Love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forever more it will go on undefeated. I'm also a very loving person.
In my life, I wanted to feel tall. I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to be tall as the Sears Tower. I wanted to be on top of the Sears Tower. I wanted to be as strong as the Sears Tower feels.
Just listen to all this sweet, sweet music. I'm working the music.
To hear the appreciation, the screams - that's what any of us need. We're at our best when we're wanted.
My music has shaken hands with the world somehow - it's a beautiful disease, and I'm glad I got it.
I've heard people have written books of me. People don't even know me, but they've written a book on me. You ever heard of hearing it from the horse's mouth? I'm the horse.
People can say whatever they want about you without knowing the facts. They can criticize you without even knowing you, and hate you when they don't even know you. All of a sudden, you're, like, the bin Laden of America. Osama bin Laden is the only one who knows exactly what I'm going through.
I have always been infatuated with country music. Country music tells stories, and I've always loved to tell stories. I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
They say marriage will change you but it didn't change me. Being in love changed me.
I'm very responsible. And with ability you have to have responsibility. I'm not perfect. But you have to make sure that your children will know that daddy makes mistakes.
I did 'Love Letter' and 'Write Me Back,' and those were fun albums for me to do because they took me back to music I love.
I have always been infatuated with country music.
My greatest competition is, well, me.
I've been blackmailed a billion times. I've been sued for ridiculous things. At one point in my life, I was an ATM machine. But I'm used to that. You don't get used to it, but I'm used to the fact that people will do this, even your own family members, and I don't hate none of them.
I don't really know the story of the Pied Piper. I don't read stories, first of all. I just remember either a rabbit or a rat leading people out of the village with a flute. That's all I can tell you.
I really don't chase songs. I get in the studio, I know what I gotta do; I'm pretty much programmed to do it.
I have Marvin Gaye's driver's license. His wife sent it to me, because she really loved my 'Happy People' record. She said that she thought it represented the sprit of her husband. The license is from California. I get inspired every time I look at it.
I always follow what my spirit tells me to do.
I'm in love with music, and I'm pregnant by it. It's like having twins. Or triplets. Or eight-lets!
You know, I love plays. I love the smell of a theater. The old rooms and the carpet and all that stuff. I love to tell stories. Even before I was doing music, I saw myself as a director.
When you commit to something and have fun with it, it appreciates you, the gift, and it starts to help you out.
I started to wear the sunglasses all the time at school, hiding behind them... I'd walk down the hallways, practically hugging the wall, dragging my head against it like I was crazy.
I don't want fans mad at me, so I gotta give them what they expect and what they want.
As with all the other rappers I've worked with, Biggie and I shared common ground. Even though Biggie grew up in Brooklyn and I grew up in Chicago, we came from the same 'hood.
I love the smell of a theater. The old rooms and the carpet and all that stuff. I love to tell stories. Even before I was doing music, I saw myself as a director. So most of my songs come in a play form, you know, where there are characters and stories, so I like to go beyond just the song sometimes.
I want to be able to be a father to my kids, where I've never seen my father, but my kids can see me whenever they want, so that was broken.
I'm not very good at picking stuff up off the radio. It takes me way too long to learn other people's music.
All the sounds on 'Trapped in the Closet' - the knockin' on the door, when I grab the keys, when I walk down the stairs, the car horns - we sampled all of those things around my house.
I like to laugh and make people have fun.
I love blues. My grandfather did blues.
When I was performing on streets, there was no pressure. People accepted me. They loved me without knowing me.
I've really been writing a lot of country songs. I used to get criticized for doing a 'Bump & Grind,' then turning around and doing a gospel song. But the truth is I'm glad I have a gift that allows me to switch lanes.
My mom actually had a band called Six Pack - even though there were seven of them - who went around Chicago performing popular songs. Her voice was like Gladys Knight mixed with Aretha Franklin.
I still feel like I'm alone at times - even if I'm in the midst of a million people. Because no one - including me - understands my mind creatively. I haven't really been formally introduced to my gift yet. I feel like I'm still on the runway.
