Who you are is what you settle for, you know?

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That’s what music is to me.” – Janis Joplin

It used to make me unhappy, all that feeling. I just didn’t know what to do with it. But now I’ve learned how to make feeling work for me… I don’t know, I just want to feel as much as I can, it’s what ‘soul’ is all about.

The older the grapes, sweeter the wine.

I gotta go on doin’ it the way I see it…I got no choice but to take it like I see it. I’m here to have a party while I’m on this earth…I’m gettin’ it now, today. I don’t even know where I’m gonna be twenty years from now, so I’m just gonna keep on rockin’, cause if I start saving up bits and pieces of me…man, there ain’t gonna be nothing left for Janis.

Distance cannot kill this relationship. Time cannot breakdown anything we have. This is a relationship that I am ready to sacrifice and stand up for.

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That’s what music is to me.

I won’t quit to become someone’s old lady.

My business is to enjoy and have fun. And why not, if in the end everything will end, right?

As good as you’ve been to this world is as good as it’s gonna be right back to you.

Hippies believe the world could be a better place. Beatniks believe things aren’t going to get better and say the hell with it, stay stoned and have a good time.

When you hold somebody, you gotta hold them like it’s the last minute of your life.

I got treated very badly in Texas. They don’t treat beatniks too good in Texas. Port Arthur people thought I was a beatnik, though they’d never seen one and neither had I.

You are what you settle for. You are only as much as you settle for.

You know you’ve got it, if it makes you feel good.

If I hold back, I’m no good. I’m no good. I’d rather be good sometimes, than holding back all the time.

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.

It’s not what isn’t, it’s what you wish was that makes unhappiness.

All of a sudden, someone threw me in front of this rock and roll band. And I decided then and there that was it. I never wanted to do anything else.

As it gets closer and more probable, being a star is really losing its meaning.

I always wanted to be an artist, whatever that was, like other chicks want to be stewardesses. I read. I painted. I thought.

Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.

Tomorrow never happens. It’s all the same f*cking day, man.

I read a story about some old opera singer once, and when a guy asked her to marry him, she took him backstage after she had sung a real triumph, with all the people calling for her, asked, ‘Do you think you could give me that?’ That story hit me right, man. I know no guy ever made me feel as good as an audience. I’m really far into this now, really committed. Like, I don’t think I’d go off the road for long now, for life with a guy no matter how good. Yeah, it’s the truth. Scary thing to say though, isn’t it?

Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don’t know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I’ll get it.

You got to get it while you can.

If you can get them once, man, get them standing up when they should be sitting down, sweaty when they should be decorous, smile when they should be applauding politely-and I think you sort of switch on their brain, man, so that makes them say: ‘Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.’ Whoooooo! It’s life. That’s what rock and roll is for, turn that switch on, and man, it can all be.

I’m not really thinking much… Just sort of, trying to feel.

The more you live, the less you die.

If you’ve got a today, don’t wear it tomorrow. Tomorrow never happens. It’s all the same day.

On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone.

Like most girls I’m always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I’m weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.

There isn’t going to be any turning point. … There isn’t going to be any next-month-it’ll-be-better, next f*cking year, next f*cking life. You don’t have any time to wait for. You just got to look around you and say, “so this is it. This is really all there is to it. This little thing.” everybody needing such little things and they can’t get them. Everybody needing just a little … Confidence from somebody else and they can’t get it. Everybody, everybody fighting to protect their little feelings. Everybody, you know, like reaching out tentatively but drawing back. It’s so shallow and seems so … f*cking … It seems like such a shame. It’s so close to being like really right and good and open and amorphous and giving and everything. But it’s not. And it ain’t gonna be.

september 1969
quoted in “the new yorker” 9 august 1999.

Freedom is just another word for when you have NOTHING left to lose.

People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards.

I’ve been looking around, and I noticed something: how much you really need to be loved. Ambition isn’t just a desperate quest for positions or money. It’s just love – lots of love.

I’d rather have ten years of superhypermost than live to be seventy sitting in some g*dd*mn chair watching TV.

You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow.

At least we know we tend to be afraid. If you object to my plural noun, i’ll retract it.

Rock on out.

Texas is OK if you want to settle down and do your own thing quietly, but it’s not for outrageous people, and I was always outrageous.

Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.

All any girl really wants is just love and a man. But what man can put up with a rock-n-roll star?

All my life I just wanted to be a beatnik. Meet all the heavies, get stoned, get laid, have a good time. That’s all I ever wanted. Except I knew I had a good voice and I could always get a couple of beers off of it. All of a sudden someone threw me in this rock ‘n’ roll band. They threw these musicians at me, man, and the sound was coming from behind. The bass was charging me. And I decided then and there that that was it. I never wanted to do anything else. It was better than it had been with any man, you know. Maybe that’s the trouble.

Life is too damn short and [screwed] up to go through it silently loving someone and never telling them how you feel. [Screw] the consequences, [screw] the implications of the actions, to hell with it all… whatever happens as a result is better than the nothingness that is inevitable with silence.

This whole thing that’s happened to me, you see, this whole success thing..it hasn’t yet really compromised the position that I took a long time ago in Texas, that was to be true to myself, to be the person that I…that was on inside of me and not play games.

Never compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.

You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once?

‎’don’t compromise yourself – you are all you’ve got.

I’m a victim of my own insides. There was a time when I wanted to know everything. It used to make me very unhappy, all that feeling. I just didn’t know what to do with it. But now I’ve learned to make that feeling work for me.

Don’t compromise your self, you’re all you got.

I just want to feel as much as I can, it’s what soul is all about.

You are what you settle for.

Playing is just about feeling. Playing isn’t necessarily about misery. Playing isn’t necessarily about happiness. But it’s just about letting yourself feel all those things that you have already on the inside of you, but you’re all the time trying to push them aside because they don’t make for polite conversation or something.

I think I think too much. That’s why I drink!

My father wouldn’t get us a TV, he wouldn’t allow a TV in the house.

I’m just doing what I wanted to and what feels right and not settling for bullsh*t and it worked. How can they be mad at that?

Don’t you know that you’re nothing more than a one night stand?

Singing, it’s like it’s like loving somebody, it’s a supreme emotional and physical experience.

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers.

Little girl blue”

sit there, hmm, count your fingers.
what else, what else is there to do ?
oh and I know how you feel,
i know you feel that you’re through.
oh wah wah ah sit there, hmm, count,
ah, count your little fingers,
my unhappy oh little girl, little girl blue, yeah.

oh sit there, oh count those raindrops
oh, feel ’em falling down, oh honey all around you.
honey don’t you know it’s time,
i feel it’s time,
somebody told you ’cause you got to know
that all you ever gonna have to count on
or gonna wanna lean on
it’s gonna feel just like those raindrops do
when they’re falling down, honey, all around you.
oh, I know you’re unhappy.

oh sit there, ah go on, go on
and count your fingers.
i don’t know what else, what else
honey have you got to do.
and I know how you feel,
and I know you ain’t got no reason to go on
and I know you feel that you must be through.
oh honey, go on and sit right back down,
i want you to count, oh count your fingers,
ah my unhappy, my unlucky
and my little, oh, girl blue.
i know you’re unhappy,
ooh ah, honey I know,
baby I know just how you feel.

After they see me, when their mothers are feeding them all that cashmere sweater and girdle —– [expletive deleted by the new york times], maybe they’ll have a second thought – that they can be themselves and win.

On stage I make love to twenty five thousand people; and then I go home alone.

Guess what, I might be the first hippie pinup girl.

What we’ve had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we’re doing – the music.

#305 “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

I would trade all my tomorrow’s for one single yesterday.

I have to have the ‘umph.’ I’ve got to feel it, because if it’s not getting through to me, the audience sure as hell aren’t going to feel it either.

