I'm gonna stay an album guy. In fact, concept albums are really blowing my mind right now, because if you want to promote an album, think about it - a concept album might be the way to go.
Country fans need to support country music by buying albums and concert tickets for traditional artists or the music will just fade away. And that would be really sad.
Albums take a lot out of you.
My biggest hero when I was a kid was Will Smith. I used to watch 'Fresh Prince,' and I was a huge fan of his albums. I bought all of his albums when I was a kid. Now, he is the biggest movie star in the world.
I enjoy staying home with friends more than going out. The other night, for example, my girlfriends and I stayed in listening to some '90s rap - my favorite kind. We were in the Hamptons and made it an all-Biggie weekend, all of his albums on repeat. I loved it.
I was king of the mountain for a long time, well, I don't want that no more. I like to perform every once in a while for people who want to see me, and cut albums of music that is what I'm really about.
I remember a couple of instrumental albums, just don't ask the names.
A single is really quick, man. You can get it out, and in two months have it on your merch table. And albums can take a really long time. But when you get done with an album, it's a lot more fulfilling.
I've been hugely inspired by the songwriting of Lauryn Hill and Tracy Chapman - on their albums, they really tell it like it is.
Some artists get so comfortable now after even one or two albums and think, 'I'm the biggest artist in the world,' but it's like, yeah, you are for now, but you've gotta work so that you're remembered further, and that's what I'm trying to do.
That's the reason why I'm making albums. That's the reason why I love hip-hop: It's a challenge every time.
I wanted to make something that reminded people of the way albums used to feel. I wanted something as good as the stuff put out by the Bomb Squad, or Dr. Dre and his production crew, or 'A Tribe Called Quest.' I miss albums like those.
There were times when I was just listening to albums for the hype of it. Some albums, I would just put it on in my car, and me and my friends would just drive, that we'd wild out to, get arrested to.
I'm hoping to become a recording artist and make albums and go on tour.
I still love touring rock clubs around the world, and that's something that's really a part of me. I love making albums, and I'm a wedding singer on the side; that's my parallel career. So I love all those aspects of making music.
I definitely have favourites in terms of albums.
I've always been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. I always feel that you should keep singles as commercial as possible so that the people can walk down the road and whistle a song. But on the other hand on albums I think you can afford to show people what you can do.
I hate negative songs; I won't sing them. It doesn't matter if it's sold 2 million more albums.
I like expansive stuff that has a lot of space in it, like some of the early Pink Floyd albums.
I've been making demos at home for many albums now. So over those years, I've learned how to record music, and I love being at home. I excel when I can make things at home.
The album's not dead for me; I still buy vinyl albums.
Hendrix inspired me, but I was still more into Wes Montgomery. I was also into the Allman Brothers around the time of those albums.
Over four or five years, I did six albums with three people: John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and Patti Smith. I felt that if I could care as much about their music as they did, I could be useful to them. I really cared about their music and their lives.
I have always maintained that it's not the quantity of work, but the quality that should speak. I have maintained the same for my music albums, too. I have always released them after a gap of two to three years.
There is a downside to having one of the biggest-selling albums ever.
I have a lot of albums yet to do.
Well, Smoke n' Mirrors has very much a world music flavor and it doesn't park itself in one country. It borrows heavily from the Brazilian angle, which is dear to my heart, and I recorded several albums with that flavor.
When you do rap albums, you got to train yourself. You got to constantly be in character.
Steve Jobs was a real rock star to me. I looked forward to his products like people look forward to albums.
You can hear some artists, hear five of their albums and still have no idea who they are. But if you've heard most of what I've recorded, you know me. You go from 'Honesty' to 'Going Through Hell' - you can listen to the hits, and they pretty much reflect who I am. 'Take a Back Road' is the same thing.
Most people didn't have the bandwidth to download whole albums. And so it brought back this cherry picking idea that the audience would focus on certain songs and possibly be the impetus behind what eventually got on AM radio: the single or whatever.
If I would get an album out every eight months and if I would write songs that were more up-tempo and try to focus more on making singles, then I could probably get more attention. But I don't think the albums would be very fun to listen to, and it would be a drag for me.
But then I hit my 20s and only made two albums, and now I live in a ski resort as a ski bum basically.
As I got older, I fell in love with Radiohead, and 'OK Computer' is one of my favorite albums of theirs. Sonically, the tone of the guitars on tracks like 'Electioneering' just rips right through me.
My favorite artists are the ones that I can take their eight or ten albums, and I can see the arc of their life.
I don't think the record company is aware of it. Because they just bury my albums and don't release them.
