Quotes from Labrinth

I actually tried to learn the dictionary at one point. It didn't work; I only got through the first few pages.

I need to make money, but I don't want to be another guy selling his McDonald's to the pop market.

I'm a perfectionist, and to actually finish something is good for me.

I definitely didn't wanna be a one-dimensional artist that you can just put into one box. Because, to me, we're all masters of certain energies, and we all create different colours.

I try as much I can after every live performance to read all the comments my fans post on Facebook and Twitter, as this helps enormously for me to understand straight from fans what worked and what didn't.

You get so close to your own music that you can't see the beauty in it. I had to learn to let go. It's good to be less precious.

Those that know me know that I'm not 100% in love with commercial pop music. It's not my preferred genre - I don't do squeaky clean pop.

When you make a record, I always imagine people dancing to it. If the chef thinks it tastes good, then there will be someone who ultimately believes the same thing.

Different cultures produce a different 'cool.' And your perception of 'cool' changes depending on where you are.

It's a lot easier producing for people or being in the background, and they can take all the fire from the front. But in order to express the ideas that I have without any kind of contamination, I thought it would be a cool thing to be out front.

I think producing a record for other artists is almost like giving them advice, and I would say that it is easier to produce another artist than it is to produce yourself.

I'm from Hackney, and it's an area that is not so pretty, and we have a different way of expressing ourselves than somebody from uptown that has lots of money.

One thing I always really enjoyed about Quincy Jones' production technique was that there were so many layers to every song. Like, one week you'd hear a new trumpet-line, then the next week you'd hear - be hearing a new guitar-line.

I have learned that while your putting your record together you can get so caught up in making what you want that you forget what you wanted in the first place.

My grandad's a gospel singer, and his children were singers, too. But I don't believe in God in the same way... not religion; it breaks us up too much. The same with musical styles - it breaks people up. I believe they are all one thing - why not put them together?

I'm a musical geek. It's like there's this big, wild universe in my head, and I love to express it.

You can't go up to girls and start talking about minor 7ths and expect to pull. It's not going to work.

I'm all for trying anything once; otherwise, you end up like David Guetta - reproducing the same formula over and over.

As a breed, I think artists are never 100% satisfied with their work, and we will always want that little bit of extra time to put the final gloss on it.

The first tour an artist does is a strange one... because you can never tell how the audience is going to react.

You've got to live and die by your decisions.

I don't ever think it's a good idea to try to recreate the success you've had before; it's all about chasing something fresh and new.

I have to be honest: I think production is mad - exciting - because, of course, you're creating the record. When you're a singer, you're just singing. Creating the music, directing, and seeing where it's gonna go in production is very, very exciting.

I'm a hundred percent a rock n' roll guy.