Every once in a while, you live long enough to get the respect that people didn't want to give while you were trying to become a senior citizen.

I am a black man dedicated to expression; expression of the joy and pride of blackness. I consider myself neither poet, composer, or musician. These are merely tools used by sensitive men to carve out a piece of beauty or truth that they hope may lead to peace and salvation.

I learnt early on that your audience take the songs in the way they want to rather than the way you might want them too.

Every once in a while, you live long enough to get the respect that people didn't want to give while you were trying to become a senior citizen.

You can have a poem like "B-Movie" and sum up thirty conversations that people have had on the subject, but I wrote it down, and other people didn't.

I think that the more people who speak out, and say things and take stands on positions that will better our community, the better off each and every other individual artist or otherwise, will be.

My songs were always about the tone of voice rather than the words.