I'm called a folk singer, and I'm not too sure about that. I went about my life approaching music not from the point of view of a singer, but from the point of view of an actor. That's how I first started to sing.

Art in its highest form is art that serves and instructs society and human development.

You can cage the singer but not the song.

The USA has more people in prison that any other country, including countries with much larger populations. 13% of the population is black but 80% of the people in prison are black, mostly for soft crimes.

Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live in

I'm very familiar with poverty. I find it easy to be with, whether I'm in America or in Africa or in Asia. Wherever I go and find the environment of those who are living in poverty and resisting poverty is a great in which I have great comfort.

Pop culture has none of the vibrancy that you find in the folk culture, where people speak directly to their own experience in the human condition.