Ari Lennox Quotes

I once worked at a record label called London Records. The company was owned by Roger Ames, one of the most successful figures in the British music industry. Roger always placed a value on loafing, on holidays, on not being in the office all the time.

There's no real network, and every city in Mississippi is so spread out, so it isn't easy to drive around and pass out CDs. So when an artist from Natchez or Gold Coast or Meridian breaks out, they already know exactly what kind of artist they want to be. The grind and the hustle is just so adamant.

I don't really know the logistics of a Soundcloud rapper.

I always wanted to be a part of a New York-based label, so I've worked really hard to try and network with people that I felt would put me in the right place.

Well, I had a record deal since I was 18, and it got me where I am.

We had an EP out and all of a sudden we find record companies are interested in us, and we're thinking, 'Oh, that's really nice, but we don't think we're ready for it.'

I don't really like meetings, I like recording and performing music. I need to set myself up for when the time does come that I need better distribution or just a bigger team behind me.

So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits.

Being a recording artist, selling music, selling concerts out, having a reality show, starting film; it's great, it's beautiful.

This is truly a blessing. Breyon Prescott, Peter Edge and Tom Corson believe in me and have introduced me to a home that also believes and knows exactly what to do with the type of music I'm doing.

I would love to continue working behind the scenes in music - to produce and manage up-and-coming musical talent would be a dream!

First of all, I think that is true, if you are a musician, particularly on the come, that you do have to end up in one of these musical centers, some way, to be viable, saleable and so on.

I did my thing with Jive. I was a national recording artist, but I had run into a wall.

I've been through the entire gamut of the music industry - I've been playing in clubs since I was 14, and I've been on Warner Bros, on Sony - I've had lots of successes and some serious times of struggle.

Since I was 17, I had been just making records and promoting them.

I was with PolyGram; that was the big label that I was with for the longest, like 12 years.

The music business doesn't interest me anymore.

My record label is treating me like I'm a new artist, which is exciting after all this time.

The music industry is something that I'm still trying to understand. With acting, I've been doing it for so long that I understand every aspect of it for the most part - there are obviously still more aspects that I need to learn - but I have a grasp on it. With music, I'm still learning. I'm still getting used to it.

I am a singer first and foremost. I was lucky enough to have a manager, when I was 15, who knew the heads of a lot of record labels at the time.

I don't tweet very much. I still believe in the mystery of an artist. I believe in going out when I'm ready to sell my product. A lot of artists are out there every day. But I remember the Julio Iglesiases, the Jose Joses - and it was about the music.

The music business is rougher than the movie business. In film you get noticed in a small role, even in a movie that bombs. But in records you better have that hit or else it's 'See you later.'

What made me want to become a recording artist; I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.

Commercial success still hasn't come to an artist that isn't signed to a record label. There are very few artists that can succeed without the help of a record label. The role of the record label is still required, it's still necessary.

I don't think the label makes the artist or the artist makes the label. It's the music that makes everything work or not.