To be young, gifted and black!

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

What is love but a prelude to sorrow...with heartache ahead for your goal.

The allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.

I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.

I applied for a scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.

My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That's how I see my voice.