I'm a child of God. God is my mommy, my daddy. That's the only thing that'll keep my head up. If I don't remember who I am in him, I'm done.

In the inner city, there's a mentality that the government owes you something. My breakthrough came when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and took responsibility for every part of my life. No more pity parties. I've gotta love me more than anybody else loves me.

I've been praying to God to show me how to forgive myself. Because... maybe... that's the thing I've been searching for.

Don't go a full day or night without washing your face. You have to get all the dirt and makeup out of your pores.

When you're going to do whatever you're going to do, you have to get your, put your mind into it.

People in my neighborhood inspired me to sing. Believe in your ability no matter what, but be realistic with yourself and your ability.

From being a little girl in the projects, going through all of the mess that I was going through, to ending up at the Inauguration for the first African-American president, I'm speechless right now because I never thought I'd - I never ever - I couldn't even see that far. Even when I ended up in the music business I couldn't see that.