Top 66 The-Dream Quotes

I don’t stop working.

I’m talented in other places, not only in songwriting, but music is always going to be the backdrop to whatever happens in life.

I love it when people come in my house and ask for my paintings off the wall, and I have to tell them that I did it. I love art.

My mama died when she was 35 years old.

When I used to work my 9 to 5, I used to go to this abandoned house down the street. It was for sale, but nobody knew it. It was a mansion. Every day, or at least four days out the week, I would just stand on the porch of the house for like a year straight. That was around 2001 or 2002.

Earlier in my career I had so much to prove.

I paint. A lot of people don’t know that.

I listen to Sinatra way more than a person my age probably should.

Spiritually, I just have an innate feeling about things and individuals in life and I’m touched in that way that I can’t explain.

I got fed up with the idea of partnering with labels on a major scale because of how they have to deliver things. They get gun-shy.

I know how a woman thinks – that doesn’t mean that I agree with it.

Rhythm and blues is about what life is, it’s about being able to talk heartbreak and understanding that people go through it, not about this fantasy in how much you’re spending.

Politics changes music most of the time. Ronald Reagan – you can kind of say that he made hip-hop what it was by the embargoes that he set. Certain things that he did created N.W.A in a way. Politics has always done that.

You don’t need a band to do hip-hop; you only need a DJ.

This is Life. Nothing’s promised or perfect, neither am I.

One thing is relationships: Don’t get in a relationship if you’re going to leave a man if he cheats on you. Because 99% of the time he’s going to cheat.

Some of the time, I am competing with myself.

I’m not a singles artist – I never have been.

Every time you hear an 808 drum machine beat on one of my songs, it comes from Freaknik.

Men don’t really change. That’s just how it is.

More than anything, ‘Purple Kisses’ just came about because I’m very hands on, especially in relationships.

I don’t believe in cards. I believe in cash. I’d carry gold if it wasn’t so heavy.

People are so over what they did yesterday, they don’t even sit and discuss what made it a great time. They’d have to be reminded by their Instagram, after 52 weeks, and it’s like ‘Oh, I remember that now.’

You probably shouldn’t date a songwriter if you don’t want to end up on the record.

At the end of the day, I’m big on principle and loyalty.

The easiest part is growing something from nothing because there’s no expectations.

My gears that I have to go through… One minute in my mind to be Beyonce and one minute to be Rihanna and one second to do a hook for Kanye and then have to write records for myself. I’m so many people, I’m never just one person. So I don’t have to reinvent because artists around me reinvent for me.

You can’t just keep stacking up things and not go and live.

I grew up on Jodeci and R. Kelly.

The record company has fought for themselves, never for me.

Writing a song is about inhabiting a specific frame of mind and conjuring a mood, a character, an entire vision.

I love Aaliyah.

I refuse to do something that’s not me as an artist.

What I want to do is to create a conversation piece and something people remember. I want to make it repetitive enough but not use what I call ‘thin thinking’ – the kind of thing anyone can do. A hook tells me what you are talking about and it doesn’t have to be a lot of words.

I love movies. They’ve always influenced the music i’ve done.

Everybody needs love and loves something.

Most of the time, men don’t really express ourselves.

I used to draw cars when I was growing up. I wanted to be a car designer. I’ve never been professionally taught. It’s something that comes and goes.

R&B is a conversation that you should be able to sit down and have.

I’m everybody in music’s guilty pleasure.

I was playing a lot of Coldplay before the world knew who I was, before anybody knew my ‘Umbrella’ song. Those songs still stick in my head. I just love it. It’s without pop culture, it’s just a song. It’s just singing.

I think of myself just as a writer.

My grandfather would go to work at 6 A.M.

It takes a lot to put a 5-piece band on, even though we need it. We need those harmonies; I need those four background singers – not because I can’t sing but because I need to relay the message of what the song is emotionally, or the feeling, period.

I’ve never lied on a record.

I’ve always had a soft spot for women because of my mom. Just their power.

There’s nothing I can’t do musically.

I call my attorney three times a day.

At the end of the day, I’m a songwriter.

The business of a label is to make money – my business is to make music. I’m gonna get paid if I do it right.

I have a problem with men that are supposed to be R&B artists that talk about women in a certain way, because you’re supposed in the cornerstone of uplifting love in a sense.

I’m a vulnerable guy, which is always been there, you know? Like, most of the time I put myself in positions where I am vulnerable, because I don’t think you’re living unless you do.

Anytime a musician says they’re going to retire they’re lying.

I want to be the king of music. Period.

Whether I’m working with a Top 40 artist or crafting my own music, it goes back to one thing: telling a powerful story and having that story resonate with people.

Music was always a passion, but when I was a kid I didn’t see it as a viable career.

I am pretty frank of a guy. That used to be appreciated, back in the day.

Frank Ocean is definitely amazing.

I’m an artist because of how I do things, not because I’m trying to be one.

I understand freedom of speech but if I made my living spreading rumors about people, my family wouldn’t claim me.

I am human, and people fall in and out of love all the time.

I grew up looking at the Grammys. It was a childhood infatuation with these people walking around with gold statues. I felt like they were the best, and that’s why I started working so hard.

My influence is everywhere. You know when you’re touching people.

There are certain people who respect me in the dark. Some people who don’t know me are afraid to say, ‘What you doin’ is kind of incredible.’

I’m just not Mr. Joe that goes to work nine-to-five. I never will be.

Some people aren’t smart enough to understand the intellectual part of a being. That’s why as a 30-year-old you don’t have a conversation with a 15-year-old. I don’t dine with 15-year-olds and talk about life. Our experiences are completely different.