I wouldn't play together with someone who likes to control everything like me.

Personal relationship with God is not all just the ceremony and not the religion of doing something because you were told that's what you have to do; it's relationships, it's like we have relationships with our families, with our friends, with our loved ones.

I wanted to make something that sounded very pure, organic, and personal. I wanted to make music that was timeless.

Confusion makes people uncomfortable. They can't put their finger on me.

I do my best to try to keep God with me on a personal level. It's my belief that God really wants a personal relationship with us.

I was taught by my grandfather that anything that your mind can conceive, you can have. It's a reality.

I was an actor when I was a teenager and it could have been the direction that I headed in. But music and my relationship with music is quite deep, and it really is the nucleus of my creativity. So I gave up acting so I could pursue music fully, and I never thought about really going back. And then [director] Lee Daniels met me and wanted to work with me, and that's how it started.