The connection I have with my fans is so important, and I want to break the boundaries and break the barriers between an artist and a crowd. It is so important, and I learn so much through my fans, and they help me.
It wasn't until 'Smokey Joe's' came out that I actually got to step out from behind the curtain and meet our 'fans.'
Phish and Dave Matthews really know their audiences and really treat them well.
Every time I make a new record, some of my existing fans are going to like it, and some are not. It's inevitable, and it's part of the deal. It's part of the job description.
You can't sustain a fan base on a great catalog alone. You must take your music directly to the people.
When I am singing, I believe that if I respect the public, then they will respect me, and I know it. It's noticeable.
Fans be reflecting the way I be making music.
I think a show is more of an interacting with fans than you just singing songs.
All I can do is make good music and make it for the fans, not for anybody else.
I don't spend a ton of time interacting, but I feel like I probably do more than most rappers/artists. I just find it interesting to be able to communicate with fans. It's cool.
That connection that I have with my fans is really special, and every time, when I have moments, when I have free time, the only thing that I think about is what I'm going to post, what I'm going to say to my fans.
For me, a good show is not a perfect show; it's just one where you connected. It's a show where the fans got to know you, and they realize that you're human, but they also think you're a star and that you're talented and all that good stuff.
I'm not the rapper that's too cool to tweet and talk to fans.
I think that my fans are the most important thing in my career.
When you make albums like I do, and it's based off fanfare and based off touring - I make these albums, and I get on the road. It's not really a radio-driven thing. I get on the road, and I see my fans, and I touch each and every last one of them.
What I've learned by going out and playing smaller venues and being more in touch with people is getting feedback, just by virtue of being able to watch the crowd react and watch their faces instead of being blinded by 3,000 spotlights. I've realized that you can quickly get out of touch with your audience if you're not careful.
I'm not an artist that strays away from my fans. Nah, everybody is open to come and talk to me respectfully and I'm going to give them the same respect.
I think that was kind of always my goal: get people to come back and see a show twice and then see it a third time. And now I've got people who have been to 30, 40 shows.
I want to connect with my fans the way Mary J. Blige's fans connect with her.
Honestly, it's an insane, weird connection that I really feel with fans instantly when I come out, because I'm still very much a fan myself, and I still can't believe that I get to do this every single day.
I enjoy letting my fans into my world.
When I started you were more in touch with the people you were playing to. There wasn't the distance or the separation that there is now.
It's such a hard thing to write a song for your fans without sounding naff and thanking them for spending money on you.
I think a performer should do his work and then shut up.
And being away and not performing for a long time and really connecting with my audience for a long time, I have a great responsibility to myself and to them to do it exactly the way the process was when I was young.
