You have to give love to get love.

Being critical is not something I like to do. I like to appreciate and inspire.

Growing up, I loved Bill Cosby.

I don't like labels, but I do have blue eyes and I'm soulful, so what am I going to do?

I hate not giving the people what they want.

I love 'Game of Thrones.'

I never used to tell jokes on stage. Now I'm cutting up jokes all night long.

I'd like to collaborate with Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.

I'm trying to create the world around myself to be a place of as much equality and openheartedness as possible.

Life is full of constant ups and downs, and all I ask for is redemption in the end.

My songs don't play on pop radio; they play on black radio.

Some people go to college. For me I studied music my whole life. That was my college.

There's an audience for all kinds of great art.

While other kids played with cars and toys, I listened to music all day. I wanted to sing it and learn it.

Bob Dylan and John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, these are soul guys. Bruce Springsteen might not sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with white soul. He's singing and he's writing songs from the bottom of his gut.

I really try to wake up with my music the same as I do with my life, and that is with no expectations. I just feel what I feel that day and follow it.

To be a part of your biggest days - you know, your child being conceived or born, or you walking down the aisle - there's really nothing sweeter. That's the truth.

When I wrote for Jordan Knight, I was 17 or 18, they were pretty much the only songs I was writing. By the time people like Christina or Usher came around, I was able to know that I was writing for different points of view and people that might not want to say certain things. So you have to be considerate of whichever artist you're writing for.