My mother got pregnant with me at the age of fifteen. This was '64, and unheard of at that time.

I love the new technology. New things give you a reason to want to go to the studio. New challenges mean you have to keep up, you know?

Black women are the strongest most hardworking people on earth.

Don't be worried about the next man - make sure your business tight.

When the ideas are coming, I don't stop until the ideas stop because that train doesn't come along all the time.

It's entertaining to watch somebody break my music down or explain what he thinks I was thinking during the process of making these records. Because... he has no idea.

It ain't that I'm too big to listen to the rumors, It's just that I'm too damn big to pay attention to 'em.