Nate Dogg Quotes

I've had offers to sign a record deal, but the people I've talked to have wanted to package me and have me meet with songwriters who've written stuff for Whitney Houston, that sort of thing. That's not at all my style.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

I have just enough people paying attention that I have the freedom to be in charge. And I have a great record company - Nonesuch understands what I'm about.

If your label won't let you have the cover you want or sing the songs you want, then leave!

You can now be a master of your own destiny. I'm not sure why you would sign up with a record label.

It was a lot easier to write songs before I had a record deal, because the record labels and the industry doesn't mean to put pressure on you, but they do. They don't realize that they are, but you end up having a pressure there that you feel. At times I feel myself wanting to say, 'Just let me do what I do.'

A lot of big whoever producers, they come with a song and they say, 'Sing this,' and I'm not that girl.

I'm fortunate that I've been in this business long enough that I've earned the right to be left alone by my record company.

I find it so funny how people that don't write the music, and have no involvement in it, can make such huge decisions on behalf of artists.

When you get to a point where you're not beholden to a record company, then it's up to you to say, 'OK, enough knob-turning. We're done.'

You might be like, 'I want really big hits.' But when you get really big hits, and your label is making $150 million, they are people who are now interested in what you do. They are going to begin to tell you what to do, and so you become important. So your creative freedom - you're not going to have that again.

You wait all your life to be signed by a major label, and then when they sign you, they don't want you to do what you want to do.

I think we have to bottom out. When the studios jump out of the ring, perhaps the artist can get back in.

I produce the records. I don't hand over control to some really expensive producer who then talks to the record company and then tries to bend me to their will - for commercial purposes.

I am not going to be dictated to by fans, certainly. I am dictated enough to by my record company to last me a million years.

To set the record straight for the God knows millionth time, we certainly didn't sign to Atlantic just for the money.

I wanted out of my record deal with EMI. They wanted me to record one type of album; I wanted to record the type of music I wanted to make.

I wanted to put out a solo record because I was stuck on a major label and sick of it.

I never had many problems to do my music and to give it to a record company. Rarely do they try to argue with me about my music, probably because it's still too far-out.

A lot of things encouraged me to start my label. I think it's very important for an artist to know how many records they've sold and where they've sold. I know that I have never been treated the way I'm supposed to be treated - like an artist. That's why I do things for myself. I feel like I'm a free man.

It is great to have your own label; you can cultivate your own artists... I've worked with pretty much everyone I wanted to.

They told me that they are starting a classic label, and wanted me to be the first artist. So I signed, and am producing myself, and writing my own music, but I'm their first artist on their classic label. And I have creative control.

I didn't want to be on a major label. I wanted all the attention and the noise to go away because I wanted to be something a little bit more substantial.

I'm really excited because Interscope is really focused on artists. They've been working side by side with me creatively and allowing me to make a lot of the creative decisions, which you don't always hear about. That's why I didn't want to sign originally with a major label.

The record label used to try and make us do stuff, like dance, and we'd say, nah, not doing that.