Jermaine Dupri Quotes

As a novelist, you have to be free. Books can't be an act of filial duty.

I never wanted to be a feature - that was never the goal with my music. I didn't want to just live through other people's work.

We only do what we think is good and what we're happy with. I do that in stand-up, I even do it with my children's books. I don't do market research, I don't have focus groups, I don't care. I don't care if it fails, honestly. I'd rather have something that's completely mine fail than something succeed that I'm not proud of.

It began when I was so ill that there was a good chance of dying. I promised myself that if I survived I would never again pander to a magazine's requests or follow the ideas of art directors. I would only make images which were personal, which arose out of my own life.

Stand up for yourself and fight for your right to be the artist that you want to be. There's plenty of pressure from outside; people tell you how to dress and how to sing or what to sing, but I always felt like if I'm going to fail or succeed, I want to do it on my own terms.

One of the worst things that can happen to an artist is to perceive himself as the owner of his art, and art as his tool. A product of the marketplace sensibility, this attitude barely differs on a psychological plane from the patron's view of the artist as a paid employee.

One of the things about Fleetwood Mac is, when we're not together, we don't talk a lot or keep in touch. We keep a healthy distance.

I don't read anything about my movies before or after I do films, or any part of show business. I think that keeps me in a kind of place where I can do the work that I need to do.

It's funny, but no matter how good an artist is, it's not until he stands on his own two feet and sticks to his guns that things are going to come together.

Every creator has to follow what they believe. That's the message I would love for every single executive to get, to clearly understand, and every single producer out there.

As soon as I started working at the 'Los Angeles Times,' people warned me not to get too close to artists because it could make it difficult to review their work, and you can never really tell if the 'friendship' is genuine.

One reason for keeping Disney animation separate from Pixar was that by solving their own problems when they finished a film, Disney could say, 'Nobody bailed us out; we did it.' And it's a very important social thing for them to do that.

I established early what I was and wasn't willing to accept. People tried to say what I had to do, whether it be pop or R&B, to be successful. Even when I was in the girl group, they would try to make our voices sound very radio-friendly and fit that mold. But even before I got signed, I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.

As many have said before me, artists are creative people who can't be dragged into the politics of nations. I have always made a concerted effort to maintain this standard for myself.

Neither me or Yash interfere in each other's work. This has been the case even before marriage when we shared about our works as friends.

I don't do anything keeping Bollywood in mind.

Nowhere in the job description of an artist is the requirement that I must validate your taste.

If somebody else wanted to do a song for McDonald's, that's up to them. I wouldn't do something like that, but whatever.

As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment.

You should do the sound that you want and not what others want.

We got full artistic integrity and autonomy over what we were doing, and that was the main important thing that kept our band alive.

The blueprint, for me, was having an understanding of self because this business will try to make you somebody other than yourself or make you change with the times. A lot of times, people will want you to do everything for free, work for free, to be down to do this after you paid your dues.

My commercial viability, coupled with my reputation, gives me enough freedom to assert my right as a composer.

With Metro Station, there were too many people trying to control us. That's not the thing you should do with an artist, I think.

I'm a business first and foremost so whatever my business is, it's separate from my personal. It's like whatever I do business wise, it's done in the business fashion whether it's promoting , marketing, whatever I'm doing.