Tricky

“There are certain things you can talk to a partner about and it's someone to lean on. But I refuse to get into a relationship just for the sake of comfort.”

“I think Kylie's underrated... Cool is knowing yourself and I think Kylie Minogue really knows who she is and doesn't try to be anything else.”

“I'm not going to be pretentious and two-faced to get a good review. But that's the kind of thing which gets you a rep in this business.”

“My background was Rude Boys, Teddy Boys, rockabillys and skinheads. I was into reggae and Blondie and The Cure, and especially The Specials - these black and white guys getting it together. Extreme personalities. Extreme talent.”

“I never sold out. I never made an album to buy a house.”

“A lot of young people have not a clue what being famous entails. When you lose your anonymity you can't walk down the street without people looking at you.”

“I grew up in a mixed-race family in Bristol. My cousin was this white guy who was interested in Parliament, Marc Bolan, Bowie. His friends were football thugs and while I was getting ready for bed, they'd be listening to all that music. When I was older, I'd go to a Jamaican sound system and there were no white people.”

“I've got one younger brother who can do prison like his breakfast, but I'm not built for it.”

“I've learned to enjoy a very simple lifestyle.”

“I'm forced away from what I would call my music. I can't do another thing like 'Maxinquaye.' But if people didn't go out and copy it, I might have done another three or four 'Maxinquayes.' Which is terrible.”

“I've never been shown how to get rid of my anger. I think I do it through my music.”

“I used to see a psychiatrist in New York but I got bored.”

“The royal family don't mean nothing.”

“Sometimes I could do with a shoulder to cry on, someone to come home and talk to.”

“When my mother died, we had the coffin at home. Like, old-school - you have the coffin at home so all the people can come and see the person. And her coffin was next to my room, so I used to go in and stand on a chair and look at her. You know, it's open coffin and stuff.”

“If someone is cool to me, I'll be cool to them.”

“A guy threw a stone at my head when I was eight. I told my nan, and she said, 'Get a bigger stone.' That's what I got programmed into me. And sometimes I find it a struggle to get it out of me.”

“Yes, well, on stage I'm a different person, very aggressive, very tense. That's not me because I'm humble and polite, unless someone is rude to me.”

“The Internet is incredible!”

“I was never part of the Bristol scene. My sound was a Knowle West sound. Massive Attack wouldn't come to my area because they know they'd have got beaten up there.”