Quotes from Fantastic Negrito

What did winning a Grammy do for me? It made me want to get rid of my Grammy, pack it away, and never see it again. It made me not want to speak to anyone who wanted to speak about my Grammy.

Just keep being yourself. Keep being yourself, and people recognize it.

There's certain artists that are meant to have certain paths and go the way of the corporate world. And then there are artists who are artists.

Blues purists may hate what I do sometimes because it's a little dirtier.

I usually go to secondhand stores and find what I can. I like finding interesting things: vests, blazers. I tell the band, 'We got to look good when we're up there.' I learned it from Miles Davis. I read about his suits in his biography. Suits mean you're getting paid, and I like the idea that he looked good in his suits.

Fantastic Negrito is a persona, an incarnation in my third phase.

It's amazing: when you are challenged with less, sometimes you can produce more.

Art and culture are the greatest weapons against hate agendas, entrenched ideologies, and power structures that harbor and promote the business of divisiveness.

Slaves and the descendants of slaves created world pop culture. Let's keep it real and be very respectful about that.

I love the power of music and artistry and feel a responsibility having a platform to preach good things.

As long as we have have predatory capitalism, we'll have guns because the gun industry loves to make money out of guns.

I like being photographed without glasses. I don't want to be pretentious.

'In the Pines' is a very old song dating back to slavery. Lead Belly made it popular.

What I decided was I'd be happier not being in the confines of a corporate infrastructure producing music. That's when I was free, and it opened up the door to have a different personality and incarnations. That's really when I had success in my music life. I was able to license my music.

Exercise is good for you, so I'm always walking. I don't drink sodas or eat fast food, either.

I want to be an artist, not be in the business of making hit records. Once I figured that out, everything became clear.

Doing a concert, I look at a room full of different people, and I see you've got Muslims, you've got Jews, you've got Christians, you've got gays, you've got straights, you've got blacks, you've got whites. I think, 'How can I unite these people through song?'

Live performance is everything. First of all, I have terrible stage fright. But beyond that, once the music starts, it's OK.

Ain't nobody more punk rock than Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, even Little Richard.

I'm not interested in re-creating the same blues I love so much. I'm interested in pushing boundaries.

I just take things one day at a time. I'm just thankful that I have my legs, my arms, my eyes.

The one thing I had pure in my life was creativity.

Nothing unifies people more than music, more than that universal riff. The one thing that unifies us and the hope that we can have, especially being an artist, is that we can create music that can build bridges and smash down very bad ideas.

That's always the time to quit - when you have nothing to say as an artist and creative person.