Cliff Martinez Quotes

What I'm hoping is that every album I'm going to do will give my audience something different, and that they'll grow as I do.

Each album we [The Replacements] made was the one we were capable of making and wanted to make at the time. Each one was a progression or, depending on your opinion, a sidestep or tumble forward. I don't know what.

To be honest with you, I don't have one track that I consider better than the next because all I'm trying to do is still grow as an artist. I got way better since the early nineties, as far as putting words together. My best energy probably was the '90s, because I was new.

I feel like bands should be growing, living, functioning entities and to crystallize a band into a single album, and for that to be a touchstone - I understand it from a fan's perspective but I also feel like it's a little bit misleading in terms of the way bands actually function.

I've definitely grown and evolved as a person, as an artist, you know. Just in terms of my style, my taste, my influences, everything... That's a part of being an artist I think.

We always try to make each record a snapshot of the band at that time.

Obviously, I never want to make the same record twice. I want to keep moving forward. That's the real challenge, I think.

I never want to make a complete, 180 reactional record. I wanted a connection to what I've done in the past but still move forward and evolve.

I think that the only goals that we try to set for ourselves is to evolve musically.

I think that new artistic challenges help you grow both as a person, as an artist, and then they feed back into your other work, and tend to magnify it.

My hope is to continue to make new music and go with the flow. I think I'll always be creative. I want to keep making good music, put myself into positions where I need to rise to the occasion of playing in front of an audience, and continually get better at what I'm doing.

I think every album you have to stretch further and further, give people another piece of you. But then I always try to deviate from the norm.

A Tribe Called Quest was one of those things where it was supposed to be about growth. When I say 'growth,' I don't just mean with our sound or our product, but Tribe was supposed to grow as individuals.

I've been making music for a long time, since I was very young, but at the same time, I'm still exploring what works for me. I feel like I'm just starting out.

If our history can challenge the next wave of musicians to keep moving and changing, to keep spiritually hungry and horny, that's what it's all about.

I think everybody knows my sound because I'm me, you know? But, on your fourth album, I think you've definitely gotta show growth because I definitely don't plan on being one of those cats that fade off. It's always about growing with me; I grew up over the years.

I'm forever learning and that's why I'm always able to create new styles and new dimensions of hip-hop.

I'll keep evolving and put that into my songs.

Music has to keep moving. But I was lucky. For me there was always something around the corner.

I know who I am as an artist and I know what my sound is, but I wanted to know what I could do in order to take it to that next level. So the experiences I had last year of moving to California and traveling to places like Rome and Nicaragua where I met a lot of people just had a really big impact in my life.

I would like to look back on my body of work and be proud of each record in its own right, but as a whole, I want to continue to grow and move forward.

I want to be the kind of artist who keeps pushing on every album. I don't want to settle on a sound.

If you look at my last songs and first short stories, there is a real connection between them.

I like to grow and experiment, and as an artist, it's about kicking the bar up a little.

As I'm growing, so is my music.