In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley.

I realized the power of hip-hop. I realized how influential this music and this culture are.

Reviews condition people. At the end of the day, a lot of human minds are malleable. They can be easily shaped with strong words.

Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer.

In case you’re wondering whether I lip synch, the answer is no… people think so because I sound so good.

Music from my fourth year began to be the first of my youthful occupations. Thus early acquainted with the gracious muse who tuned my soul to pure harmonies, I became fond of her, and, as it often seemed to me, she of me.

I hate talking about music, to tell you the truth.

There was a time Michael Jackson couldn’t get his video on MTV because he was considered to be ‚urban.‘ The Michael Jackson. So I literally have to be the Michael Jackson of apparel in order to break down the doors for everyone who will come after I’m gone, after I’m dead.

You know, Nirvana used to start rehearsals with the three of us just jamming. For, like, a half an hour, just noise and freeform crap – and usually it was crap. But sometimes things would come from it, and some songs on Nevermind came from that, and ‚Heart Shaped Box‘ and stuff on ‚In Utero‘ just happened that way.

I’ve written all my songs on every single one of my records, and that’s what’s been fun about looking back.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

No one tells me what to do with my music. Real. My mom doesn’t tell what to say, how is someone else going to?

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

I’m super serious about music. That’s, like, the only thing I’m serious about.

I say, ‚Yeah, Taylor Swift.‘ I think she is a smart, beautiful girl. I think she’s making all the right moves. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s surrounded with wonderful people. Her songs are great. She keeps herself anchored. She knows who she is, and she’s living and standing by that.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.

I was warped early by Ray Bradbury and Edgar Allan Poe. I was very fond of Franz Kafka.

I used to – my earliest memory of waking up with a melody in my head was, you know, 8, 9, 10. I’ve always heard kind of melodies in my head.

Cause when you’re sequencing a record, you want the listener to stick with it from beginning to end, and in order to do that, you really have to map out the journey from the first song to the last.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

I’ve always loved Def Leppard, ever since I was little.

Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.

I have to work really hard to get the record deal – I have to spend years at it to get good. I have to practice to be good at guitar.

I can operate in half-a-song format.

I don’t intend to stop making music.

There weren’t a lot of career opportunities in crazy-fast hardcore punk, so you didn’t have a lot of ambition, just the love and passion to play music with your friends.

You know how you either grow up in a Michael Jackson house or a Prince house? For me it was Michael Jackson. I could never decide whether I wanted to be Michael Jackson or marry him.

Environment is very important to me. Sometimes I have to perform during the day for festivals, and my music does not work in the daytime. It is nighttime music.

There’s been people who’ve rapped and produced – like Kanye – but I don’t feel like on the rapping side there’s ever been a producer who can rap as good as I think I can rap.

What inspires me about rap is that it’s written in an almost poetic way. I just think it’s so cool.

I always say, you gotta play a dive bar like you play an arena, and you play an arena like you play a dive bar.

I urge everyone to be trendsetters for Azza Suleiman. Let’s make it one fashion which everyone will want to follow.

Success is always dangerous, and we need to be alert and avoid becoming the victims of our own success. Will we influence the world for Christ, or will the world influence us?

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

We have a Boesendorfer piano that I play every day. It keeps my brain and my fingers active.

Anybody with a sense of humor is going to put on my album and laugh from beginning to end.

I think when people make a record with a goal in mind – like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature – that gets in the way of writing great songs.

Anybody that doesn’t like Cardi B a hater!

Factoring in millions of people when I’m writing a song is not a good idea. I don’t ever do it.

Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

I like Cardi B!

You get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.

How I love David Bowie.

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

I want you to feel happy and enjoy the theatre of my life the way that I do. No matter what happens with my music and wherever I go – that heart of that glamorous girl in New York will never be gone.

I tried to give the world a bit of creativity, lyrics. And for me, I will always represent music from Puerto Rico, reggaeton, Latin music.

When I listen to ‚Nevermind,‘ I hate the production, but there’s something about it that almost makes me cry at times.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count.

I’ve always been a singer. I never really decided I was gonna be a singer. It just kind of – I just sung a lot.

My favorite record label of all time is Motown. That era of music was my favorite.

The darkness, the loop of negative thoughts on repeat, clamours and interferes with the music I hear in my head.

From the beginning of my rap career, since I was seen and heard, I always had a store.

We based the look on rock ‚n roll right from the beginning.

Honestly, I never really put the mic down.

I would like to do a duet with Taylor Hanson, because I have loved Hanson since I was 8.

People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.

I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music.

I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, ‚Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!‘

I can dance to just about anything.

My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I’ll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there’s no pressure.