Quotes from Tricky

People used to talk about my lyrical content and not about my music, and to be honest, I think I have got lazy with my lyrics over the years.

To be honest with you, it was almost like I could do no wrong after 'Maxinquaye.' And when I was putting together 'Nearly God,' I was thinking, 'Will you stay with me if I put out something that radio cannot play?'

There are certain things you can talk to a partner about and it's someone to lean on. But I refuse to get into a relationship just for the sake of comfort.

9/11 is probably the main reason I didn't release an album for five years.

I'm not going to be pretentious and two-faced to get a good review. But that's the kind of thing which gets you a rep in this business.

The music I should be doing is music that you haven't heard before - whether you like it or not. I don't want to just repeat.

I've met a couple of total wrecks who've loved Bjork and ended up broken hearted. I didn't love her.

I can experiment, I can be honest, and honestly, musically, I can't be touched.

I'm not just a kid from Knowle West trying to build a future, I have some experience, I can experiment... and honestly, musically, I can't be touched.

First off, I absolutely hate the term 'trip-hop.' It was a term that made it seemed like I was trying to turn the music into something else. I was always influenced by New York hip-hop, since forever, since I was a kid.

If I'd lived in Bristol, I'd probably be doing building site stuff, plastering. Probably not the plastering. It would have been mixing. I could always get work from friends who did construction. But I wasn't into getting up at seven in the morning.

Trip-hop? That's never existed and they say I invented it. Trip-hop is just hip-hop with a girl singing on top.

Madonna working with Justin Timberlake is supposed be cool but I don't think there's anything cool about it.

I've got one younger brother who can do prison like his breakfast, but I'm not built for it.

I cry at absolutely anything. 'Lethal Weapon,' the fight scene at the end - you can see it on YouTube.

I spend 70% of my time laughing. I don't walk around all dark. I might take my photos like that because I'm not a clown. But I'm a really soft, feminine, gentle, normal guy.

I never sold out. I never made an album to buy a house.

There's bound to be turbulence in any situation if you're with someone for long enough. Especially if you're with someone like me.

Sometimes I'm in a bad mood, sometimes I'm in a good mood. It's like everyone else.

I never compromised myself musically.

I can remember arguing for two days with Mark Saunders about 'Strugglin'.' He said: 'This can't work. It's not musically correct.' And I said: 'If I can hear it in my brain you can't tell me it can't work.'

Well, the truth is that we are all mystical and that there is something going on that can't be explained. Outside of the day-to-day stuff like getting up going to work, we all have something going on within us, and we all know that there is something going on - we're spiritual creatures and we are very powerful.

I had an uncle who adored Al Green. He was white, but he only listened to black music.

For a child, it's not so much scary, it's surreal; there was a lot of fighting in my great-grandmother's house; you'd go there and then someone would meet up and there'd be a fight; I've seen my uncles fight in the street, I've seen my grandmother fight in the street, it becomes normal.