Erykah Badu

“I love putting the music together. It's like art.”

“Man, I don't want to have nothing to do with computers. I don't want the government in my business.”

“Personally, I don't choose any particular religion or symbol or group of words or teachings to define me. That's between me and the most high. You know, my higher self. The Creator.”

“I've been a vegetarian since I was 19.”

“I don't feel like I need to preach to the world or nothing like that. I just feel like I share what I say, and if listeners get it, they get it. And I never underestimate the audience's ability to feel me.”

“When you're in a relationship you want it to work. My parents did, I did. But we are not taught how to make it work.”

“Being honest is my job. That's what music is for me.”

“I try to be honest and I keep moving.”

“What makes me furious, not just because we're in an interview, but I don't like when writers take your words and put them somewhere else, in the wrong context in their own article about you.”

“I don't have any particular thing I do ritualistically. I do the same thing every day. I get up. Drink a lot of water. Have a wheatgrass shot. Drink some green juice. Eat as healthy as I can.”

“I don't have one song that sounds like another one in my entire catalog.”

“No one chooses to raise children alone.”

“I'm kind of a recluse when it comes to going outside.”

“I knew it would happen. I knew I'd be No. 1. I'm a new artist; I don't know the rules. Nobody told me it wouldn't happen.”

“I am not systematic at all when it comes to religion. I just love life. And I'm not judgmental. And I'm a vegetarian.”

“Hip-hop is the people. What the people are moving toward is what hip-hop is. I think people are moving toward a freer way of thinking. Openness.”

“I don't sing melodically. Rhyme pattern is how I sing. I also write like a lyricist or an MC because that's what I was before I was a singer. I just took those elements and put them into music.”

“I have a master plan as an artist. I've always said I'm not going to be punching nobody's clock. I will work as an artist to survive in this world.”

“I thought the Billie Holiday comparison was beautiful. I think, Wow, what a wonderful, creative, helpful spirit. She's someone who wanted to help others by sharing her emotion. That's what I do, too, so I think that's a great comparison.”

“Hopefully my music is medicine, some type of antidote for something or some kind of explanation or just to feel good.”