Rap music came along and saved my life. I started to tell the stories of the streets and that was my way out.
When you're an artist, you have a platform that can reach millions.
As a teacher I approach my students purely with the human desire to free them from all scholarly inhibitions, and I tell them, "Painters must speak through paint not through words."
I don't talk politics and I don't talk philosophy or anything like that, but if you look at my work, you might get an expression of me as a person.
Before you get to 'SNL,' you have your own sensibility. And when you get to 'SNL,' it's the show's sensibility.
I have more to say as a writer than from behind a wok.
Playing drums is how I communicate. It's how I speak to people. That's my God-given gift.
Me releasing my music, if anything, is an opportunity to show the world my stories and tell the world my stories.
I started to perform when I was 12... I don't talk too much. I let the music do the talking.
I wanted a label that reflects the times... a center for artists who want to express themselves. That's what makes Interscope unique. It's about freedom.
I believe that if you're an artist, it's like a gift. If you can do this for a living and you can be involved in it, it's something that you can't ignore. It's the chance for you to have a voice and create something from yourself.
I think I'm needed - as an artist, as an individual, as an entity, an enigma, an exhibitionist, an entertainer - as an alternative.
Game development combines all this disparate art stuff I'd been doing into one single thing that I could use to say very specific stuff.
I don't feel I have to be Jackson Browne. Still, I like to say something.
I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I didn't really know what it was I wanted to say.
Your best as an artist is to create something that resonates for you.
I've always wished that I had a great ability to verbalize art theory and find a way that I fit in to the whole lineage, but I don't have a clue.
I've been writing all my life, and playing bass came later on, when I was about 26. What I recognized with poetry and music that I had a different voice - there were things I wanted to express that I could not as an actor or even as a director. It was another avenue of expression that my soul needs.
The informing idea of what you want to say and do, that's what will take you from film school to professional - the idea. That's what is original to you.
I want to express my ideas through my music and on stage because I'm a musician.
I was really drawn to spoken-word style poetry. I loved the rhythms, and for some reason, I was just drawn to this poetry as a way of expressing my feelings, because I didn't have any other outlet.
The early Bon Jovi stuff I can't stand. I just think we didn't have our stylistic voice. But some people love some of that stuff.
I do not feel any artist can produce great art without putting great personality into it. It is always a piece of you that goes on the screen or the canvass.
Music is the medium for expressing emotion. Music kindles love and infuses hope. It has countless voices and instruments. Music is in the hearts of all men and women
To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way.
