Rico Love Quotes

But anyone who knows anything about the music industry knows it's not only about the music.

I decided to do whatever I could to make sure the business side of music didn't intrude on the creative part.

I get advice from all the producers who have come out of Memphis. They just give me advice on the business side, because that's most important besides the actual music. Just staying at a point I know I can't mess myself up. I just got to be put up on game about it. Drumma Boy and Memphis Track Boy taught me a lot.

I actually produced other people's vocals for a long time when I first signed my publishing deal and I had just sort of decided that I only wanted to be a writer. I would be in all of these writing sessions, and a lot of times my publisher would say, "You should get a demo singer to sing it because then it doesn't identify as a Solange song."

The world has changed a lot since I started making records.I used to go into a studio and there were songs there, chosen for me to see if I liked them. I wasn't encouraged to write.

I often call Daptone the Motown and Stax of today. But in some ways it's different. At Motown, a lot of the musicians didn't get recognized, music got stolen, and people didn't get paid. Or the label would just throw them a pinch of money for their songs. That is one thing we're not doing. Anything anyone writes here, we get a percentage.

I'm not just a rapper. I like to produce music.

People talk about the pop part - they don't talk about me being an independent artist. I made it look easy, that's the problem!

I thought I could get myself into the music business by doing paralegal work. I was just trying to get in any way I could.

When you're 17 and a record label says, 'Hey, do pop,' you listen.

If I could have stayed independent from the jump, then, maybe, things would have been different. 'Return of 4Eva' would have been an album instead of a mixtape.

I'm not just going to get a deal; I'm going to get the deal. And in my deal I got by signing with No I.D. to Def Jam, I got full creative control, the money was great, the contract was good, and I got to create the album that I wanted.

There were a few labels scouting me, but I felt like G.O.O.D. had my best interest at heart. They gave me the freedom to really do what I want, which is to expand my brand, make great music, and find ways to elevate my sound.

Just about the entirety of the first album, 'Brown Sugar,' I wrote it, the majority of that record in my bedroom in Richmond. And all of the demos for it were done on a four-track in my bedroom. I think EMI was a little leery of me being in the studio producing it on my own, which is what I was fighting for.

Obviously spending my teenage years in music, and in popular music, I wanted to continue this career, but in a way that allows me to dictate it and create it myself as opposed to relying on third party or more corporate decision making.

People started recording my songs. Later, I was offered songwriter contracts. And then, finally, I could take the time to work on my own project. I worked hard for this all by myself.

I'm not interested in being the producer of somebody else's song.

Basically, I'm one of the greatest producers ever. And I'm also one of the greatest DJs ever. And I'm also one of the best executives ever.

Giving a record company an album is like giving a gangster your baby or something.

We as label executives, we have to know the limitations of the artists.

I've always been independent with my music. I've always run my own music label.

Not to name names, but a lot of pop female artists you see, they don't write their own songs. Lot of top male artists and boy band artists, they don't write their own songs. They're just a product. They sell, they sell, they sell. They don't care about musical integrity, any of that kind of stuff.

I'm going to build an empire. I'm always writing for someone else. I want to be someone who has her fingerprints all over the pop charts.

Artists who are passionate about their music and in love with their art go independent because they want to continue making music and serving it to the world.

There is plenty of people I'd love to collaborate with, would love to produce with, would love to write songs with.