I make 99 percent of my music sitting down, in boxers, when I'm comfortable in my computer chair.
Oh, I will always be honest with my music. The records are black boxes for me. Like if you want to know who I am, my views, my perspective, things I love, things I hate, my convictions, my anthems. I've never let people's opinions affect the way I write.
As a boy, I'd always had an interest in theater. But the idea at my school was that drama and music were to round out the man. It wasn't what one did for a living. I got over that.
Boy bands should be exploded from a great height. They're just pretty people singing music written by others.
You can't speak as a conservative on campus without being boycott, without being protested, without students lining up and playing music loudly so that they can drown out the sound of your voices.
So many boys and girls talk the same way, listen to the same music, look the same. If I'm out, I'll notice the person who looks different before I notice the person who's, 'really hot.'
Queen Victoria did not regard art, letters, or music as in any way springing from national character: they were something quite apart, elegant decorations resembling a scarf or a bracelet, and in no way expressive of the soul of the country.
My nana is a real life mentor, and so is Brad Paisley and a few other idols in country music.
I didn't know of any rappers in Charlotte. Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I brought the music scene alive and shed the proper light on it. I took it to a whole other level when I started rapping.
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
Music bypasses the brain and goes straight to the heart. I wish my life had more of it.
I think hopefully we've got enough brain cells left to decide if our music is really worth something.
I love playing music and I'm serious about It. But It's not brain surgery.
Action set pieces are my absolute favorite thing to write. I'm pretty much always in the mood to do them, but music certainly helps the process. I usually brainstorm out the dynamics and choreography of a fight to music beforehand - it gives me the little sparks of imagination when I get to the gaps in my own creativity.
I'm very easily distracted unless I have music on. Listening to music while I brainstorm makes me think of scenes that would fit the mood of the music I'm playing.
The old-timers schooled me good. They brainwashed me to respect music, whether we were playing rockabilly or blues or rock and roll.
We've been branded 'the thinking man's hip-hop.' So the music's got to have some level of maturity.
I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. Reid and Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community.
I don't hate on the whole EDM thing happening in America because, although the music is not of my taste - a little bit brash for me - I think it's also introducing a lot of young people to dance music, and then they're discovering better dance music through it.
I grew up right in the heart of Treme, so it was a real music neighborhood, and there was a bunch of bands like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band around.
