Quotes About Music

As an artist, you have to express yourself. I make no excuses for my versatility. I grew up singing classical arias, but I love rock n' roll and jazz standards.

I think I'm unique to the game 'cause of my versatility.

You always want to be innovating and creating what's next. Versatility is also really important for a producer.

I think PSP is going to be the most successful handheld entertainment device ever. What it will do in terms of the versatility, obviously you can download music to it, and you'll be able to enjoy all your great tunes on it.

Me jumping on a song with Ariana Grande is just showing versatility, you know what I'm saying?

Frank Sinatra was a great singer, but my favourite is Sammy Davis Jr. He had incredible versatility in his voice, often doing impressions of people. It's always going to be classic, and you'll never get bored listening.

I put out 'Rhythm & Bricks,' which showed my versatility, and I had a lot of melodic songs on there, then I had a lot of street songs on there, and I just wanted to know what everybody wanted from me. I did put that out so that everybody could get a feel, so 'Cut It' just happened to come out of there.

I can do a whole project with Madlib and turn around and do a record with Gucci Mane. Gucci Mane, E-40, and Black Thought on the same record. I like all those rappers, so why can't I work with them in some type of capacity? It just speaks to my versatility. I don't just listen to one type of rap. I listen to all of it so I can make all of it.

I wanted to give people songs like 'Wait a Minute' and 'Formal Invite' for the club, and I also wanted to get real serious and show them my versatility.

My strength as a singer is my versatility. I find it really frustrating when I'm only expected to show off. The music industry is awash with female acrobats. What happens to the song, and treating it for its sake and not as an ego example?

When I began my journey, my aim was to do indie music. While growing up, there was an abundance of it but by the time I decided to do it, there was nothing. So, I became a playback singer, which got me fans and taught me about the versatility of my voice.

That's one thing I learned from B.I.G. He was always heavy on versatility. I'm able to take an R&B record and rip it the same way I rip a regular freestyle or a hardcore beat, be able to put that same twang and seasoning on anything you do.

I've written many extra verses to songs that I learned to sing - an extra verse about a friend, or just add some verse - and that led to writing my own songs.

I never put myself at a bragging point where I say, 'I'm gonna have the illest verse.'

I like structuring verses, choruses, but sometimes the verses might be a tango and the choruses might be death metal.

I've always been a spontaneous singer. And all the stuff that you hear on the end of the songs, what they call the ad libs - that just comes out of my head. That's not thought out at all. I have the verses and the choruses, and then after that it's total improvisation.

We start a lot with melodies and instrumentation and trying to figure out good melodies for verses and choruses. We get to lyrics sometimes second, so we'll start humming a melody, finding something, and see where the music takes you as far as lyrics are and what you want to say and go from there.

You don't really gotta rap no more; you can just say the verse with a swag now.

There is a real formula to writing music, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge. It's very formulaic. The subject matter that you can address in pop music is somewhat restricted. It just doesn't allow that same emotive quality that you can put into poetry.

Nearly all children have a feeling for rhythm in words, for the delicate pattern of nursery rhymes. Many adults have lost this feeling and, if they read verse at all, demand a far cruder music than that which they once appreciated.

I was learning 'Changes' at the time that my mom was sick and she was leaving me. And those last verses in that song, they really struck my soul, totally.

We play a beat for 15, 20 seconds and know if we want to get on it. When we record a verse, it's no more than 15, 20 minutes. We don't have a pen and paper. We bounce off each other.

The only band I was really over-into was Cream. And the only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff 'cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes, come back and do a chorus and end. And I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation.

Music is rhythm, and all theater is rhythm. It's about tempo and change and pulse, whether you're doing a verse play by Shakespeare or a musical.