You’re only as much as you settle for. If they settle for being somebody’s dishwasher that’s their own f***ing problem. If you don’t settle for that and you keep fighting it, you know, you’ll end up anything you want to be.

When I sing, I feel like when you’re first in love. It’s more than sex. It’s that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it’s gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.

You know why we’re stuck with the myth that only black people have soul? Because white people don’t let themselves feel things.

You better not compromise yourself, it’s all you’ve got.

I’m tired of all these hippie jack-offs.

To be true to myself, to be the person that was on the inside of me, and not play games. That’s what I’m trying to do mostly in the whole world, is not bullsh*t myself and not bullsh*t anybody else.

It’s hard to be free but when it works, it’s worth it!

If someone comes along, gonna give you some love and affection, I say get it while you can.

I’m one of those regular weird people.

Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.

If they say they don’t like the way I play Beethoven, then I can swallow that, and maybe they’re right. But if they don’t like what I’ve written, then it’s about me.

Love demands all, and has a right to all.

Don’t only practise your art, but force your way into its secrets.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.

(applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.)

[said on his deathbed].

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man.

With copious evidence ranging from Plato’s haughtiness to Beethoven’s tirades, we may conclude that the most brilliant people of history tend to be a prickly lot.

He supposed that, except musicians, every one thought beethoven a bore, as every one except mathematicians thought mathematics a bore.

I remembered that beethoven’s symphonies had sometimes been given names… They should have call [the fifth] the vampire, because it simply refused to lie down and die.

When beethoven made sharp response to a letter from his brother karl, who embellished his signature with the phrase “land-owner,” the composer added “brain-owner” to his own autograph.

If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would have changed the history of music and of aviation.

To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear.

Only art and science can raise men to the level of gods.

Off with you! You’re a happy fellow, for you’ll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.

What makes a Beethoven symphony spectacular, what makes a Brahms rhapsody spectacular is that the patterns are wondrous.

To play without passion is inexcusable!

Only the pure of heart can make a good soup.

I will take fate by the throat; it will never bend me completely to its will.

It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.

Friends applaud, the comedy is over.

Nowadays, people no longer know beethoven’s ninth from concerts, but form the for lines of the ‘ode to joy’ that they hear every day in the ad for bella perfume.

Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not cook a clean soup.

If Beethoven and Bach hooked up with Mozart and made a band, they could be a distant runner up to The D.

Music is … A higher revelation than all wisdom & philosophy.

Beethoven had a great look. It was very much about the drama of appearance.

What is to reach the heart must come from above; if it does not come from thence, it will be nothing but notes, body without spirit.

When somewhat at a distance, I cannot hear the high tones of instruments, voices. In speaking, it is not surprising that there are people who have never noticed it, for as a rule I am absent-minded, and they account for it in that way.

What I have in my heart and soul – must find a way out. That’s the reason for music.

Music from my fourth year began to be the first of my youthful occupations. Thus early acquainted with the gracious muse who tuned my soul to pure harmonies, I became fond of her, and, as it often seemed to me, she of me.

There are and always will be thousands of princes, but there is only one beethoven!.

Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.

The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

Hide your secret even from the closest friend; learn to be silent.

Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours.

Life would be flat without music. It is the background to all I do. It speaks to the heart in its own special way like nothing else.

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.

It is my wish that you may have at better and freer life than I have had. Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience; this was what upheld me in time of misery.

I was a strange, loud little kid who could sit at the piano and kill a Beethoven piece.

Recommend to your children virtues, that alone can make them happy, not gold.

Art always demands of us something new.

Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

Beethoven exprimiu tudo, tudo. Seu sucessor não poderá continuar; deverá começar de novo. Pois o mestre só acabou no ponto em que acaba a arte’.
franz grillparzer, discurso fúnebre por ocasião da morte de beethoven em 1827.

I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.

I like Beethoven, especially the poems.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

I shall seize fate by the throat.

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

因为克利斯朵夫在青年成长的途中，而青年成长的途程就是一段混沌、暧昧、矛盾、骚乱的历史。顽强的意志，簇新的天才，被更趋顽强的和年代久远的传统与民族性拘囚在樊笼里。它得和社会奋斗，和过去的历史奋斗，更得和人类固有的种种根性奋斗。一个人唯有在这场艰苦的战争中得胜，才能打破青年期的难关而踏上成人的大道。.

A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.

It seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce.

Never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.

As a kid, I loved classical music. Composers like Beethoven were like rock stars to me. Then there were the real rock stars: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan.

There was one thing Beethoven didn’t do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn’t improvising.

Beethoven said that it’s better to hit the wrong note confidently, than hit the right note unconfidently. Never be afraid to be wrong or to embarrass yourself; we are all students in this life, and there is always something more to learn.

Every time I hear mozart, eine kleine nachtmusik and beethoven-symphony no.5 in c minor- it bring to mind those beautiful childhood memories of back home around noon time.
memories of my sweet barbados.

Never forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

I wouldn’t want to hear Beethoven without beautiful bass, the cellos, the tuba. It’s very important. Hip-hop has thunderous bass. And so does Beethoven. If you don’t have the bass, it’s like being amputated. It’s like you have no legs.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, ‘Thus far and no farther.’

Through this evening of sentences cut short because their completed meaning was always sorrow, of normal life dissolved to tears, the chords of beethoven sounded serenely.

[when asked why are numbers beautiful?]

it’s like asking why is ludwig van beethoven’s ninth symphony beautiful. If you don’t see why, someone can’t tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren’t beautiful, nothing is.

I grew up on Bach and Beethoven, and now I’m listening to more modern composers who I can’t even name. But since I’m constantly doing music, it’s difficult to have that quality time to listen to music and do classical stuff.

Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning

Life can’t be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years.

An artist is someone who has learned to trust in himself.

I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.

I wish you music to help with the burdens of life ,and to help you release your happiness to others.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

I think comedy has a range, with multiple peaks in different areas. It’s like trying to compare Beethoven and the Beatles. Sometimes I hear from people, ‘I think you try too hard in your comedy.’ And that’s what I worry about.

The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn’t really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn’t going to compose Beethoven’s Fifth.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.

Do you think I give a damn about your and your pathetic violin?

Astrology is an aesthetic affront. It cheapens astronomy, like using Beethoven for commercial jingles.

Bach and Beethoven erected temples and churches on the heights. I only wanted to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy and at home.

Rap is really just too conventional. Everybody does the same thing. No one ever pushes the box.

I want to design jewelry for girls and guys… I’ma spread it out, but I’ma design, probably when I’m just designing furniture and buildings, I’ll probably being the jewelry thing, too.

Golf Media is basically my brain in one place. It does just about everything except cure asthma. If you find an app that cures asthma, definitely let me know.

The only thing that can combat fear is action. And there’s two actions. There’s fight and flight.

Touring with the record out – shows are so much more fun now that n – – s know what I’m talking about.

Trying to make it from the bottom. His sins
Feeling as hard as Vince Carter’s knee cartilage is.

I always try and tell dudes that are younger than me is that because of the Internet everyone can just be by themselves doing something, but the importance of a group is being able to have some sort of competition.

I never want to grow up.

I’m not hip-hop. I’m Tyler.

I want the cheesy dates at the movies, the stupid walks at the beach and sharing straws in a cup

I’ve been awkward forever. I have really low expectations for myself. When I do perform to some sort of social standard, I leave feeling really comfortable. I’m either so awkward that I look retarded or I’m so awkward that everyone else feels retarded.

Everyone’s like sheep on social media; like, one person starts making noise, and everyone’s like, ‘Hey, yeah!’ and then you got a whole bunch of people making noise at you.

