A just society is not one built on fear or repression or vengeance or exclusion, but one built on love. Love for our families. Love for our neighbors. Love for the least among us. Love for those who look different or worship differently. Love for those we don’t even know.
I’ve written good love songs when I have been in love and I’ve written good love songs when I haven’t.
Music business is not for everyone. But if you have it in you, you have that passion, if you have that energy in you that you really want to make something creative and make something that’s going to impact the world, then go for it, do it and don’t let anybody tell you no.
You learn so much from taking chances, whether they work out or not. Either way, you can grow from the experience and become stronger and smarter.
There are more black men incarcerated today than there were slaves in 1850.
We should care about what is going on in the world.
If a relationship is going to work, it will require compromise and, even then, it is not always going to end the way you want it to.
You see all these things that make you feel desperate or sad, but you realize changes can be made, and it doesn’t take a lot of money on our part to make a change in people’s lives.
The best training is to play by ear: trial by fire.
Love your curves and all your edges All your perfect imperfections.
I’m craving more soul, I’m craving more truth, I’m craving more socially – just people that are aware of what’s going on in the world.
I’m trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences.
I thought it would be funny to take a photo in the White House bathroom, I take pictures everywhere I go, but I don’t think I can top that one.
It’s really about making the best music you can make. It’s really about working hard.
But in my mind I’ve always been a solo artist- I’ve just been working with a lot of great people like Kanye and Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.
J. Ivy is a brilliant man with an incredible voice and a way with words. I’ve known him for over a decade and owe my stage name to him believing in me back then before I even had a record deal. I’m excited for him to share his truth with the world.
I’m pretty adventurous with food, so I’m not afraid to try anything.
Witnessing the extreme poverty in remote parts of Affrica can make you feel sad and powerless until you realize how little it takes to change these people’s lives fundamentally in sustainable ways.
Happy that New York passed marriage equality tonight. A victory for human rights. Progress.
I know when things feel a little, like, intrusive and when they don’t. I don’t have a lot to hide. But I do sometimes think, don’t share everything.