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.

-Lenny Kravitz

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I Was An Actor

Lenny Kravitz

Topic

Teenager

Creativity

Acting

More From Lenny Kravitz

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

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'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've Had To Work Very Hard, And I Don't Really Have A Category Or Fit Into Any Niche, So Each Time I Come Out With A New Record, It's Like, I'm A New Guy.

Guy

Records

Niche

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

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 Just Need To Know That I Did The Very Best I Could And That I Was True To Myself.

Needs

True To Myself

Knows

I Knew What I Wanted To Do From The Time I Was 5.

Wanted

If I Had To Associate Myself With One Song, It Would Probably Be Let Love Rule. It's So Simple And To The Point. It Speaks For Itself.

Song

Simple

Speak

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

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

Oasis Are Not Just Influenced By The Beatles; They Actually Take Stuff. Then They Get Praised.

Oasis

Stuff

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

The Way I Was Raised And The People That I Grew Up Around For The Most Part Were Very Humble People, And I Appreciate All That They Taught Me, And Their Energy And Their Magnanimity Help Keep Me Grounded.

Humble

People

Appreciate

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

Different

Records

I Always Try To Keep The Circumstances In My Life Fresh. I Like To Change The Physical Environment I Live In, Change The People Around Me And Try To Experience Things For The First Time. I Think That Keeps One On Their Toes, Creatively And Spiritually.

Thinking

People

Trying

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 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

My Life Is Perfect Because I Accept It As It Is.

Philosophy

Perfect

Life Is

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

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

Music Definitely Inspires My Design All The Time.

Design

Inspire

My Mom And Dad Would Take Me All Over. One Night We'd Be At The Apollo Watching James Brown, And Then I'd Be At The Joffrey Ballet. It Was That Kind Of Scene.

Mom

Dad

Night

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

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

Yeah

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

What Motivates It Is Life. Life Is Everything. Life Influences My Music And Brings It Forth. Life Is Always Changing, So I'm Always Hearing New Music.

Hearing

Life Is

Influence

Today, People Are More Into The Glitz And The Glamour Of Everything. We Don't Even Read The Inside Of Records Anymore.

People

Style

Records

I'm A Very Open And Loving Person. My Whole Thing Has Been "let Love Rule" Since My First Album. I'm About Unity And Peace And God.

Unity

Beyond [barack Obama] Having Made History As The First African-american President, I Hope That He Gets Re-elected For What He Does While In Office, Not For His Skin Color. I Certainly Believe He Has The Capacity.

Believe

Skin Color

Office

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

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

If You Ask A Hundred People, They All Give You Different Answers.

People

Giving

Different

You Can Be Around 100 People And Be Completely Alone. People Don't Realize What It's Really Like.

People

Realizing

I Feel Like I'm Only In The Beginning Of My Career. I've Only Made Five Albums. It's Not A Lot.

Careers

Albums

Made

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

I Mean, There Are Only So Many Notes. What Makes Something Original Is How You Put It Together.

Mean

Together

Notes

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

God Forbid You Sing About Love. It's A Lost Concept.

Lost Love

Lost

Concepts

I Was Watching An Interview With Martin Scorcese Concerning Raging Bull, Which Is One Of My Favorite Films, And He Was Talking About How He'd Worked With A Lot Of Guys Who Weren't Quote-unquote "actors," Like Joe Pesce And Frank Vincent. Scorcese Was Very Smart In The Way That He Cast, Because You Don't Know Where You're Going To Find The Right Person Who Can Carry A Role And Summon That Emotion You're Looking For.

Smart

Talking

Guy

God Gave Me The Gift To Be Able To Play Instruments And I Have To Play.

Play

Able

Instruments

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

Fly Away Changed My Life. There Are Certain Songs That Do. When I Won The Grammy, I Was In Paris. I Sort Of Forgot About It.

Song

Paris

Fly Away

God Is Love And If You Are Ready, He Always Is.