I like my raps but I’m never too happy with some of ’em because I feel like they could be better. But every time I hear my flow on that song I wow myself.

Ego is my career. Rap music is all ego.

It just happens to be that people like to associate poetry and rap music. I think that idea is kind of corny.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

When I got home, I was trying to figure out how to be home. Like, be home in a sense that had nothing to do with music.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

I really want to sing, but my tone of voice is really too deep to do what I want.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

For the record, I don’t worship the devil. I just hate religion.

I want to take Justin Bieber for a month and just lock him up in a cage where we sit and make music. He’s one of the most successful people in the world, but his music could be so much tighter.

I don’t like being put in a box. I just make music, you know?

All rappers are princesses like me.

I just live life. I grew up in a Christian family, but, you know, the way Mom brought me up is to, you know, do you, to always be yourself.

I’m a pretty nice dude. I have fun, and people take it the wrong way.

If the world was ending, I think I would grab some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a bunch of water, and I’d probably just… I’d probably go crazy.

You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events.

I never had a drink in my life. I don’t smoke or anything.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

I’m an optimistic guy. I’m one of those big dreamers. I’m one of those kids with that annoying imagination.

I sold my soul to the devil. Lucifer will have my soul.

I live in my own head and it all makes sense to me.

I slipped myself some pink Xannies/And danced around the house in all-over print panties.

Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.

People think artists like 50 Cent don’t have charisma, but it’s just a different kind of charisma, a bully charisma, which is kinda frowned upon.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Youth is something I never wanna take for granted. I just want to smile and live life.

Shout out to the fathers that didn’t raise us

I think I’m cool. That’s all that matters.

To me, Sid Vicious is cool. Super chill.

Rapping is the only time I’m serious.

I don’t have a therapist, so I use me as my own therapist when I’m making the music.

I tweet early in the morning when I wake up or late at night just to let you know that I have a show or what’s on my mind, and that’s it. I hate Snapchat and all of that. It’s making kids so stupid.

Wayne’s cool. I ran into him at my hangout back home, and he’s just cool. I actually have this beat that I want him on, but I was too scared to get it to Clancy to get to them, but Wayne’s cool.

I want to do films and have my name mentioned next to Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. I don’t want my name mentioned next to other rappers at all.

The words that are coming out of my mouth and how I mean them, it’s so much different.

It would be ridiculous to say I don’t want to sell records, but I trust my taste.

I try to tell all the – not even the kids, even people older than me – to just be themselves. Don’t wear what I wear ’cause I wear it; wear what you like.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

I want to make as much money as I possibly can so that when my day comes, my mother and sister is fine. My close friends are fine. They don’t have to worry about anything ever again.

Yo I’m seventeen, already sniffin blow. I tell my friends its asthmary time I itch my throat, I got a new show for MTV, Pimp My Boat.

Whatever I think the song sounds like is what I’ll name it. It’s a feeling thing; it’s not logical at all.

You get committed with what you put in songs. It made me wary of who and what I include, because that’s there forever.

My lyrics aren’t offensive. Some people find everything offensive.

The devil doesn’t wear prada; I’m clearly in a — white tee.

Somebody called me a homophobe. I’m not homophobic.

I’m not a follower. I’m a leader. And anyone who speaks their mind is always criticised.

My favorite songs are my favorite songs because they just feel like a certain moment, or a certain photo, just a snapshot for whatever three or four minutes the song is.

I’m not into fashion, but I like design. I wear the same shoes every day.

I’m the bestest/on a bad day I spit asbestos.

SK La’Flare’s a legend. It was me, him and Vince, and Frank would come through sometimes and s – – and he was, like, fully rapping. N – – s was on it.

Listen deeper than the music before you put it in the box.

I don’t like people around me sad. I like making people happy.

Twitter is a real addiction, like the color of it, the process of it.

I don’t know why it’s difficult to admit that I miss you.

I don’t smoke at all. I think that cigarettes are actually retarded. I don’t understand why people do that to themselves.

Sometimes videos make a bad song very tight.

I’ve been YouTube surfing a lot lately so I’ll Shazam a song that I find or some s – – and type that in on YouTube and just go through all the relateds for it. So it’s been a lot of random jazz s – – lately. Like I found Lonnie Liston Smith, and Ahmad Jamal, s – – like that. So that’s been very tight.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

At first I was just trying to sound like DOOM and Eminem, and then I dug out my own voice I guess.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

All mankind… being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

Do what the f*ck makes you happy. Because in the end, who’s there? you.

I’m a really, really, smart, multi-talented almost-genius, who’s very annoying.

I’m all about that money, dress like everyday sunny, rolling weed like a Marley, smile like everything funny.

I never write from concept. The beat is the beginning, and then I fill in the rest of the song into what it should be.

A single girlfriend can play an important role in success of your career but a bunch of girlfriends can seriously ruins your successful life.

I don’t need someone that sees what’s good about me. I need someone that sees the bad and still wants me.

Smoke weed every day.

I critique myself way harder than anybody else could critique me.

You don’t have to be a certain thing to be cool. If you’re white, you don’t have to act black or whatever. Just be you and know who you are.

Why can’ t everyone just smoke like me? Just gimme a quiet place and lemme roll my weed, where ain’t nobody in my business don’t nobody gotta know let all your conscious go and blow it by the O

Brand names aren’t important to me at all.

When you’re from the East Coast or you’re from the South, people expect you to sound a certain way. So if you don’t sound that way, people won’t label you as that type of artist. For me, I had a whole new lane to create for myself being from Pittsburgh and being a Midwest artist.

I think wherever you go, when people hear good music, they will react to it.

The thrill”

searching for the thrill of it, thrill of it,
say that it’s love, but to me it’s looking counterfeit,
i get done with one and move on to another b*tch
yea college educated, she graduated
any bill she can’t front, her parents paid it
the show was far, you the only one with a car
and your girlfriends, bein that she’s a big fan, of course she made it
most girls wanna hide the fact that the thrill they chase it
but you, tonight you wanna get drunk and f*ck someone famous
so I just name a time and a place and your game for it
value player, hotel room, meet you there

[{background}:]
{walking on a dream
how can I explain
talking to myself}
just travelin’ the world
{will I see again}
tryin’ different drugs and girls

{we are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it
always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
on and on and on we are calling out and out again
never looking down, i’m just in awe of what’s in front of me}

and i’m addicted to champagne
f*ck the room we buy the hallway
bitches I taylor gang that
they just wanna know where the planes at

take the little one outta there
or like, just turn it down
and then i’m um probably just gonna go back smoke another one in an hour
just get real airy, f*ckin’ dreamy and sh*t

wake up drunk go to sleep f*cked up
we both amazed at what we just done
mixin’ drinks, knowin we’ll regret this
ain’t been asleep yet, room service bringin’ us breakfast
all this money, darlin, what else is left to do
but smoke an enjoy my presidential view
got a swimmin pool in my living room
on stage, interviews, tons of sour, let’s consume

{we are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it
always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
on and on and on we are calling out and out again
never looking down, i’m just in awe of what’s in front of me}

and i’m addicted to champagne
f*ck the room, we buy the hallway
bitches I taylor gang that
they just wanna know where the planes at

and i’m addicted to champagne
f*ck the room, we buy the hallway
bitches I taylor gang that
they just wanna know where the planes at

what’s this?
burn after rollin?
yeah, that’s what it is
until I drop the next one
it’s just that

{catch me i’m falling down
catch me i’m falling down

don’t stop, just keep going on
i’m your shoulder lean upon
so come on, deliver from inside
all we got is tonight that is right till first light}

i’m stoned
this is what, mix tape number 6? 7?
i don’t know, but um, good weeds still in the building
your b*tch still hittin me on whatever I use on the computer these days
everything’s going how it’s supposed to be
yes, taylor gang over everything…

Since I was younger I’ve been making the best out of nothing.

