A Lot Of Old Funk Records, The Drums Are Really Small. But You Don't Perceive It Like That Because The Groove Is So Heavy.
Records
Heavy
Groove
My Career Has Been A Gradual Climb. I Think That's Part Of The Reason Why I've Had Longevity.
Thinking
Careers
Hiking
Are Things Getting Better With Each Generation? Yes. It's Quite Interesting To Be Living In These Times, For Me To Witness An African-american Being Elected President. It's Quite Extraordinary.
Interesting
African American
Get Better
When I Hear Music, It's Visual; I See Things.
Visuals
Working With Gabby [sidibe], I Realized Immediately That She Was Amazingly Talented. I Could Tell Just By The Way She'd Get Into The Role.
Roles
Way
I Realized
If You Look At The Guys In The '70s, Like Led Zeppelin, They Had Bigger Planes Than We Do, They Had More Money. But They Weren't Singing About It.
Guy
Singing
Looks
My First Guitar, A Fender Jazz Master, I Traded It In For A Les Paul Deluxe.
Guitar
Firsts
Jazz
Nine Out Of Ten Groups That Came Out In '89 Are Gone. I'm Still Here.
Groups
Gone
Nine
I'm Always Sort Of Reflecting On What I Do On What I've Done. Usually Before I Make A New Album, I'll Listen To The Previous Albums Just To See Where I've Been.
Albums
Done
Reflecting
When I'm Doing Interiors - Especially The Ones Where You Really Have Full Creative Freedom - It's About Creating An Environment For People To Feel So Comfortable And At Ease. I Want Them To Become Inspired To Live And Feel Better.
Feel Better
Creating
People
The Story That I Wanna Tell Is Pretty Much About The Way I Grew Up. Being Bi-racial, Growing Up In A Big City And Being An Artist.
Growing Up
Artist
Cities
So That's Why You've Got To Try, You Got To Breath And Have Some Fun. Though I'm Not Paid, I Play This Game, And I Won't Stop Until I'm Done. But What I Really Want To Know Is - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
Travel
Fun
Games
Mothers Love You To The End, And She Didn't Want To Hold Me Back From My Livelihood. So I Left For A Month And Called Her Every Couple Of Days. I Came Home And She Died 24 Hours Later.
Mother
Couple
Love You
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