Record companies would rather you stay dumb, not even think of it as a business, so they can either rip you off or get you out of the way in five years to make way for the new groups.

Hip-hop is getting to the point now where they are going to start sounding like Al Jarreau or Bobby McFerrin or some of the other poets. Some of the better rappers can rap real fast without even melodies. It'll get to that same point.

Absorb youth and you will be absorbed by youth. Take on new influences without fear and you need not fear what is new. Change the people around you by changing the people around you.

Funk is fun. And it's also a state of mind, ... But it's all the ramifications of that state of mind. Once you've done the best you can, funk it!

My ability has always been to walk out on the stage and see the audience and figure out what they wanna hear.

The words I use too often are X-rated, something an old man like me shouldn't be talking about anyway.

If you got a booty, you're going to dance to disco, funk, you know, whatever's going on. Funk is going to be involved in it.