The most daring thing is to be yourself and to do exactly what you want to do at that point in time and not to be worried with what other people are doing or what’s popular.

Nothing is more beautiful than a beautiful girl who does not pretend to be something she is not. A girl who is down to earth and lets no guy define who she is.

A day without a smile is a day wasted

The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win.

Don’t leave something good to find something better. Once you realize you had the best, the best has found better.

Never Forget what someone says to you when they are drunk. Because Drunk words are Sober Thoughts

‘Khalifa’ is Arabic, it means successor, leader, shining light. My granddad is Muslim and he gave me that name.

Don’t worry, eat some mice while I chill the f*ck out.

You don’t need too many people to be happy. Just a few real ones who appreciate you for who you are.

Breakin down the weed about to make a plane, a hundred niggas wit me all reppin taylor gang.

I want to be an icon.

You don’t have to like me, i’m not a facebook status.

I’m shy. Most people don’t take the time to get to know me. They don’t take time to explore the real me. So i’d like to thank everyone who has.

Three things I want in a relationship: Eyes that won’t cry, lips that won’t lie, and love that won’t die.

Good things come in good time.

I never feared death or dying. I only feared not trying.

Be who you are and let everyone love that person.

I love you” takes 3 seconds to say, 3 hours to explain, and a lifetime to prove.

Girls fall in love with what they hear. Boys fall in love with what they see. That’s why girls wear make-up and boys lie.

Big house, 4 whips, hella tattoos
smoke good and ya bro think i’m bad news
bout to go nuts, nigga, cashews
a bro ask me if i’m book I say i’m past due.

I’m always hustling.

If you think it’s necessary to judge me by my past, don’t get mad when I put you there.

Rolex, mo sex, good weed, no stress, run my town, arms, chest, lift weights, bowflex

Gettin rubba band on the low money
niggas hate but all the bros wanna f*ck me
i got money.

I don’t take time off.

Every day is new. It’s just a new day. I look at six hours at a time.

Great minds think alone.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous. Well i’m rich and famous but if you got money, they know what you’re name is. If you don’t, you’re nameless.

Cry as much as you want to, but make sure when you’re finished, you never cry for the same reason again.

I don’t regret my past, I just regret the time I’ve wasted on the wrong people.

I groom, but it doesn’t take me a long time to get to what people see.

Every artist picks what they want to put out there, what image they want to portray, and what they want people to know about where they’re from.

Be careful what you say to someone today. Because tomorrow they might not be here, and you can’t take it back.

Just because the past taps you on the shoulder, does not mean you have to look back.

I think hip-hop is really fun right now… and that’s why people are using dance beats and singing more.

I started writing songs when I was eight.

I smoke weed, of course. That’s like meditation for me. Watching movies is a really good escape as well.

While your busy tryna’ fit in, imma stand out!.

Bestfriends has 11 letters, but so does Backstabber.

I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.

Forget the ones that forget you.

I don’t have problems with people, because if I do, I address it.

My life, my choices, my mistakes, my lessons- NOT YOUR BUSINESS.

I have an idea of who I want to be, I have a vision of my own success.

Never make permanent decisions on temporary feelings.

Don’t date the most beautiful girl in the world, date the girl that make your world the most beautiful.

Don’t worry about someone who doesn’t worry about you.

Worrying is stupid. Its like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain.

Long as me and my team in here,
There’s gon’ be some weed in the air!

Everything’s better when you’re high.

I come from a place where people get high, the grades get low, and if someone has a secret EVERYONE KNOWS.

My live performance, it just comes from feeling an energy and emotion from the crowd.

I have a huge span of fans, some who know all my radio songs and are familiar with my popular stuff and then some who have their own personal favorites. When I do my show, I try to take into consideration all those people.

I never got nervous performing my own material.

Even with whatever people want to label me with, there are so many other sides to me.

I’ve done a lot of work to get where I’m at, but I have to keep working.

Sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention
is to stop giving them yours.” .

Grow some more weed and get medicated, everyday is a holiday so we celebrate it.

People connect with me just as a cool, around-the-way type of guy.

I don’t chase after anyone, if you wanna walk out of my life, then i’ll hold the f*cking door open for you.

I’m wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It’s a real enjoyment.

I started an all-girl punk band when I was 14, and I was the drummer, not the singer.

I got my first set of drums when I was around 3. I went from band to marching band to Latin jazz band – it’s like riding a bike.

When I was 19, I joined a rock band, and that’s when I began to say, ‘Okay, this is something that I could take seriously.’ When I came to Minneapolis, it just refined everything.

There’s always some promoter having an ’80s night, saying, We’ll supply the band. All you can drink.

We are different people – you get a different take on the band whoever you speak to. Somehow, at the end of it, it goes through the filtering process and out comes the Radiohead thing.

When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in France. I wrote a little arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner in a minor key.

I did the marching band all throughout junior high and high school. Music was one of my favorite things in school.

Because the truth is, it isn’t worth loving something if you aren’t going to love it all the way.

I wish I could tell you me and my rock band were traveling around, strung out. No, we were a family band. Straight Partridge Family.

The Bad Seeds are a band I will travel a great distance to see whenever possible.

When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band.

A rock’n’roll band needs to be able to get under people’s skin. You should be able to clear the room at the drop of a hat.

As a rock band, you’re slightly one foot in the past, playing instruments like guitar, bass and drums.

Venom was a band that strongly influenced the image and the idea behind Slayer.

GYBE are among my, erm, two favourite Montreal bands, Arcade Fire being the other.

And I had to look at the marching band. Skip accross the pavement, nobody’s there.

How far is too far? when you love a band so much that its songs fill the empty spaces inside your head and heart, is that too far?.

And for once a band of thieves in ripped up jeans got to rule the world.

In the Bay Area, there was a resurgence of Dixieland jazz in the ’40s – there was the Frisco Jazz Band, and Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band.

I was in a rock band; I was my own folk singer; I was in a death metal band for a very short time; I was in a cover band, a jazz band, a blues band. I was in a gospel choir.

Most bands out there are basically pretty boring. I try to affect people inside their bodies.

Bands today have to learn their craft by putting the hard work in that we did when we were young performers.

I’m about as privileged as you can get. I’m a white, male, heterosexual front man of a rock band.

As individuals they were each of them fallible, discordant as notes without harmony. But as a band they were something more, something perfect in its own intangible way.

We’ve worked very hard as a band and would like to think we’ve got this far on the strength of our music.

And, well of course, Count Basie, and I think all of the black bands of the late thirties and early forties, bands with real players. They had an influence on everybody, not just drummers.

This is my own little rock theory: In my mind, Nirvana slayed the hair bands. They shot the top off the poodles.

If you listen to the way I speak and watch the way I conduct myself – there’s nothing about me that’s rock n’ roll. It’s like, ‘Hello, I’m in a rock n’ roll band’. ‘No, you’re a narc.’

I was at the first Minor Threat show, and you could tell, ‘This band is going to be the king of the town.’ It was obvious. They were so good.

That awkward moment when you realize the marching band works harder than the foortball team.

Followed like a goat on a halter, hungry dog closing on his just-filled dinner bowl, water-bottle and towel carrier behind the tuba section of a marching band.

This man is freed from servile bands, Of hope to rise, or fear to fall; Lord of himself, though not of lands, And leaving nothing, yet hath all.

All bands eventually break up because of one or more of the four p’s: power, property, prestiege, p*ssy.

From one generation to the next, The Beatles will remain the most important rock band of all time.

It was harder to break into comics than it was to become a singer in a rock band.

