Quotes from Raheem DeVaughn

Dr. Dre I've always been a huge fan of. The Roots as well. The Roots gave me an appreciation for live music.

I was frustrated in the past, like, 'Wow, why do they have to throw me in the R&B urban adult contemporary lane?' 'Woman' was a no. 1 hit at Urban AC, so there's no disrespect to that lane. But did it get a fair shot at urban radio? No, I don't think so.

Stay worry-free. Show love and you get love.

Being an indie artist, you have to fight for position against a major.

Being independent isn't as flashy as a lot of people may think. It's a lot of hard work; its a lot of investing your own money. And to creatively time to make your day work - it's on you to make it work, and no one else.

I call myself "The Love King" in all aspects. Poetically speaking, in the bedroom, I love, and in social conflict.

There is no single individual greater than a mother. They are the great keepers of our society and heads of our households.

I have a good cry once in a while; it's such a great release. Or it could be a cry of joy - watching your child being born or your child walking across a graduation stage.

Social networks didn't exist when I started. Twitter and Facebook didn't exist. It was all about MySpace when I first got in the game.

I have songs - even from my first album, I've always been on some socially conscience/love whatever music, you know?

No matter what road I take, I can never get too far away from the conscious lyric and the socially conscious content.

I've always been known for making socially conscious music in the midst of the love songs and the bedroom songs.

When I make my socially conscious songs, I go hard with the lyrical content; I go hard with the imagery.

'Black Ice Cream' is a salute to the ladies with Black Girl Magic who exude a powerful sexual confidence.

I don't make records just for the ladies. I make it for the fellas, too.

I feel like every artist has a place in their mind, this place where they exist artistically. And I just want to take people to mine, and my place is called Loveland. In Loveland, there's no war, and there's peace.

I give a lot of myself, so it will be good to release some heavy energy, and I know yoga deals with energy. So I definitely want to get into that.

Every so often, you have a producer or a songwriter or both or a team that comes along and really reshapes and redefines sonically what music is and the interpretation of it to the masses.

In the past, being young, I might have been standoffish to working with other songwriters.

I always been inspired and aspire to inspire through the music. I feel like I've always made the soundtrack to a movement.

I'm a modern-day hippie.

I love women - all types, all colors, petite, plus size. But in particular, I was raised by black women, and I feel like there is just something beautiful about black women.

The music that I write, I have to actually own it and live by it, which is cool. It's no problem.

I was a pretty sheltered kid, a slow starter. I was pretty secretive with my passion for music and, I guess, my talent and what-not.