Erykah Badu

“I'm a woman who has gone through many heartaches, enough to dedicate my whole life to trying to figure them out.”

“I love being an entertainer - not really fond of being a celebrity.”

“I'm not satisfied with the explanations I get from tv or from school.”

“I have advice for people - period - who are in unhealthy relationships: Follow your heart. It will get you to where you need to be. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's easy, the places that...”

“Hip-hop is the people. What the people are moving toward is what hip-hop is. I think people are moving toward a freer way of thinking. Openness.”

“What I work hard at doing is staying on a path of being kind and showing and proving that I'm a good person to society. That's hard. The talent, that's a gift. I just came here like that.”

“Honey isn't really that good for you.”

“I love to leave the interpretation of my music up to the listener. It's fun to see what they'll say it is.”

“I am not systematic at all when it comes to religion. I just love life. And I'm not judgmental. And I'm a vegetarian.”

“I don't have any particular thing I do ritualistically. I do the same thing every day. I get up. Drink a lot of water. Have a wheatgrass shot. Drink some green juice. Eat as healthy as I can...”

“I try to be honest and I keep moving.”

“I don't feel like I need to preach to the world or nothing like that. I just feel like I share what I say, and if listeners get it, they get it. And I never underestimate the audience's abil...”

“I grew up with all mothers, all women. I come from a long line of matriarchs, very strong women.”

“I don't sing melodically. Rhyme pattern is how I sing. I also write like a lyricist or an MC because that's what I was before I was a singer. I just took those elements and put them into mus...”

“Marvin Gaye is one of my favorite revolutionaries. He spoke from his heart, his mind. That's what I want to do.”

“I have a master plan as an artist. I've always said I'm not going to be punching nobody's clock. I will work as an artist to survive in this world.”

“Artists need some kind of stimulating experience a lot of times, which crystallizes when you sing about it or paint it or sculpt it. You literally mold the experience the way you want. It's...”

“Music and the music business are two different things.”

“The music business is motivated by money. Music is motivated by energy and feelings.”

“I knew it would happen. I knew I'd be No. 1. I'm a new artist; I don't know the rules. Nobody told me it wouldn't happen.”