I have so many indie bands on my iPod. What I don’t really understand is the attitude that if a band is unknown, they’re good, and if they get fans, then you move on to the next band.

As soon as it was understood that we could handle things in our own way, it was the thrill of my life to walk out on that stage with people just hemming the band in.

Rock is about finding who you are. You don’t necessarily have to play your instrument very well at all. You can just barely get by and you can be in a rock band.

Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one else listened to.

I can always tell if a band has a British rhythm section due to the gritty production.

The Ruts were a great punk rock band from England whose songs were as excellent as their time together was short.

We’re not a political band. We don’t want to tell people what to do or what to think. We just want to tell them to think.

When a band becomes as truly iconic as the Velvet Underground, there will often be a box set released, overburdened with mediocre material that dilutes what was fine left on its own.

Band is not proud because it performs well; it performs well because it is proud.

The best compliment I get every year is that a band will write me and say, ‘We were just on tour, and we had people coming to our show saying they had never heard us before they heard us on your show.’

If I could be in any band, I think it would have to be The Beatles. That would have been a lot of fun.

The misunderstanding out there is that we are a ‘hard rock’ band or a ‘heavy metal’ band. We’ve only ever been a rock n’ roll band.

I chose the trombone because the trombone players in the marching band got to be up front with the majorettes (because of the slides) and I loved that!

Trying to write music, be in a band and keep it all happening is one of the hardest, morale-destroying, heartbreaking things you will ever try to do – and that’s when it’s going well.

Interscope is run more like a rock band than a record company. It’s run in a very spontaneous, heartfelt way.

Contemporary bands often will do tour-only releases pressed and sold only in Australia. Crikey!

I would definitely say the Oakland Raiders are the punk rock band of football.

I have a lot of compact discs. I need them for radio play and convenience. Many bands and artists I am a fan of don’t always release their work on vinyl, so I take what they feel like giving me.

Watching nic rayne strut around the stage
half-naked like some absurd peacock is enough to make me gag.

I get angry about stuff, I get very emotionally intense about stuff and that’s how I get it out – with books, with the band, on my own onstage, but it’s always kind of a wail.

Shoe Suede Blues is ten years old this year. The Band consists of four members.

With ‘Elect the Dead,’ I learned how to make a rock record without a rock band and make the rock record I’ve always wanted to make.

Super-envious of the fact that Daft Punk can wear robot helmets and be one of the most famous bands in the world, while also understanding that will never be my situation.

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.

I was in every band class I could get in, like after school jazz band and marching band, and that’s where I really learned to read music from elementary all the way through junior high and high school.

Marching band is life. The marching band brings about memories that you would never get anywhere else.

Be my secret. Be my joy. Be a miracle to me.” from the song miracle to me, from the album lions, by the black crowes.

I was extreme… from skateboarder to hip-hopper to rave child to lead singer of a rock band – I did it all, and all at the same time.

Would you like to sit?” kellen asked her.
“you’d better do it soon,” owen whispered close to her ear, “or i’m going to bend you over that table and break the club’s no-penetration-in-the-lounge rule.

When it comes time to dance, they’re like a regiment; they do the same steps – except for the Mike Teavee dance, where the Oompas play in a rock band. I learned to play the guitar for that one.

I used to play the piano in the band, and so there’s some horrendous scenes of me playing the keyboards.

Boy band fangirls are a species that are more focused, determined and powerful in large numbers than just about any other group of people I can think of.

I have been lucky to experience a lot of the spoils that can happen in a rock band. But being with the three guys in this band from such a young age, we aren’t going to let any of the spoils change us.

Most artists lose their voice, their hair, and their bands. That’s not going to happen to me.

There is something about having a charismatic blonde at the front that seems to lift any random collection of axe wielding blokes out of the ordinary. Just look at the thatcher government.

In 1996, I was in was in an acoustic kind of rock band, we were called Feeble. We were just playing locally.

And as the players tried to take the field, the Marching Band refused to yield.

I’m not the one who’s so far away
when I feel the snake bite enter my veins.
never did I wanna be here again,
and I don’t remember why I came.

See, I never wrote arrangements for the band for Judy Garland; I did strictly special material, special lyrics, put together all of her medleys.

For a long time, when I was very young, I went to go see arena rock bands. I was 16, and it was all I could get in to see, legally. And I saw Led Zeppelin and Ted Nugent and Van Halen and all that.

Well, a sort of epiphany: I was in a great band. And it’s very cool to be at 53 and realise that when you were a kid you were in a great band.

Most bands don’t work out. A small unit democracy is very, very difficult. Very, very difficult.

Certainly, there are huge, multiplatinum bands whose singers command their audience’s attention. Sadly, much of the time they have little to say.

One of my favorite hip-hop artists is Makonnen. One of my favorite bands is Fall Out Boy. You put those two together, and that’s Lil Peep.

That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed.

The regular rhythm and upbeat tunes of military music or marching bands positively affect your mood even if you don’t actually ‘enjoy’ listening to it.

Marching band, sacrificing all respect from your peers so that you get to wear funny hats.

Most bands don’t work out. A small unit democracy is very, very difficult.

One performer whose band played my music better than I could myself was Art Farmer. He recorded ‘Sing Me Softly of the Blues’ and ‘Ad Infinitum’.

Even if the song meant a lot to me, I would still probably perform it live.

I go with what I like and I generally just cling to things that are pastel and remind me of being a little kid. It’s just what it is right now, but I go through phases.

I love Nicoletta Ceccoli , and I love Tim Burton movies. So those are like my biggest inspirations I think.

Mark Ryden is my favorite visual artist.

I’m probably the most proud of “Mrs. Potato Head,” because I had that idea in my head for so long, and I tried writing that song one time and I just couldn’t tell the story the way I wanted to, and I couldn’t figure it out.

If I don’t see a music video to it while writing it, I just scrap it immediately. It’s very visual.

I never had a lot of friends growing up so having this insane amount of love and support really means a lot to me.

I’m insane, I’m emotional, but I’d rather be that than a robot. So that’s definitely something that I wanted to get out there. Especially with Cry Baby’s story, because the album is about Cry Baby but I realized that me and her went through the same change.

On the show [the Voice] I obviously wasn’t allowed [singing my own original music], because it’s not that type of show. I think it’s really cool that I get to do my own thing now.

Basically it’s the idea of celebrities being in the spotlight and just because you think that they should be perfect, that they’re still human and they still have flaws just like everyone else. So that was the real meaning behind “Dollhouse”, at least how it related to me because it’s something I was annoyed with at the time.

There are obviously so many artists that are very inspiring, but I can’t say that they like – that I have someone in mind that is like a creative direction of where I want to go as an artist. I think I’m just doing my own thing.

There are a lot of people who go their whole lives without truly knowing what love is, or ever experiencing that.

Everyone got to choose what they wanted to wear on stage, and by the third time going into wardrobe the stylists already knew what I’d love and what I would never throw on my body in a million years. They were fantastic, and it was so lovely working with them.

[Doing music] is time consuming, will drain you, and stress you out at times. But in the end if you love doing it, and you’re putting out music you’re proud of, it will never feel like work. It’ll just feel like love.

Probably “Mrs. Potato Head” or “Training Wheels”. “Mrs. Potato Head” because it was the hardest song to write and it took me a while to finish it and feel good about the lyrical content. But I’ve had that idea in my head for so long, especially the visuals – pulling apart a Mrs. Potato face and how that doubled as a meaning for plastic surgery. “Training Wheels” because it’s the only love song on the album.

I just think that pop music is very interesting in how it can reach so many people. I like that I can tell stories and I just wanted to be heard more, I guess. That’s why it’s pop, but in my mind I don’t really view my music as pop, I don’t really view it as anything. I just look at it as a picture, I like visuals.

