Well, I was always a bit of a political junkie. Even as a kid I would read biographies of presidents and of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.
The best way to fight poverty is to empower people through access to quality education.
I never went through a period where I didn’t want to play music. I’ve always loved it and it’s always been a huge part of my life.
Music business is hard. It’s very difficult. And it’s not for everyone. Even if you can sing or even if you can write a song, it takes a lot of determination, it takes some kind of thick skin.
My mother, I want her to like my music, but she’s not exactly my target audience. So I care more about the fans in general, just making sure they enjoy what I do.
I just want my music to measure up to. Part of it’s just thinking about my place in history and how this music is going to be perceived, if it’s listened to 30, 40 years from now.
The main focus for me is not trying to find duet partners. It’s about just making great songs. I want most of my album to be in my voice, because it’s my point of view.
Sometimes I start just on the piano with a melody or musical idea that kind of leads me to certain lyrics.
I do speak to kids a lot. I am very clear with them that not all of them should aspire to be me and not all of them should be aspire to be LeBron.
I like songs that have like a little bit of quirkiness to them. What I like to do with songs, is kind of throw a little curveball in the lyrics or in the arrangement, to kind of give it a little twist to it.
For me, no matter how much money you want to make off of singing, no matter what kind of fame you want to make, achieve, the most important thing to me is making music that you’re proud of, making music that comes from you, comes from an authentic place in you.
No matter how big or successful and famous you become, if you do that, that’s the most fulfilling thing, is making music that you love and that you’re proud of.
I keep learning, listening, growing and experimenting.
There’s so much music out there, and so many different styles that I’ve been influenced by, so each album reflects some of that knowledge or influence that I’ve had.
The fun part about collaborating is that you naturally just bounce off each other’s energy and learn off each other.
When I write, I don’t really focus on duets or anything like that, or whether I’m going to feature this or that rapper. I just focus on just making a great song and figure out the rest later.
I care more about the fans in general, just making sure they enjoy what I do. And then also I kind of had this kind of ideal of the kind of music I want to make and what I’m aiming for kind of creatively and just the quality of the music that I’m trying to make. And I have that in my head.
I think the most important thing is that I’m making music that the people enjoy. So the fans, the people that are out there listening to music and consuming music, I want them to enjoy it and love it. And so that’s more important to me than Grammys.
I feel like my job is to make impact, spread love, tell great stories, inspire people, that’s what I am going to do.
Some people, you know, should just go to college and do what they do and have a great job and not worry about trying to be famous as a singer. It’s not for everyone.
Critics like to describe and categorize things, and categories often have a way of limiting people.