Quotes from Tink

I'll be honest with you: before I heard Nicki rapping, I probably wouldn't have thought to rap myself. Just to see a female doing it and being in there with the guys, it was motivation.

Chicago is a rough city. It made me raw.

Right now, black female artists are the most interesting people to think about. People are ready to hear whatever we're gonna say, and I'm not scared to say anything.

Females - we go just as hard as the guys, if not harder.

Working with Timbaland, he gives me insight; he throws me different ways to approach the beat, and those extra tips go a long way. I know that he's worked with some of the greats, so it's just motivation. I feel inspired when we're in the booth together.

I go hard for the ladies so we have some music to relate to.

A lot of times, I have personal things, things I go through that I may exaggerate or make a story around, but it always has a meaning related to something I've been through for real.

When I'm rapping, like, a turn up song, I'm thinking about what the people want to hear; this is what they're going to like. When I'm singing, I'm, like, telling my story. I'm not worried if people like it; I'm just trying to be truthful, you know what I'm saying? I'm just talking about something that happened to me.

When I was 16, I was doing what was popular. If I could go back, I would tell myself to not be afraid to be alone and not to follow others so much.

I drop free music because I want people to know I'm still working. I want people to know I'm working and making my money independently. I don't want to charge for a mixtape; I'd rather charge for an album and really give something to my fans.

When Nicki was putting out mixtapes, she was the only female rapper that had any kind of buzz. And not to mention that she was on the track with the guys, you know? So you had the girls playing it, and you had the hood guys playing it, too, so you couldn't run away from Nicki.

Country singers put a lot of soul into their songs, and I enjoy that.

My parents are both into music. My mom sings and my dad plays piano, so there was always music everywhere. I was singing at a very young age, but I actually got my buzz through rapping.

There's not really too many artists that young girls and young people can look up to and be inspired by. So I take it as my responsibility, sometimes, to be the person who has the voice to give people some truth about what we're doing.

You don't need to depend on a label, because you're making that money on your own.

Tink is the voice of the youth. I'm not one of those artists who talks about unrealistic things or fairy tales. I'm not talking about expensive things and cars. I'm actually talking about what's going on in my life and every teenager's life, too.

When people listen to artists, and you turn on the radio, it's a lot of gimmicks. And that's real. So I take it like there's nobody keeping it honest and truthful no more, especially as far as young teenagers and females.

Women all have our hard days, and we have our soft days. And there's a lot of music that doesn't make us feel as beautiful and good as we are.

When you listen to my songs, you hear messages and real stories. That's what's setting me apart.

I really feel like females have to go 50 extra miles. Not just one - 50 extra miles to be accepted or taken seriously.

I think, being a woman, we got to prove ourselves twice.

People expect to just hear something raunchy from a female - we're missing meaningful messages as women. We don't have enough stories.

I think monogamy exists when you're of age. I'm not saying that's good, but in today's time, a female won't honestly get a full commitment until they're at least 25 or 26. That's not good, but that's how it is.

I like country music. Sometimes I'll just type in 'country' on Pandora and listen. I really like the passion in the lyrics.