R. Kelly

“I look at my music in the beginning, and the sexual songs, the partying songs, those are the realities because those things happen.”

“I learnt a whole lot from my mother. About music, relationships, being a good person, loving people, the whole of life. I learnt about everything from her. Every single day I think about her. All through the day.”

“Jigga, Kells, Not Guilty”

“People can say whatever they want about you without knowing the facts. They can criticize you without even knowing you, and hate you when they don't even know you. All of a sudden, you're, like, the bin Laden of America. Osama bin Laden is the only one who knows exactly what I'm going through.”

“You're younger, you might want to go to clubs and kick it, but as you get older, you start seeing that life has more meaning to it. The people that you love are the people you want to start trusting and start wanting them to trust you and start respecting them.”

“I try to write life and not songs. People live life, and when you write life, you're going to mess around and touch somebody's heart, and they'll relate to you and what you're singing about.”

“I have to say, it was fun doing this 'Love Letter' album because, hey, man, love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forevermore, it will go on undefeated. I'm also a very loving person.”

“I want to be able to be a father to my kids, where I've never seen my father, but my kids can see me whenever they want, so that was broken.”

“I will always do R. Kelly - I'm not perfect, but I'm perfectly me.”

“To make an album like 'Love Letter,' everything's got to be about love. Everything has to have a great feeling when you listen to it.”

“To hear the appreciation, the screams - that's what any of us need. We're at our best when we're wanted.”

“I started calling myself the Pied Piper, when I started using the flute sound in my music.”

“My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don't write songs... write life. I decided to take her up on that.”

“As with all the other rappers I've worked with, Biggie and I shared common ground. Even though Biggie grew up in Brooklyn and I grew up in Chicago, we came from the same 'hood.”

“Being single has its ups and downs, and being in a relationship has its ups and downs. It depends on how you balance it and how you handle your problems within your relationship.”

“Other kids could read, other kids could write, other kids could spell, they could do math. I felt like an alien. I felt like an outcast. I felt like, 'What is going to happen to me?'”

“I still feel like I'm alone at times - even if I'm in the midst of a million people. Because no one - including me - understands my mind creatively. I haven't really been formally introduced to my gift yet. I feel like I'm still on the runway.”

“All the sounds on 'Trapped in the Closet' - the knockin' on the door, when I grab the keys, when I walk down the stairs, the car horns - we sampled all of those things around my house.”

“I started to wear the sunglasses all the time at school, hiding behind them... I'd walk down the hallways, practically hugging the wall, dragging my head against it like I was crazy.”

“Love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forever more it will go on undefeated. I'm also a very loving person.”