Make sure this [music industry] is what you love to do, and you can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’ve had a lot of people come up to me after shows and tell me that “Dollhouse” really helped them with whatever they were going through with their families. I thought that was really amazing, that it could mean one thing for me but another thing for someone else.

I definitely love horror movies and all that for sure.

Just because I’m an artist doesn’t mean I should be treated differently.

I’m pretty excited for people to listen to the story of each song. It’s definitely like a giant book with different stories in it. They are all very child-like but also a balance between light and dark.

I always mention toy sounds when I go into any session.

If you say something that is a little unsafe to say but you feel strongly and passionate about it, a lot of people can attack you and call you a bad role model just because they don’t agree with your views, but in reality we’re all different and we’re all unique in our own way and we all have different thoughts.

[My style in three words] youthful, sweet, and diverse.

My favorite performance would definitely be “Toxic,” which was my blind audition song. It was the start of it all and it was a song I had been covering before the show, so it was very dear to my heart.

The whole entire album is about Cry Baby, you know, being super insecure and kind of like going through her emotions until she finally realizes that she’s comfortable with how crazy and insane she is and I think that I’ve made the exact same kind of progression , and the growth…and I don’t know, like I feel like I’ve definitely grown into who I am and, like, I think Cry Baby is just me.

I definitely feel like if I put out a song that was like me being super vulnerable, people would look as me as weak. I don’t know if that has to do with me being a girl, or if that really has to do with anything, but I’m sure.

I’ve had so many insecurities, and am still getting over a lot.

I think, being emotional is this thing that people think you’re not strong. They don’t look at you as a strong person, and it’s weird ‘cuz honestly being emotional has nothing to do with your strength.

I see things that nobody else sees

I think that the next album is specifically for sure from Cry Baby’s perspective, but it’s not necessarily about her family-life or her love-life, or anything like that, it’s more about this place in this town. The place has different characters in there, so in every song there’s gonna be different characters that appear.

I’ll always definitely strive to write songs that are going to help people feel confident in themselves.

I’m gonna write from personal experience, from emotion, from whatever the hell I’m feeling that day.

Eventually I realized that Cry Baby was a character that was based off of me, and that we had a lot of similarities.

I was very vocal about how I wanted to be portrayed on the show, and how I wanted the stage setup to be.

I’m obsessed with the venue and the people so it’s going to be really fun.The last couple of tours I didn’t have anything like that because of the budget, so I’m super excited because this is really going to bring the album to life.

Cry Baby wasn’t necessarily a baby theme but I understand what they’re saying. So like, Cry Baby is definitely a remaining character throughout all of my albums.

I definitely have worked trying to create music that inspires girls to feel confident and strong, and feel like they can do anything.

I have definitely noticed I am very passionate. So if I’m fighting with someone I’ll be SO super loud and aggressive, and make sure that my point is heard.

I listen to a lot of music. But I definitely haven’t looked at an artist and like thought I want to have a song like this.

I’m glad I got to introduce myself to America by doing a Britney [Spears] song, haha!

I like pop music because it can really affect a large amount of people and if I tell stories and spread messages that I think are really important for people to be aware of, I would want it to be on the biggest platform and I feel like pop is that. I use it as a way to tell stories.

I’m very, very in touch with my emotions.

When I was younger I used to be really into photography, and I still am, I just don’t really get to do it besides taking my own artists photos and stuff like that.

I think that every decision I make in my life is based off of an emotion – and it definitely hurts me in some situations, and helps in some situations, like obviously writing and stuff is my favourite thing to do because I get to use all of my emotions and express them in that way.

When I first started writing the album, “Cry Baby” was a song that I really wanted to write because it represented all of these personal insecurities that I had for a long time.

Dollhouse” was really insane. We shot it at this top house studio in Brookyln. It was really cool. I designed a mini dollhouse that we used. I made it all by hand and decorated each room, and we based the actual set off of that. The Dollhouse was just plain wood and I put roofing on it and everything. I got real carpet for it. It was crazy. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was the first music video I’ve ever made. It was definitely stressful but awesome. Everybody was really amazing on set; we just had a blast doing it.

I’m happy that I get to work with people that I enjoy being around. It’s really cool when people understand and want to help your vision and are like rooting for you. I just, I love them a lot.

A lot of people say if you can’t love yourself, then you can’t love others. It’s always different, but I definitely have loved a lot in my life.

Cry Baby is about Cry Baby and the next album [which I think I have a title for but I don’t wanna say anything yet because I don’t know and it’s too early] is a place in the weird town that I’m trying to create and its Cry Baby’s perspective throughout this album. You’re not learning about her, you’re learning about the place that she’s in and her perspective. Down the line for sure I will think of other characters in this world.

I was inspired a little while before The Voice to dye my hair half black half blonde by Cruella De Vil of 101 Dalmatians. One day I was watching it and I told my mom I was going to dye my hair like Cruella’s, and she thought I was joking. I came home from the salon, and she didn’t talk to me for a few days!

I think because “Dollhouse” was the first story that I put out. It was the first thing that people were able to listen to and find the aesthetic of my music, so I figured we could use that as a title.

A lot of people relate my success now with The Voice, and it has nothing to do with that. I’ve definitely worked my *ss off for a year afterwards trying to get that off of my forehead. If anything, it’s actually harder to get labels to look at you when you come off a show like that, and it’s harder for people to look at you like a real artist.

It’s very hard to be an artist, on my first album, and I’m like asking for money for a music video for every song – it’s so hard to do. You have to pick your battles for sure, but I definitely want – and I’ve always worked to make it all connect – for all of it to feel cohesive.

I definitely fall in love quickly, and I’m very in love with being in love. But it is hard for me to write about love.

I’m not used to writing about happy emotions, I’m just used to pulling from my sad or angry – happy emotions are very hard for me to portray in music.

I was genuinely happy when I wrote that song [Training Wheels] and very in love. That’s a very rare emotion to evoke out of me.

I think the transition between singing covers on a reality show to being able to do my own thing was really exciting. I’m no longer singing covers every second, and people are actually getting to hear my own original music.

I was always hard on myself for taking things too personally.

Cry Baby is just a character in this world that I’m trying to create, and the music videos are really important to me, and I’ve fought to obviously get all of them approved.

I think honestly when I was younger I use to love going to carnivals in Long Island. I use to love carnival season; I would drive to every town going to carnivals. That was definitely a favorite memory.

I don’t take nothin’ from no one. I do what I wanna do. And I’m gonna do that until the day I die. And if I can’t do that, then I’ll just die.

And I know this world is so cold and deceiving but I keep my head up like my nose is bleeding.

Just remember that when nobody else was there for you I was.
and when nobody else gave a damn I did.

Surround yourself with love, not friends.

As long as people remember me forever, that will be enough for me.

Everybody dies but not everybody lives!!.

Somewhere along the way in your life, the world and its people will have a problem with you. That’s their problem. Not yours.

A million feelings. A thousand thoughts. A hundred memories. All for one person.

_life is a beach and I am juss playing in the sand! :dd.

I don’t have to prove anything.

I don’t like to stop. I believe you stop when you die.

I don’t need it to be easy. I just want it to be worth it.

Trying to tear down the past prohibits you from building up your future.

Love me or hate me, I promise it won’t make or break me.

Jail didn’t make me find God, He’s always been there. They can lock me up, but my spirit and my love can never be confined to prison walls.

Make jokes. No stress. Love. Live Life. Proceed. Progress.

Be good, or be good at it.

Real gs move in silence like lasagna.

The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done… you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do.

f*ck dem other bitches and dem hoes.

I’m a gangster, and gangsters don’t ask questions.

Don’t judge me. You wanna judge me, put on a black gown and get a gavel. Get in line with the rest of them that’s about to judge me. I got court dates every other month. It’s me against the world – that’s how I feel.

