Quotes About Artistry

That was something we were trying to figure out: Are we allowed to do a jazz song? Are we allowed to do cabaret? Just from hearing the Beatles, it was like, 'Well, they did it. It's okay to write something other than a standard rock song.'

I think that every songwriter would give their right arm to come up with a standard that is going to be played long after they're dead.

It's a lot more interesting to dig into the popular music from where I'm from than adhere to some kind of standardized global pop.

I'm still more comfortable with standards than with my own songs.

Nothing is a hobby - each discipline is its own world with its own high standards. Of course, every artist has 'minor works' that they do, but I don't think I have any 'minor disciplines.'

My great hero is Billie Holiday, and I've always wanted to do an album of standards with a piano-led quartet.

I think sometimes I write to impress my influences. Whether they're actually acquaintances of mine, people that I think will hear the record or not, I still write - not to imitate my influences - but to write something that would live up to their standards.

When I'm dealing with Britney Spears and Katy Perry, these massive brands, like, really, very Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? There are certain kinds of standards. There are risks you can take, and there's risks that you don't. And I think I'm interested in taking a little more risk in my own music.

I would love to do an album of standards!

People think jazz music is all standards and the Great American Songbook. But it's really about the sensibility, the feel you bring to the music.

I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me.

Most of my career has been about standing on a stage performing music to an audience, and once the show is over, they go home and I go on to the next show.

When I finished performing 'I Won't Give Up' for the first time, I opened my eyes, and I think there was maybe six people in there when I started, and when I finished there was about 30 people, all standing around with their jaws dropped in complete silence. I said, 'Okay, I think this song has some power to it.' So coffee shops work for me.

By now, everyone knows I do not just sing standing in the middle of the stage. I also dance and get others to dance with me.

I think that every artist dreams of renewing the forms which came before, but I think very few can be considered to have achieved that. We are all dwarves standing upon the shoulders of the giants who preceded us, and I think we must never forget that. After all, even iconoclasts only exist with respect to that which they destroy.

To be given the reins of creativity is a beautiful thing when you're used to just showing up to a casting and standing there having clothes put on you.

There have been occasions - and I think it's very good for any human being that such occasions would be rare - that one would feel that one is a channel, and there have been some occasions when it seemed as though I was standing outside of myself watching and listening to myself sing.

I would love to do much more singing; it's just one of those things where I can't quite describe what it feels like when you're standing in front of a forty piece orchestra, and there's nothing between you and an audience but a microphone. It's like strapping yourself to a locomotive, and I love it.

I knew I had more in me than just standing up and having my picture taken... Being in the studio, I have to have an opinion.

I can safely say that I had an incredibly difficult and trying past growing up and trying to be an artist and standing up as who I am in this world.

Standing up for what you believe is right, as well as standing up for what you believe is funny, standing up for what you believe is cool. As we found each other and the music that we do, we get to live out all of those things. That's what Run The Jewels is: it's all of those aspects of our personality.

Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer.

I've never done this from a standpoint of, 'I want to be famous.' I sing because I love singing. I perform because I love performing.

'I Used To Love H.E.R.,' from a production standpoint, was a brainchild of the style I developed on 'Soul By The Pound.'