Religious

Religion

God Is Love

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

I Do My Best To Try To Keep God With Me On A Personal Level. It's My Belief That God Really Wants A Personal Relationship With Us.

Trying

Levels

Want

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

I Don't Like To Approach People That Much. There's Been Times When I Wanted To Say Something To Somebody, In A Quick Moment, But Didn't. Then You Think, Man, Who Knows?

Men

Thinking

People

I Honestly Don't Remember How I Wrote Or Did The Songs. Or The Sessions. They All Become Very Much A Blur. And Each Album Is Like That. It May Be That There Are Different Locations, It May Take Longer, Shorter, Or Whatever, But It's Always Something That Just Happened.

Song

Location

Different

(on Being Asked If He Preferred To Be A Rock God Or Sex God) I Am Neither. My Favourite Role Is Father.

Sex

Father

Rocks

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.

Book

Mean

Kids

I Enjoy What People At The Concert Give Me And I Can't Do It Without Them, So It's Really An Exchange Of Energy That Snowballs Back And Forth And Becomes Something That's Very Satisfying And Very Magical.

People

Giving

Energy

People Feel They Have To Live That Stereotypical Lifestyle In Order To Be A Rock Star. You Don't Have To Shoot Heroin And Act A Certain Way To Be A Rock And Roll Musician.

Stars

Rocks

Order

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

Keeping Grounded And Keeping Focused And Keeping Calm And Thankful, That Comes From God.

Calm

Grounded

Focused

When I'm In The Studio, I Write The Music, I Play The Different Instruments, I Produce It, I Arrange It, And It's A Self-indulgent Exercise. It's The Way I Make My Music. And When I'm Acting, I Get To Leave Myself Behind, Which Is A Relief. I Get To Collaborate With A Director; I Respect The Director's Medium And All The Actors And Actresses. So At The End Of The Day, It's About A Character And It's About A Director's Vision. It's A Really Good Balance For Being So Intense And Alone In My Personal Process Of Making Music.

Writing

Character

Exercise

When I'm Making My Music, I'm Writing It, I'm Producing It, I'm Playing All The Instruments, I'm Performing. It's My Own World Where I Do What I Feel, And Nobody Tells Me Anything.

Writing

World

Instruments

It's Very Important To Vote. People Died For This Right.

People

Political

Important

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 Started Out Making Furniture Because I Couldn't Find Certain Things, And Then I Really Got Into It.

Furniture

Certain

I'm Looking Forward To Going Out At The Concert With A Clear Head, With A Clear Mind, With A Clear Spirit And Experiencing Whatever It Is. It's Great.

Clear Head

Mind

Going Out

My Mother's Side Of The Family Is From The Bahamas, And I Spent Time There On And Off When I Was Growing Up. It's The Place Where I Feel At Peace.

Mother

Growing Up

Bahamas

It's A Good Time For Me To Pursue Acting, I Suppose Since I'm Enjoying Having Another Medium In Which To Express Myself. I've Been Getting A Great Response To My Work.

Acting

Good Times

Enjoy

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

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

The Fans Of 'the Hunger Games,' Of The Book, Are Very Passionate. It's Funny: Even At My Concerts There Are People Holding Up 'cinna' Signs.

Funny

Book

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

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

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

For Me A Watch Is A Really Beautiful Instrument. I Don't So Much Care What Time It Is But I Do Love Watches, And I Love How They're Constructed.

Beautiful

Watches

Care

I Wouldn't Play Together With Someone Who Likes To Control Everything Like Me.

Play

Together

Likes

I Made The Record That My Life Had Me Make. Each One Is Like A Diary.

Diaries

Records

Made

I Knew Slash In High School, But Not Very Well. Just Knew Him As This Kid That Used To Hang Out In The Hallway. Pretty Much Looked Then The Way He Does Now.