God can judge me, I don’t need a jury. Nothing standing in my way, like nothing’s my security.

Safe sex is great sex, better wear a latex, cause you don’t want that late text, that ‘I think I’m late’ text.

Nothing scares me but God.

And I don’t think your beautiful, I think your beyond it.

Mind so sharp,i f*ck around and cut my head off.

You could love me or hate me
I swear it won’t make me or break me.
i’m goin where ever the money takes me.

Most of your don’t get the picture unless you got the flash on!.

Honestly, I don’t listen to nobody else’s music but my own. It’s kind of like sports to me. You don’t see Kobe Bryant at a LeBron James game – he just works on his own game. And that’s what I do. I only listen to me, so I can criticize and analyze and all those things.

Keep your mouth closed, and let your eyes listen.

Everything gets better with time, and time is forever.

Never apologize for what you feel. It’s like being sorry for being real.

Take the first chance that you get, because you may never get another one.

Throw dirt on my name, and I still come out clean

I am probably in the sky, flying with the fish, or maybe in the ocean, swimming with the pigeons. See, my world is different.

Confidence is the stain they can’t wipe off.

The future is born, put the past in a casket

A lot of women don’t know how to love because there’s deep reasons for them not knowing how to love. And what I mean by deep reasons is deep and dark reasons.

I always believe that to be the best, you have to smell like the best, dress like the best, act like the best. When you throw your trash in the garbage can, it has to be better than anybody else who ever threw trash in the garbage can.

We’re here to live. We’re here to do, we’re here to be.

Don’t make an opinion on me if you don’t know nothin’ about me.

I’m not an example for how people should live their lives. Never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn’t have been born. Straight up.

The only thing on the mind of a shark is to eat.

I call them april babies cuz they fools.

Drag my name through the mud, I come out clean.

I tried to pay attention, but attention paid me.

I don’t want to be understood because if people understand me, they get tired of me.

Sometimes I wanna drop a tear but no emotion from a king.

Prepared for the worst,but still praying for the best

I know it’s an experience that I need to have if God’s putting me through it.

When i started flirting with the hustle, failure became my ex, now I’m engaged to the game and married to success.

Try and kick me while im down ill break ur leg.

Life goes on but the scars remain.

I come straight from hell, cell 23.

I’m so greedy, I’m hungry, I’m young.

I’m an addict, I’m addicted to success. Thankfully, there’s no rehab for success.

Your gonna need a spaceshuttle or a ladder that’s forever to get on my level.

Take them shoes of your teeth and quit running your mouth.

Let me do me.

What goes around comes around like a hool-a-hoop.

When a girl cries over a guy,she really loves him.when a guy cries over a girl ,he will never love another girl like her.

I am very humble, and I am very gracious and very grateful for everything that happens to me and about me and around me.

I do what I do and u do wat u can do about it.

Miami has embraced me and I love them for that.

Yeah, my life a b*tch, but you know nothing about her
been to hell and back, I can show you vouchers.

Before you judge me… I plead guilty

I look at things as ‘Everything is meant to be.’

I’m blessed and I thank God for every day for everything that happens for me.

My aim is just to make good music every single time.

Somewhere in between all the mind games, lies and seduction…I fell for you. Somewhere in between all the broken promises, manipulation and heartaches…I got over you. But, I guess I fibbed a few times too. Remember all those times I swore I needed you? Well consider them lies because baby, here I am without you, and I survived.

Oh my god becky! look at her butt! tunechi.

Love or hate me, I stay hate free
They say we learn from mistakes, well, that’s why they mistake me

I’m a country girl. I have to be in nature, so my daughter is exposed to it a lot.

I’m a country girl, raised in Gloucestershire, England. But my family encouraged me to travel, and I wanted to experience the world. Maybe that’s not traditional, but my values have stayed strong. Perhaps that’s where wanting to have children comes into it: I’ll always be making work; I guess when – and if – I have children, I’ll have them with me.

In many developing countries, girls don’t go to school. They stay home. They are at the water wells, bringing water back and forth to the village. Or they are doing chores, preparing meals, farming. Some cultures think girls and women shouldn’t be educated, and those are very often the places where the treatment of women and girls is the worst.

I’m just a simple country girl.

A country girl can talk her way out of a ticket.

We’ve Tweeted him, we’ve stalked him [on] Facebook. We thought because he was so into volleyball he would have got back to us. But no luck so far.

That is the mystery about writing: it comes out of afflictions, out of the gouged times, when the heart is cut open.

Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together

I knew I had done something awful. I had killed love, before I even knew the enormity of what love meant.

I was lonelier than I should be, for a woman in love, or half in love.

I’m still always a country girl from New Zealand.

Everything will be okay in the end. If it`s not okay, than there is always beer

If you can find a nice pretty country girl that can cook and carries her bible, now there’s a woman.

Money talks, but tell me why all it says is just goodbye.

Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl’s values

It is convenient for the old men to blame Eve. To insist we are damned because a country girl talked to the snake one afternoon long ago. Children must starve in Somalia for that, and old women be abandoned in our greatest cities. It’s why we will finally be thrown into the lakes of molten lead. Because she was confused by happiness that first time anyone said she was beautiful. Nevertheless, she must be the issue, so people won’t notice that rocks and galaxies, mathematics and rust are also created in His image.

Life`s a long and winding ride, better have the right one by your side; And happiness don`t drug its feet, time moves faster than you think.

Oh dark woman
with a shawl and ribs
i could have served him better
with my shanties.
but men do love the shimmer
and so his ghost
is hacked in half between us
the dark me and the dark you.

It is impossible to capture the essence of love in writing, only its symptoms remain, the erotic absorption, the huge disparity between the times together and the times apart, the sense of being excluded.

Every day be thankful for the nights that turn into mornings, friends that turn into family and dreams that turn into reality.

Brush those tears from your eyes
and try and realize
that from now on
i’ll always be true.
i went away
but I didn’t mean to stay
and I will regret it until my dying day.

When you come from an environment that’s military, and they don’t stress that topic of aesthetics or beauty pageants and makeup, there are a lot of things you just don’t have that city girls have. Or the country girl who goes to movies and dreams of going to Hollywood as an actress.

Life was a b*tch. Love also was a b*tch.

Oh, love, what an unreasoning creature it grew to be.

After that dark woman you search for someone who will fit into the irregular corners of your heart.

I had not the heart to tell her that great love stories told of the pain and separateness between men and women.

Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.

I think ‘Country Girl’ is one song that can veer into country or hip-hop or rap. You can listen to it and enjoy the humor and the fun in it.

So I take a little sleeping pill, pop it and realize nothing’s happening – but something else was happening.

The words ran away with me.

There was i, devouring books and yet allowing a man who had never read a book to walk me home for a bit of harmless fumbling on the front steps.

New socialize by insulting each other, but don`t really mean it. Woman socialize by complimenting each other but don`t really mean it

I cannot be certain what I would have said. I knew that there was something sad and faintly distasteful about love’s ending, particularly love that has never been fully realised. I might have hinted at that, but I doubt it. In our deepest moments we say the most inadequate things.” , short story “sister imelda”, in “returning”.

It was the first time that I came face to face with madness and feared it and was fascinated by it.

I was slicking my hair back when I was in sixth grade.

New money is something fun to celebrate if you never had it.

I’ve always been an outsider to some extent.

Never give up and never conform.

Rapping was something I always wanted to do, so after school, my friends and I would catch the bus to my house and just sit there writing songs, every day.

I think it’s important to evolve and grow and take risks creatively, instead of repeating yourself and doing the same thing over and over.

In my opinion, creative control means a lot, I feel like I’m really in touch with who my fans are and what they like about my music, and I’m able to communicate directly with them.

