Lou Rawls Quotes

I don't mean that if you're a Christian, walking close to God, you will immediately gain celebrity. you may fail as an artist, because you may not have what the public want at that time, and you have to be prepared for that.

You know, if Kelly Clarkson wants to do country albums because that's what inspires her, then let her do it. Look at Kanye West or Ludacris... they aren't rappin' and cussin' like they were on their first few albums, so what does that make them? It's all in the eye of the beholder and the listener. We all use our outlet to grow ourself.

There's no way I can compete with someone who can write rap or rock and roll. Nor do I wish to. But I've always kept up to date with music changes. I worked very hard not to type myself.

A lot of people relate me to the blues but I don't think it's a hindrance at this point. I've been doing it long enough that I can do different things and be accepted.

It's really interesting to just look at the career of a musician and a producer that went into many different genres and many different styles and many different places but always breaking the barriers between genres and at some point reinventing himself all along the way but also inventing things at the same time.

You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.

I had to make different kinds of music for everybody but still keep it classic T-Pain at the same time.

Growing up in Miami, having these different cultures and being inspired in so many ways musically has let me have a very long career, 'cause just when you think I'm gonna do this type of record, I go and do something else.

I can go from doing an electronic track to hip-hop to even folk songs. I think people like that variety in me.

Just based on the primary adage of the necessity breeding innovation, it was just like 'Well, what makes me the guitar player that I am?' and I feel like I listen to so much different music, and I'm a student of so many genres of music, and I feel like it's fun to apply those things and anything super applicable to any type of music.

My mum and dad used to listen to a lot of R&B and soul, so this was the way I grew up. Hip-hop, of course. But then as I grew older, I started listening to everything.

I can do R&B, pop, gospel... whatever genre of music that's out.

I always make a point to make my records different. Let's say I have a record that's influenced by hip-hop in an abstract way; for the next record, I'd try not to do that. They are all connected in a personal way but it's important not to repeat myself, because then I can always learn something about myself through my work.

The greatest thing about me is I have always been able to reinvent. We have done that about three or four times with my sound.

If I had to make a choice between only writing about sports or only writing about music, I would probably write about music. I'm not sure why that is. There seems to be more to write about with music, just because it's more of a splintered thing. There's more subgenres. With sports, it's more objective in a way.

There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that.

Nah, I'm not one of those 'hip-hop is dead' people. I just like different artists. I never look at it as one entity. I've always felt like that.

I just wanna make more music, legit music as opposed to keeping the same constant thing. I wanna show growth in the music, pretty much.

I had phases of listening to rap and trap, and then I had phases where I'd listen to post-hardcore, rap, grunge, metal... all that. I had different time periods of listening to different music. And now it all clashes together.

I have a soft spot for 'Wind of Change' because it was my first one, and it was a departure from Humble Pie - very much so. It showed me the spectrum of what I could do.

If you look at the difference between the first Clash record and 'Combat Rock,' what an evolution.

I try to cross as many genres as possible with the same attitude. I want every song to be very clear.

I want to explore all genres.

I grew up listening to everything. I was in rock n' roll bands and punk bands, and I loved bluegrass and country music, too. Then, when I moved to Nashville, I put out a very traditional country record because that's just what you do. I had a bunch of very traditional country songs. Next thing you know, you're a country singer.

I'm never going to stop writing music as Porter Robinson and I see 'Virtual Self' as more of a tangent.