Quotes By Erykah Badu

Anything that had to do with art I been doing all my life. It was a gift. It's nothing I work real hard at doing.

I can be Erykah the human being more than the celebrity.

I don't feel like I need to preach to the world or nothing like that. I just feel like I share what I say, and if listeners get it, they get it. And I never underestimate the audience's ability to feel me.

I knew it would happen. I knew I'd be No. 1. I'm a new artist; I don't know the rules. Nobody told me it wouldn't happen.

I planned my success. I knew it was going to happen.

Being honest is my job. That's what music is for me.

I don't have one song that sounds like another one in my entire catalog.

I'm a performance artist first; I'm a recording artist second.

Artists need some kind of stimulating experience a lot of times, which crystallizes when you sing about it or paint it or sculpt it. You literally mold the experience the way you want. It's therapy.

It's almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It's their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it's harder for us.

I'm a woman who has gone through many heartaches, enough to dedicate my whole life to trying to figure them out.

When you're in a relationship you want it to work. My parents did, I did. But we are not taught how to make it work.

The music business is motivated by money. Music is motivated by energy and feelings.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

I'm free. I just do what I want, say what I want, say how I feel, and I don't try to hurt nobody. I just try to make sure that I don't compromise my art in any kind of way, and I think people respect that.

No one chooses to raise children alone.

I thought the Billie Holiday comparison was beautiful. I think, Wow, what a wonderful, creative, helpful spirit. She's someone who wanted to help others by sharing her emotion. That's what I do, too, so I think that's a great comparison.

I try to be honest and I keep moving.

I grew up with all mothers, all women. I come from a long line of matriarchs, very strong women.

Marvin Gaye is one of my favorite revolutionaries. He spoke from his heart, his mind. That's what I want to do.

I don't read music or anything, so when I produce, I go basically by ear.

I'm a complete human being. I'm very emotional and loving. I feel, I hurt, I give, I take, and also I think. I analyze. I'm a sociologist, anthropologist.

Man, I don't want to have nothing to do with computers. I don't want the government in my business.

I'll dabble here and there in different forms of the art, but the label has me locked down like a slave so, of course, I'll be doing albums during this time.

I love being an entertainer - not really fond of being a celebrity.

I consider my musical ability to be a gift from the Creator. It's not that I try to work hard or nothing like that, it's a gift, it was given to me, and I appreciate it.

I think a lot of people have lost respect for the individual, you know, the individual, the person who doesn't conform.

I am not systematic at all when it comes to religion. I just love life. And I'm not judgmental. And I'm a vegetarian.

What does music mean to me? I don't think I would really be much without it, without it coming through me. It's my means of communication, my means of growth, my means of transportation from one point in my life to another.

I'm kind of a recluse when it comes to going outside.