Labrinth

“I'm all for trying anything once; otherwise, you end up like David Guetta - reproducing the same formula over and over.”

“When I was younger, I'd be in the studio three days straight to get something right, and my manager would be like, 'Go home!' Even now, I still sleep in the studio sometimes, but I can't do it quite as often. I've got gigs; I can't have my hobo beard! But if you love what you're doing, you can't stop. It's obsessive.”

“Of course, success takes you where your character can't sustain you.”

“I'm from Hackney, and it's an area that is not so pretty, and we have a different way of expressing ourselves than somebody from uptown that has lots of money.”

“One thing I always really enjoyed about Quincy Jones' production technique was that there were so many layers to every song. Like, one week you'd hear a new trumpet-line, then the next week you'd hear - be hearing a new guitar-line.”

“I'm not just looking to be famous and attach myself to famous names. I want to make history in the business in terms of creativity.”

“I definitely didn't wanna be a one-dimensional artist that you can just put into one box. Because, to me, we're all masters of certain energies, and we all create different colours.”

“My grandad's a gospel singer, and his children were singers, too. But I don't believe in God in the same way... not religion; it breaks us up too much. The same with musical styles - it breaks people up. I believe they are all one thing - why not put them together?”

“I never called myself an urban artist, but that's what I was classed as, and I almost tried to live up to the name instead of who I really was.”

“I need to make money, but I don't want to be another guy selling his McDonald's to the pop market.”

“My brothers came home with country, jazz, everything... it was always very normal to me to make any type of music. It was possible to fuse all the sounds, so it never sounded confusing to me to mix jazz and dubstep.”

“It's a lot easier producing for people or being in the background, and they can take all the fire from the front. But in order to express the ideas that I have without any kind of contamination, I thought it would be a cool thing to be out front.”

“I've made so many changes to my records because of the way the audience has reacted at the various festivals I've played - I've taken tracks back into the studio, stripped them bare, and built them back up again to create something entirely different.”

“You can't go up to girls and start talking about minor 7ths and expect to pull. It's not going to work.”

“I have learned that while your putting your record together you can get so caught up in making what you want that you forget what you wanted in the first place.”

“I got into music through just being inspired by my brother and sisters. They all sing, play instruments and write - and they're very good at it.”

“When you make a record, I always imagine people dancing to it. If the chef thinks it tastes good, then there will be someone who ultimately believes the same thing.”

“You've got to live and die by your decisions.”

“I want to be a little bit brave. I want to feel scared sometimes. That's what's going to change the music business, if we have that kind of attitude.”

“I don't see categories; I don't see styles - l see them all gelled together. And it was gospel that definitely helped me to do that.”