Beauty

School

Kids

A Dramatic Thing, The First Time You Stand Up To Your Dad.

Dad

Father

Firsts

I'm More Hungry Now Than I Was 11 Years Ago. Which Is Great Because I See A Lot Of Artists That Have Been Out For A Long Period Of Time. They Get Kind Of Fat.

Artist

Years

Long

I Really Didn't Know A Lot Of Rock 'n' Roll Until I Moved To L.a. Before That, When I Was In New York, I Grew Up Listening Mostly To R&b And Soul And Jazz.

New York

Rocks

Soul

One Musician Listens To Another Musician, And You Get Inspired And Then You Do Your Thing, But It's Yours.

Musician

Inspired

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

I Identify More With Women Than With Men. I Guess I Have A Strong Feminine Side.

Funny

Witty

Strong

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

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

My Career Has Been A Gradual Climb. I Think That's Part Of The Reason Why I've Had Longevity.

Thinking

Careers

Hiking

Nine Out Of Ten Groups That Came Out In '89 Are Gone. I'm Still Here.

Groups

Gone

Nine

You Never Know Where You're Going To Find A Great Actor.

Actors

Great Actors

Knows

I Don't Pull, I Just Receive.

I Fell In Love With Paris The First Time I Went.

Paris

Firsts

First Time

I Want To Get Away, I Want To Fly Away. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Want

Fly Away

Yeah

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 Not One Of Those Artists Who Refuses To Play Their Hits. I Find That Ridiculous. Hits Are A Blessing.

Artist

Blessing

Play

I'm Experiencing The Mood To Go Out And Share The Music. I Don't Look At These Concerts As A Platform For People To Watch Me, Look At Me. No, A Tour Is About An Interaction. A Thing, Myself, A Band, And The People Who Support What I Do And Enjoy What I Do.

People

Support

Watches

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

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.

Years

Crowds

Lasts

If I Were White, I'd Get Less Criticism.

White

Criticism

Ifs

That's A Big Gift When People Say To You That A Song Helped Them Or Brought Them To Some Place In Their Life Where They Needed To Be.

Song

People

Bigs

God Said, Here. Have It. Enjoy It. I'm Gonna Be Miserable?

Miserable

Said

Enjoy

Confusion Makes People Uncomfortable. They Can't Put Their Finger On Me.

People

Confusion

Fingers

People Always Accuse Me Of Being Motivational In A Way, Like It Was A Bad Thing, But That's Just How I Was Raised. My Mom Raised Me In A Positive Environment, With Lots Of Love In My Heart, And That Reflects In My Music.

Positive

Inspiring

Mom

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

I Wanted To Make Something That Sounded Very Pure, Organic, And Personal. I Wanted To Make Music That Was Timeless.

Timeless

Wanted

Pure

It Was Amazing To Me That, All Of A Sudden, I Was Hearing My Music On The Radio And Coming Out Of Cars.

Car

Radio

Hearing

There Are So Many People That Don't Believe In Themselves And Don't Have Faith.

Believe

People

Have Faith

I Find Cooking To Be The One Thing That Relaxes Me. I Don't Get To Do It Often . . .

Cooking

Relax

One Thing

There's Definitely An Old School Element To My Music, But I Also Think It's Modern.

School

Thinking

Elements

I Don't Play The Tuba.

Play

Tubas

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

You're Never Promised Your Next Breath.

Breaths

You've Got Your Entourage And People That Help You Make Whatever Happen Around You. Everything's Crazy And You're Not Paying Attention To Your Inner Feelings Because You're So Busy. I Couldn't Take It.

Crazy

People

Feelings

I Haven't Thought About Making A Music Film, But If I Did, That Would Be A Very Interesting Idea.

Ideas

Interesting

Would Be

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

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

I'm Just As White As I Am Black, And I'm Just As Russian Jew As I Am West Indian.

White

Black

West

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.

