Adrianne Lenker Quotes

The aggressiveness of it attracted me to hip-hop because I was angry inside. I was an angry kid because of the sickle cell. So I liked the anger in hip-hop. That's what attracted me to it; that's what made me want to do it. It helped me get my aggression out.

Another night, I dreamed I saw my father sweeping out the barn floor clean, and would not suffer the wheat to be brought in the barn. He appeared to me to be in anger.

I only get angry at my brothers and at my father.

My short stature may have something to do with my tendency to shout when enraged. How else is anyone going to hear me way down here?

I don't play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul.

So I'm not worried about the emotions I carry with me, because I'm happy that I have them; I think it's good for the work I do. The emotions that are not healthy are the ones you hold inside, like anger.

There was probably something as a child I wanted to express, something unsaid that I needed to share.

I have a lot of aggression in me that needs to come out in a not-very-precise or articulate way.

The first song that I remember writing in its entirety was when I was 9 years old. I wrote it on a bus, on a field trip. It was called 'Mystery Man,' and in retrospect, it was the beginning of my exploration of what it was like to have a man in your life, because I didn't.

When I got into music, I wanted to learn guitar just enough to be able to write songs. I wanted to be able to express myself.

I don't think I threw myself into music because I had the best intentions; it was because I was really angry.

If I'm on a bus and someone makes my blood boil, I'll pocket those emotions and put them in a song.

I guess I probably make violent films partly because I can't express my anger in my real life very well.

When I was younger, I was terrified to express anger because it would often kick-start a horrible reaction in the men in my life. So I bit my tongue. I was left to painstakingly deal with the aftermath of my avoidance later in life, in therapy or through the lyrics of my songs.

I can see parts of my father in 'Kingdom' when I rage like that. I can see my father's frustrations in his life.

From my anger, frustration, and hurt, I wrote the short story that would later become 'The Hate U Give.'

I started writing songs at 14 about things I was living at school, and the things I felt at that age.

I was being very bad because I didn't know how to express myself. Music gave me an outlet to express myself and channel that anger.

Music itself isn't enough to completely wear down my stash of anger. And I don't have all that much more to be angry about than anyone else. It's not like I was abused as a kid or anything. I had a pretty comfortable childhood with parents who took good care of me. But resentment exists, and some of it goes into the music. Some of it goes into physical activity.

Some of my stuff, I realize is just rage.

I'd do a song in the studio and it would explain everything I'm going through so perfectly that when I went home and I felt down I could listen to that to make me feel better. It's a documentation of my life. I think it's just important to put it out there.

That's my secret Cap: I'm always angry.

I was never big on rage.' 'Why?' "It's so much more angry in my head than it could ever be outside.

I often cried when I got angry; I hated that. Crying just made you look weak, no matter what triggered it.

Being with a kid always takes you to being a kid somehow, and they really are showing me a childhood I might not have had in some way.