John Legend

“The prison-industrial complex, poverty, and the school system has more effect on a young black male in America than Jay-Z does, by far. And that's not a diss to Jay-Z. The crime rate in the black community was high before hip hop. Rapping about it is just a reflection of the life a lot of people are living.”

“John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name.”

“I think the thing about love is that even though the things around us change, we as human beings, a lot of the ways we interact, and the ways we love each other is timeless. It requires trust, honesty, commitment, romance, and physical chemistry.”

“The video aside, 'P.D.A' is a song about when you really love somebody, you just can't resist wanting to show that out in public sometimes.”

“Marvin Gaye was one of the coolest. I look to him as a style icon and as an artist.”

“You know, my family is very musical, I was surrounded by it. And from four years old I was the one that asked my mother could I take piano lessons.”

“There are autobiographical elements to the albums, and when I write, I always reference my own life as well as other things, so I'm just like any novelist or any fiction writer who tells stories.”

“When I write, I don't really focus on duets or anything like that or whether I'm going to feature this or that rapper. I just focus on just making a great song and figure out the rest later.”

“All men should be feminists. If men care about women’s rights the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered – it leads to a better society.”

“I feel like fashion is making steps toward diversity, but I think they could do more.”

“We have this film that we hope to finance, it's called 'Southern Rights.' It's a documentary about segregated proms that are still happening in the South of America. So there's a black prom and a white prom, so we hope to finance a film soon about that.”

“I was around a lot of gospel as a kid.”

“Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure.”

“Well, Jeff Buckley for me is one of the greatest singers I've ever heard. And the reason why is he has an amazing range, amazing emotional power in his voice. And the music he put around it also just had this passion and this soul to it and this spirit to it that very few artists have, and he passed at a very young age.”

“For me as a songwriter, I love when other people cover my songs.”

“I was always the front man for what I was doing from when I was 6.”

“I was homeschooled for several years.”

“When we see people that are impoverished and people who are dealt an unfair hand, then if we have the power to help them, we should try to do that.”

“There's a certain confidence that comes with being sure about the way the world works.”

“I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative. So whatever. I listen to all if it. Classic rock and classic pop, all of that.”