I think we [with Riccardo Tisci] share a sensibility about art - we pull from the ancient future.

Personally, I don't choose any particular religion or symbol or group of words or teachings to define me. That's between me and the most high. You know, my higher self. The Creator.

The reason why you don't see people looking like me is because I don't encourage that. I encourage you to be you.

So the most natural thing to me is to stay as pure to or real to or close to who I am as possible.

Society has a problem with female nudity when it is not . . . ”—Badu pauses to get her words together; she wants this point to be very clear—“. . . when it is not packaged for the consumption of male entertainment. Then it becomes confusing.

I just love expressing my joy and my mind through what I wear, or how I cook, or how I dance, or how I write or perform a song - how I move.

I'm just being who I am and expressing myself as everyone else does.