Giving Up

Tired

Divorce

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

When I Hear Music, It's Visual; I See Things.

Visuals

My First Guitar, A Fender Jazz Master, I Traded It In For A Les Paul Deluxe.

Guitar

Firsts

Jazz

Love Is The Most Powerful Energy There Is.

Powerful

Love Is

Energy

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

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

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.

Character

Love Is

Creating

I've Lived My Life Dealing With Everybody. And That's How It's Always Been For Me.

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

I Think It'd Be A Real Nightmare To Put A Record Out And Sell 20 Million Copies And Then That's It.

Real

Thinking

Records

I Couldn't Tell You What I Am Going To Do Next 'cause I Have No Idea, But I Am Open To Anything.

Ideas

Causes

People See My Photos And Think I Labor Over My Image And I'm This Cool, Brooding Artist. But I'm Just Having Fun With It.

Fun

Artist

Thinking

Eventually You're Going To Have A Digital Transfer Anyway When You Make A Cd, So It Doesn't Matter As Long As What You're Hitting First Is What You Want It To Be.

Cds

Long

Firsts

When I Stopped Trying To Write Songs, That's When I'm Able To Begin Writing Songs. You Have To Just Use Your Life, And The Things Around You For Your Inspiration.

Song

Inspiration

Writing

I'm Really Happy About American Woman, It Brought The Guess Who Back. They Started Gigging Again And Got Their Song Out On Commercials.

Song

Really Happy

American Woman

A Lot Of People Don't Listen To The Lyrics, Really.

People

Writing Songs

Songwriting

We're Getting So Pulled In By Computers And Technology, And Our Kids Have Their Face In The Computers All Day. The Human Relationship Is Being Diminished By This.

Kids

Technology

Faces

I Have A Great Time With My Band And On The Stage We Get Along Well.

Band

Stage

Wells

Me Being In My Grandmother's Yard In Brooklyn. I Must Have Been About 3. I Had This Red Balloon. I Let Go Of It, And It Went Up Into The Sky And Just Kept Going And Going. I Completely Flipped Out, Because I Didn't Understand Why.

Letting Go

Grandmother

Sky

It's A Trip To Have A Greatest Hits Record. It's A Trip.

Journey

Records

Eleutheria, The Fire Is Burning. Eleutheria, The Tables Are Turning.

Fire

Burning

Tables

After Listening To "machine Gun" I Have To Take A Nap.

Gun

Naps

Listening

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.

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

The Image That The Public Gets Is Whatever They Perceive It To Be. Everybody Has An Opinion, Everybody Has Their Own Vision, So I Don't Know What My Public Image Is. I Have No Idea.

Ideas

Vision

Opinion

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

I Didn't Really Listen To Rock 'n' Roll Until I Moved To La. We Would Ditch School, Go Get High, Put On Zeppelin Iv And Just Bug Out.

School

Rocks

Getting High

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

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

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

If You Go To Japan, They're Still Buying Vinyl, And They Want The Education. They Know Who's Playing On What Tracks From The '60s And The '70s - Who The Guitar Player Is, Who The Drummer Is, Who The Producer Was, What Studio It Was Recorded In. That's How I Grew Up Listening To Music. We Bought Albums. We Read The Liner Notes. It Was Important To Know The Whole History Behind It.

Player

Guitar

Japan

God Is Always In My Life, And That's The Most Important Thing To Me.

Important

Important Things

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

Music Is My Life, It Is A Reflection Of What I Go Through.

Reflection

Music Is My Life

Music Is

Love , Creativity, And Opportunity Is In The Air. Take It In And Do Your Thing.

Love

Inspirational

Motivational

The Image Is An Image.

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

We've Always Just Gotten Up There And Played. We Don't Have Any Dancers, We Don't Have All That Stuff Going On, We Just Get Up There And Play.

Play

Dancer

Stuff

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

Change Is Growth. For Me It Has Been A Very Spiritual And Musical Rebirth.

