What the French want is coherence, stability and justice. If I am in a favorable position today, it's because my fellow citizens want to make the effort to straighten out the country, and at the same time they want it to be just and equitable.
I think when I do things outside of music, I am always thinking of different things that are eventually one way or another going to come back to my music. I have to make sure it is all cohesive, as that's important to me as an artist and a person.
I am so proud to be black. I am, nevertheless, tired of the oppression. We need to develop and support a cohesive black agenda. We need to do what leaders have suggested since slavery. We need to recognize that while we are not monolithic, there is power in embracing a common agenda.
On stage, I'm me. I'm a husband, I'm a dad, I'm a guy, I'm a mess - but I am a cohesive thing that you recognize as one human entity saying these things that he generally believes.
Some people are drawn to a van Gogh or a Rembrandt. Some are attracted to exotic guns. Coins. Stamps. I am attracted to cars.
I am looking forward to seeing my buddy Colin represent in front of Pacino. That's sweet.
I think America loves cooperative black men. I am not against Colin Powell, but I know who he is.
The reason I collaborate with Louis Vuitton is that Louis Vuitton is number one in the world, and I am honored to work with them.
I know right now she has no idea who I am, but I'd like to collaborate with Enya one day. Of course I'd love to work with Jay-Z, maybe even Phil Collins. I love his voice.
I think I am obsessed with Lucie Rie. I love the way she collaborated with Miyake, who for me is probably the most important fashion designer of the 20th century.
It has been a marvellous experience and a great gift collaborating with Madonna. Now that I have had the chance to see her working, I truly understand why she is so grand! I believe she is a true artist, and I am crazy about her.
When it comes to being in a band or going solo, one is collaborative, and one is not. But generally speaking, when going solo, I am the boss. People can contribute ideas, but I am the boss. When collaborating, you make compromises and look for a common ground.
You know, making a movie is a collaborative effort and sometimes all the ingredients don't work out. I know that every now and again I am going to make a movie that won't work.
The thing is that I have a really intense, almost compulsive need to record. But it doesn't end there, because what I record is somehow transformed into a creative thing. There is a continuity. Recording is the beginning of a conceptual production. I am somehow collapsing the two - recording and producing - into a single event.
I am hunting for people who would be a good colleague or a teammate, not someone who works for me.
But in truth, should I meet with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and for this purpose I am proceeding solely in quest of them.
I am making a collection of the things my opponents have found me to be and, when this election is over, I am going to open a museum and put them on display.
My sisters and I are very hands-on with our collections. I am really passionate about kids' clothes.
There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people.
I write from real life. I am an unrepentant eavesdropper and a collector of stories. I record bits of overheard dialogue.
