I view my hair and clothes as functional art.
Erykah BaduRead
I'm free. I just do what I want, say what I want, say how I feel, and I don't try to hurt nobody. I just try to make sure that I don't compromise my art in any kind of way, and I think people respect that.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the importance of personal freedom and authenticity in creative expression without harming others.
Erykah Badu emphasizes the significance of being true to oneself and maintaining artistic integrity while navigating life. She articulates a philosophy of living freely, expressing emotions openly, and prioritizing one's unique voice and art, all while being considerate of others. This embodies a balance between self-expression and respect for those around us, highlighting the value of genuine creativity and the respect it garners.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing one's passion.
I view my hair and clothes as functional art.
Hip-hop was created out of necessity. We needed to create some digitized things to help us understand what we were feeling.
Hopefully my music is medicine, some type of antidote for something or some kind of explanation or just to feel good.
Hip-hop is not something we do, it's something we live. It's the way we dress, the way we talk... everybody bobbing to the same beat. It's a culture, and you have to find your own place in that culture. Top 10 or Top 40 can't dictate that. They can only dictate what's marketable.
We as Black people have to tell our own stories. We have to document our history. When we allow someone else to document our history the history becomes twisted and we get written out. We get our noses blown off.
Vegan food is soul food in its truest form. Soul food means to feed the soul. And, to me, your soul is your intent. If your intent is pure, you are pure.
Those are miracles that no merely human brain can work. The artist is merely the sound conduct of a Force that dictates to him what he should do.
I like touring extensively because I think the more hours you spend onstage, the more you know who you are onstage.
Films that are easy to sell happen to be the worst films. Look at the poster for 'Wrath of the Titans' and 'John Carter': they're exactly the same. You could switch titles.
An awful lot of storytelling isn't really about making people understand - it's about making people care.
I'm very happy to have the heritage that I do, but I'm not wanting to be 'the Latino actor.' I just want to be 'an actor.'
Of course the illusion of art is to make one believe that great literature is very close to life, but exactly the opposite is true. Life is amorphous, literature is formal.
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