My intention is to make music that you can enjoy at all times.

I just think it's silly to be stingy with compliments. If you see someone and they strike you as beautiful in any way, why not let them know?

There's a high school in Camden, New Jersey, I call the Jill Scott School. It's the Camden Creative Arts High School. Those teachers and kids are so passionate about what they do, and 98 percent of the senior class went on to college.

I'm a method actor as well as a method singer.

My grandmother told me: 'Never be in debt to anyone or anything.' Which is probably why I've never been financially extravagant - I still go to Costco. I'm always conscious of living within my means.

I'm a secret interior decorator. There's a mural on my dining room wall of the railroad tracks at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. I love having my hometown with me out here in California.

Africa doesn't leap on you immediately; it seeps slowly, and it's incredibly important to be respectful and humble there.