Rozonda Thomas Quotes

I just don't feel limited by genre.

I wouldn't go so far as to make 'You Don't Own Me' a tango or 'It's My Party' a hip-hop thing. Believe me, those things have been suggested to me. But I thought if I could stay true to the song, the arrangements would work. I'm really enjoying singing them.

Everybody in Lynyrd Skynyrd loves different styles of music, and our minds are very open when it comes to writing our songs and making the band true to what the band is, but also stepping out and doing something current.

That's what hip-hop is - it's about meeting the music where you are, and then you add on top of that. It's about coming at it with your full self.

For anybody to say well this is not Hip Hop and that's not Hip Hop, that is not the way the formula was laid down. It was for the people who were going to continue take anything musically and string it along.

To break R&B into subcategories does a disservice to the music. I like to live in a zone where I can do whatever I want, where I don't have to worry about genre.

I don't want to be held down by genres so much.

What I do isn't black music; it's just my music.

What I love about Beyonce is she's not a slave to a genre of music.

It's a very subjective, personal, instinctive approach as musicians of saying, 'We don't want to replace what's around; we just want to widen the possibilities.'

I never thought that I would be creating my own 'cross-over' genre. What I did was very real and organic. I have worked in so many different styles so it all just came together.

Hip hop is doing the new rock thing; there are no rules. They can do anything, really. And that's inspiring.

It's sort of what jazz would be if it stopped being snobby and what rock would be if it stopped being stupid.

I don't want to be stuck to any specific genre.

Swavey is a musical genre that I came up with to describe artists who are too talented to stay in a box with their music.

Coldplay doesn't have to stay within a certain genre; they just go where they go.

I've always had influences from all over the place, like Mr. Bungle and Primus. As a band, we try not to focus too much on where it's coming from, because we're always listening to music.

Well, when the Raspberries ended in early 1975 suddenly I didn't have to write to anybody's strengths or weaknesses. I was completely wide open and I thought wow, I can write anything I want now. I can use session musicians. I can find another band that sings like the Beach Boys, I can do all kinds of things.

Whether it's a song that might deviate from an artists' usual sound or even if it's still very much in their world, I think the more people opening themselves up creatively to collaborate with others, the better.

I try to make my music interesting to me first, then hopefully other people will find it interesting, too.

As an artist, you have to express yourself. I make no excuses for my versatility. I grew up singing classical arias, but I love rock n' roll and jazz standards.

In terms of music, I can try anything I want, even something that doesn't work at all, because I'm not putting my career in jeopardy.

One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness. It's a music that, although it developed out of the African American experience, speaks more about the human experience than the experience of a particular people.

I love hip-hop and soul, but I desperately want to challenge it and see what I can bring to it.

They believed you can't mix rock, country, and rap, and that crossover is dead. I always knew it would work. And it will always work as long as you're really into it and like what you're doing.