Quotes from Jidenna

While the majority of my childhood memories are beautiful, I also have experienced the challenges that Nigeria has faced since independence.

I work predominantly with tailors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.

I was raised in Nigeria, and my mother is white, but I never saw her as white, not until I came to America. She was just my mother. She didn't really have a color.

My nickname is 'Chief' because my father was a chief in Nigeria.

If I'm shopping at the Gap or Old Navy, I'm saying that I'm an ordinary person: I don't want to be seen; I don't want to stand out. That's a statement. If I'm wearing a leather jacket, there's something about me that's kind of a rebel. So everybody says something, whether they want to or not.

There was no question that I was going to school.

Not unlike our country's history, my personal history was founded upon an unfortunate history of racial conflict between black and white.

The trick of Afrobeats is it doesn't just move your upper body, it moves your hips as well, and I think that's what people have been missing in popular music for a while. I think that's what people need around the world.

First of all, I respect The Game. He's trail-blazed for artists like myself. I appreciate him, having - living in L.A. myself and knowing what he stands for and what he stood for.

I think each artist lives with purpose. A strong sense of purpose. We know who's come before us.

When I originally came to the U.S., my mother came with a couple hundred dollars to her name. I didn't know we were struggling because she hid that from me. But it was definitely a struggle to get through life and get through school.

Ever since the decision of Robin Thicke and Pharrell, we believe that it was important to make sure that we are safe. When that Robin Thicke verdict came out, we realized that the game had changed in music.

I began my studies in a sound and electrical engineering program, but I ultimately created a major called 'Ritual Art.'

My style is not specific to the antebellum South, but it's heavily inspired by the Jim Crow era.

I don't have one geographic location that I'm exclusively loyal to.