Quotes from Thundercat

It doesn't even feel like racism is real. It just feels like the weirdest ploy, like we're just being had on so many levels. It's even kind of funny when you think about it. A reason not to like someone is 'because you're black.' C'mon, man. How dumb is that?

I don't think it's corny to pray at all.

No other mammal is as deceitful as the human being.

I always wanted to be involved with music that would stand the test of time, being on one of those definitive things that you have to have listened to at some point.

I'm kind of a simple guy. The best way you can describe it is, I'm the same person I was when I was a kid. Everyone's like, 'Of course you are,' but I'm like, 'No, seriously.' I liked 'ThunderCats' when I was a kid; I call myself Thundercat now.

When I invite people over to my apartment, they usually don't like it because the music I play confuses the crap out of them - I'm making people listen to the 'Final Fantasy' soundtrack, and they're like, 'Why is this happening? Let's just leave and find somebody who wants us to have fun and not teach us about something.'

My parents were very encouraging in having us get into the arts, whereas I have a lot of friends that didn't have that.

It's a privilege to always be able to create.

Growing up, I always loved working with people. I love playing with people and having that moment of discovering something different. I believe in the magic of what music is.

Tokyo style is so specific. And I'm a very big fan of their history. It's pretty simple. A lot of the time, people expect to see the wild style that comes out of Japan, but I think, traditionally, the style is very simple.

I try not to think too hard about music. I like to see where it goes. I try not to give it a direction. I figure out what it is as it's forming. I don't have any goal in mind other than to make the best music I can.

My theory is if Tony Williams can sing, and if Kanye West can sing, so can I! So I try!

I grew up in Compton: 116th and Wilmington.

When I'm at home creating music, I usually wind up laughing. It's always, like, funny - like, what the hell did I just write?

I can tell when one of my songs is played on the radio because everybody just starts calling and texting me. It gets overwhelming because if you don't answer the right ones, they think you hate them, or you're ignoring them and are not friends anymore. It's all kind of crazy.

Sometimes I practice to Allan Holdsworth or John McLaughlin, but I don't just practice to jazz and jazz-fusion albums. I'll practice to TV theme music - one of my favorites is 'M*A*S*H.' I'll just play along with anything on the TV.

I've grown up with jazz - the Joe Hendersons, Oliver Nelsons, Miles Davis and stuff - but I was also listening to, like, Slipknot, Korn, and Rage Against the Machine. There was all of that weaved - interweaved - in there, and being from L.A., you tend to know your musical history.

Brainfeeder makes me want to keep generating better music.

I treat my cat like she's my therapist or something, because I talk to her all the time, and as she's gotten older, she talks back. It's pretty funny.

Heartbreak is a real thing.

I'm happy to have been around greatness like Kendrick Lamar.

Hall & Oates is everything.

I don't look at my instrument as having one specific role; I was raised to go as far as you can. But Raphael Saadiq hated my bass. He told me to throw it away. And playing in Snoop's band, there was a time when my bass was more annoying to everyone than helpful. They would get on my case: 'Can you make your bass sound like more of a bass?'

At the start of high school, I looked like a girl... to a very major degree. I had really long hair and a really round face with no facial hair. And I went to a very rough high school.