I think when people get comfortable is when they fall off.

‘Runaround Sue’ was a big record for me, as well as the music video for it.

I’m just making music, and I’m paying my bills.

My mom would always play me a lot of late-’50s, late-’60s rock.

I fell in love with hip-hop at an early age as a culture, as a sound, both from the perspective of a fan and a creative outlet.

When I sample something, it’s just me drawing from what I’m actually into. It’s whatever sounds like a good track.

It’s important to push yourself to get better at your craft – whatever that is. It’s important to grow and evolve with each project.

I think every artist’s next work will reflect a new chapter in their autobiography. Each album tells a story about where they were at during a particular period and how they have evolved.

When I first decided I wanted to make beats and write songs and stuff like that, it wasn’t like I sat down and the first thing I wrote was even halfway legit. It took a while to find my way through it.

In the past, my process would start with a sample of another song, and I’d chop it up and use that as the basis of the song that I was making.

I listen to a wide array of music, all depends on the mood I’m in at the time.

I actually went to high school with Lil Uno.

I grew up in Oakland and Berkeley, California.

I thought everybody unanimously hated this man. I don’t know anyone who was like, ‘Go Trump.’ I was surprised.

I’ve always dreamt big and the dream is to keep making music.

London, from the architecture to the culture to the fashion to the accents, feels like it’s a special place.

If you push yourself to stay hungry, you’re always working towards at least taking steps forward. If you’re taking steps forward, then you’re making progress.

I always think I’m going to record a lot on tour but it’s always hard to fit it in the schedule, and there’s a whole lotta’ other extra curricular activities that happen on the road.

I’m really attracted to girls who are passionate about music because that’s what I’m obsessed with.

If you get comfortable, that’s how you fall off.

Lost in this young world, I’m just trying to navigate See the pie sliced, I’m just trying to grab a plate.

Less is more. Simplicity is awesome. That’s all you need in life. Its just my personal philosophy.

I grew up watching Kobe Bryant.

You’d die very sad if you tried to make everyone in the world happy, you know what I mean? You can’t; no one can.

I was 14 years old when I started rapping and I was terrible. I fell in love with it though and when that happens with me I become super passionate and go all the way with it.

I think the most important thing is to be yourself and be genuine and don’t try to tell anybody else’s story but your own. And if it comes from a genuine place, I think people can tell, and if it doesn’t, I think people can tell, and I think that eventually it shows.

In my dorm room, I was a hermit making music, I’ve always had a sense of urgency that I don’t have forever to make this happen.

When you’re from the Bay Area, there’s this chip on your shoulder that you inherently come up with, because us, as a region, we’ve been overlooked in the grand scheme of the history of the genre and the culture.

I’m just doing the only thing I know how to do. There was never a plan B.

I’ve put myself in this position where I haven’t set myself up with a Plan B. I don’t have a safety net; it’s all in.

It’s one thing to turn up and jump around stage and give people a good time – that’s obviously a big part of this – but I’ll always get deeper than that as an artist.

It’s an honor to be able to tour with somebody I grew up listening to and somebody I look up to. When you’re around somebody like E-40, all you can do is watch and learn, and soak up game.

It’s on the people to dictate what is relevant and what is moving.

There’s only so much you can do on a physical level trying to tour or pass out mixtapes. Although that matters, I realized that you can reach more people putting your music on Soundcloud and networking with blogs to write about you. It really comes back to the music and what you release.

Success is just being able to do what I love for a living, spend all my time doing it, connect with fans, and continue that for a long f – king time.

I try to find 15 minutes a day to just be alone without any distractions just for headspace to meditate and get my Zen on. I think that helps me get through the hecticness of the day on tour with the interviews, the sound check, the meet and greets, the show and the post-show meet and greets.

I stick with a ’60s vintage aesthetic of letterman’s jackets, plain T-shirts, and good jeans.

Life is good. I’ve got a apartment that is paid for with rap money. It’s good. It’s amazing. It’s a blessing. I wake up every day and appreciate how much of a blessing this is getting to do this. But it is important to always stay humble, grounded, focused, and maintain that same ambition you had when you had nothing.

I’m the type of person that rises to the occasion, and when work is in front of me, I do work.

I got my start in small dive bars in New Orleans.

I don’t know if most people know it or not, but I produce, like, 95% of my own stuff.

I’m a Gemini, so there’s two people in me. Straight up. There’s the nerd who is totally zoned out in the studio, EQ-ing this kick drum, raising this snare one decibel, or swapping this high hat out for another. Then there’s the other side who’s a performer. I have to go out on stage and be electric, a fire cracker, just run around the stage and give a show.

I’ve seen what you can do in this grassroots, do-it-yourself world, and I’ve seen how far that can get you. To be iconic, you still need the gatekeepers to open the doors.

I’ve never been critically acclaimed. I’ve never been nominated for no Grammy. I’ve never been on no magazine cover. It’s almost taboo to say I’m actually good.

Time is a finite resource that you can’t get back. I have the same 24 hours you have, and you get the same 24 hours as me. As you rise, so does you chance for opportunity.

What inspires me is the desire to be on. The desire to be successful. The desire to reach people through my music and make a living off it and never have to do anything else. Being able to do music full time and travel the world and share this music with everybody. That’s the dream.

I dunno, there were always people believing in me, but you just gotta be confident in whatever you wanna do.

I think you should always push yourself to want to grow and learn more and be inspired and develop.

I think my style revolves around the philosophy that less is more, that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. That goes for my taste in design and in clothes, and even affects the way I approach music. I’m all about keeping things simple, and minimal, but being able to convey something powerful through that approach.

Keeping in touch with the people that matter is important.

I’ve got some growing up to do.

You have to be dope; you have to find an audience and reach that audience with your identity and your message.

I would never consider myself a role model in the wide sense of the word.

Nothing tops making a living off your passion.

Some people will like it. Some people will hate it. Some people are indifferent. And you have to live with that as an artist. You wanna be appreciated, you wanna be liked, but you know, it’s just not realistic for everyone.

I used to go and cop stacks of blanks CDs and sit there and burn copies of my mixtapes and print up my own mixtape covers and post up in downtown Oakland and Telegraph in Berkeley and literally was selling my mixtapes for five bucks, hand-to-hand.

I wanted to make an album that plays from the top to bottom and feels together and complete. That’s just something that felt important.

I just kept telling myself that ultimately, the money that my grandparents had put away to go into my college fund, that they were investing for me to go to school and get this education, it had to be worth something.

Sometimes you wake up the next morning after making a lot of bad decisions and have this nonchalant reaction like, ‘These Things Happen’ – what can I say?

Just wearing all black comes from Johnny Cash. I’m on the road so much that if I wear all black my clothes never get dirty. You can’t tell if I’ve worn the same shirt twice.

You have this ability in hip hop to be invincibly cool, and that is a part of G-Eazy.

I know what it feels like to walk out in front of a sold-out crowd of a thousand people that are there for you, and how good that feels, but as an opener, you just have to train yourself to think that it’s going to be harder.

Something I stand for is being brave enough to invest in creative ideas that I firmly believe in and bringing those to life.

A halfway decent haircut will go a long way!

I wear what I like to wear, I don’t pick out clothes to try to fit in or whatever, I just like what I like.

I suppose sometimes the lack of privacy can be a little hard to deal with at times.

If you’re not out living, then you’ve got nothing to talk about.

I didn’t grow up around all white people; I never wanted to gentrify hip-hop, I’ve never wanted to speak to an all-white audience.

In anything I do I try to stay true to myself because I think that’s what matters most, and then the challenge is getting all these different sides of my personality to fit together in one box. It isn’t an easy task. But that’s basically what the end result represents.