Jidenna

“It's better to do your purpose imperfectly than to do someone else's purpose perfectly.”

“Nothing I'm doing is without its predecessors.”

“Most of the suits I try to wear are bespoke.”

“There was no question that I was going to school.”

“I think it's important to not just think about what you want but what's needed in the world.”

“I thought the suit was something that would suit me.”

“My father raised me to build computers, hardware. Literally, as an 8 year old, I had a soldering iron and circuit boards, and this was in neighbourhoods that wouldn't have a whole lot of money or anything. And I figured out ways to just hustle.”

“If I'm shopping at the Gap or Old Navy, I'm saying that I'm an ordinary person: I don't want to be seen; I don't want to stand out. That's a statement. If I'm wearing a leather jacket, there's something about me that's kind of a rebel. So everybody says something, whether they want to or not.”

“I started singing because it was a natural evolution in hip-hop to me. Without Prince, I wouldn't have embraced that. I wouldn't have been able to embrace me.”

“Jesus' birthday is commercialized, so of course, Black History Month is commercialized.”

“The one thing that I learned in college, actually, was that you may reach tremendous highs and tremendous lows.”

“I was raised with a father who really believed in the bridge between all Africans around the world.”

“I've always been dabbling in suits, but like a lot of people in the neighborhoods I grew up in, I had my snapback; I had my v-neck. I still got them in the closet. I got my J's, my Forces; it was standard.”

“The most important thing for me is the thing I strive for. But I also hope when I play my songs for people - adult, children, mostly children - that they feel mighty, they feel noble, they feel like warriors. And they feel like they can do anything in the world because that's how I feel.”

“I've gone down several paths. I started school as an engineer, but underneath it all, I knew I wanted to use instruments, not build them.”

“A great tailor is like a great personal trainer - they tailor that suit to your natural physique.”

“People thought 'Classic Man' was processed. But then they realized, 'Oh, this guy actually is that man, and he actually dresses like that.'”

“I am, always have been, and always will be proud of my Nigerian heritage.”

“Even if the production doesn't feel African, the vocal delivery - singing through your nose. Specifically, Highlife music from Nigeria. That was the first music I ever heard as a child. So singing through my nose is something I do often, and that's directly rooted in my heritage.”

“I don't have one geographic location that I'm exclusively loyal to.”