"When you're poor and black, you're born into a world that turns your heart into a tin can and anyone who is in the mood swings out and kicks you. You're only a hunk, a black creature in a white world …"

"I've been in trouble all my life. I was born in trouble."

"It's like being a hooker. You stand there and you sing, and then you get paid. That's all it is."

"I don't sing anything I don't believe in."

"I hate to sing the same song the same way twice. I just don't like it. I don't know. I feel like it's a drag."