What my home life is like now is great.
I don’t just throw out microwave records.
I’d stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans.
He was like, ‘I want to get in the studio with you.’ Who turns down Pharrell?
I was always feisty, always that kid that would be on the porch with a hairbrush singing or rapping.
Especially when the expectations become so high of you, you always remember the last record that might have been really successful, and you’re trying to outdo that or trying to make something that does not sound like the last record.
My Struggles is a record close to me. It’s about what I went through at home living with an abusive father.
No, because I don’t want to hear what’s hot and feel I have to copy it. I’ll just make up my own thing.
I never stopped recording, but I went through a period where… The one thing that a lot of people don’t know is that for as long as I’ve been as artist, I’ve been a writer and a producer.
I want to be cutting-edge.
My father was very abusive, and it was hard for my mother at first to leave because we had depended on him for so long. Sometimes you kind of get adjusted to getting that beating.
I want people to feel the heat while they walk down the street and they’re just kickin’ it.
Lil’ Kim is my sister, known her for years, and I’ll never turn my back on her, but there is enough room for everybody. I want to see everybody get it.
I’m not tryin’ to come off as the best lyricist.
I mean, when it’s time to rhyme rhyme, I can get down for mine.
Now everybody’s sampling.
And basically I always said when I was little that if I ever became successful or a celebrity, I would buy her this huge house and she would never have to work anymore. And I’ve done that. So I feel happy about doing that.
When you turn on your radio, you don’t always want to hear about someone shootin’ some person. Even if that’s the lifestyle they live, people don’t always want to hear it.
Seeing my mother become very strong and very independent had a huge impact on me.
Before, you only had one Public Enemy and one Rakim and one Salt ‘N’ Pepa. Now, people have got the formula, and some of them are just doing it for the cheque. It’s kind of watered down.
People are quick to be like, ‘You’re irrelevant. You’re a flop; you’re washed up.’
Music is a male-dominated field. Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down.
I want to be cutting-edge.
I didn’t want to be a genius! That ain’t cool.
When I create something, it’s got to be special, and it can’t just be to throw something out there because I feel like I’m Missy.
We’re told that to be fly, you gotta have a fly car, the rims on your wheels, the fly jewels, and that to work a regular job and make legal money is uncool.
I felt like, ‘How do I fit in?’ But then I never fit in. The whole time, I’ve never fit in.
I’d stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans. People would roll down their windows saying, ‘Isn’t she cute’. I had a vivid imagination. I always pretended it was some big stage.
Hip-hop is definitely not what it used to be, which was creative, original music.
When it comes to size, most people don’t want to see themselves looking bigger than what they are.
I always have been an entertainer, whether it’s been joking or performing for people. And I always thought I had a talent, because I could rap and I could sing, and I did write. And all the other kids were going to college, but I just felt like I had to do this first, and if it didn’t work, then I would go to college.
I’m not tryin’ to come off as the best lyricist.
Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down.
I most definitely want kids, but I’ll probably adopt kids.
No, I’m a flirtatious person; I’ll flirt all day long, but it really is hard to get into that when I’m so into the music, and I’m in the studio all day long and all night sometimes. That’s not an exaggeration.
I couldn’t write because my nervous system was so bad – I couldn’t even use a pen.
Music is a male-dominated field.
I still go on YouTube and watch the old performances and the ‘Soul Train’ lines. I’m still amazed by how much soul and funk the music and dancers had.
I got a mother who’s very strong after taking the whippings that she took from my father.
What I love about Kanye is that he doesn’t fit the mould either. He does what he feels.
I don’t want to get caught up and be an artist always on the go. Because once you do that, it’s hard to get into the studio and do what I do.
I’ve always had a lot of creative impact on the music with Timbaland.
I didn’t want to just be an artist and let someone else have all that control over me. I knew I would have to produce.
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