Spiritual

Growth

Musical

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

Don't Take It So Seriously.

You Need To Open Up So That More Comes Through. And You Can Just Feel That When Your Ego Is Not In The Way And When You're Letting It Be What It Wants To Be. You Have To Let It Be What It Wants To Be As Opposed To What You Think It Should Be.

Thinking

Ego

Needs

I Want To Do Interiors, Furniture. I Want To Do Architecture, Although I'm Not An Architect. Nor Am I A Trained Interior Designer.

Want

Furniture

Architecture

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

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."

Beautiful

Mother

African American

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'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.

Play

Guy

Drug

There's Nothing More That We Love Than Having A Close, Personal, Open Relationship, And I Believe That's What God Wants.

Believe

Want

I Believe

At First People Thought I Was Really Arrogant And A Snob About Music Because I'm So Intense About My Production And Sound, And Because They Knew I Didn't Like New Music So Much.

People

Sound

Arrogant

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.

Writing

Waiting

Moved

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

I Just Live My Life And Try To Be Present. When I'm Present In The Moment And Something Comes, I Can Capture It, Because It Doesn't Come From Me, It's Out There.

Trying

Moments

Living My Life

Being Free Is A State Of Mind.

Mind

Being Free

Politics

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

I Was Taught By My Grandfather That Anything That Your Mind Can Conceive, You Can Have. It's A Reality.

Reality

Mind

Grandfather

My Dream Is To Become A Farmer. Just A Bohemian Guy Pulling Up His Own Sweet Potatoes For Dinner.

Dream

Sweet

Guy

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 Just Feel So Good; It Feels Like A Very Creative Time For Me. As Far As My Mind, Spirit, And Body, I've Never Felt Better.

Creative

Mind

Body

A Lot Of People Pretty Much Only Listen To The Chorus.

People

Writing Songs

Songwriting

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

If You Heard My Records And No One Told You, I Don't Think You'd Know Whether It's A Band Or One Guy.

Thinking

Guy

Band

You Can Start Something, Do It, And Believe That That's What You're Doing, But Then The Inspiration Comes And It's Like, "nope, This Is What It Is."

Believe

Inspiration

I've Been Compared To Hundreds Of Artists, Which Just Goes To Show You That I'm Not Any One Thing At All.

Artist

Shows

One Thing

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

Things That Would Shock Us Years Ago Are Like Nothing Now.

Years

Years Ago

Shock

I Had No Idea 'the Hunger Games' Was So Big. I Didn't Even Know The Book. I Had Been Living Under My Own Rock.

Book

Rocks

Games

I Just Live My Life And Try To Be Present.

Trying

Living My Life

Just Live

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

I Am Trying To Get Closer To God.

Trying

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

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

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

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.

Loved Ones

Relationship With God

Ceremony

Race In This Country Is Still The Elephant In The Room That No One Wants To Discuss.

Country

Race

Elephants

I Was In Paris Last Year, Where There's A Great Appreciation Of Many Different Aspects Of African Culture And Of Black Culture. The Music... The Art... Whatever... And I Kind Of Went With That.

Appreciation

Art

Years

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 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

It Doesn't Take A Lot To Get Me Motivated. I'm A Studio Rat. When I Was In High School And I Would Walk Into A Recording Studio, It Felt Like This Magical Place, This Temple, This Womb That I Could Escape Into.

School

Rats

Temples

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 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

A Lot Of My Songs Deal With Spirituality And God, And I Guess If You're In Tune With That, You'll Read Into It.

Song

Tunes

Spirituality

Everything That I Make I Use.

Use

I'm Just Looking For Interesting Roles And Giving Acting The Respect It Deserves.

Giving

Interesting

Acting

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.

Dream

Song

Listening

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

I Don't Go To Church So Much, The Way My Life Is, But It's In Me Every Day.

Church

Way

Life Is

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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