In a compass, we got north, south, east and west, right? But in between that, you got things like north-east - now that, to me, is where real life is. Everybody's life is not straight: it's often 30 degrees to your left, or in the hardest part of the reach.
— BJ the Chicago Kid
I left the city to accomplish something. And by leaving the city and trying to accomplish something, I've been a terrible cousin, brother, son some days.
House is a big part of the rhythm in Chicago. I don't care if you're the most hood gangbanger - you understand house.
I can't be Stevie Wonder; I can't be Marvin Gaye, but I can be the foundation that I think withholds that mold.
You cannot have black music without something soulful in it, whether it's lyrically, how it's performed, or how it's expressed.
We concentrate so much on anniversaries and birthdays that you forget it's the Tuesday that's tough that really counts. Sometimes she just needs some flowers or even just that ear. It's the little things that count. It's the regular days of the year that you have to keep your attention on her.
A connection should be natural. Just be yourself, and you will find someone who likes you for exactly what you are.
The people I'm inspired by and I listen to are all ballsy, and I feel like I'm closer to an artist when they're open and honest.
Whatever your purpose is that leads you to the point of no return, that's where you go.
I think love is important, but it's not popular.
The aggression. The love. The joy. The pain. All those feelings and emotions that come from the music are Chicago. Chicago pretty much made me the man that I am. It's in my name. I have no choice but to accept and embrace that.
I started singing backgrounds for Mary Mary and Usher during 'Confessions.' Then I jumped to working with Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott; jumped again to Kanye West, The Killers. I kept saying, 'OK, this is the last time; then I get to do my music.'
I feel like Black Milk has found his way of putting his life into his music. I feel like, lyrically, he is a beast; a lot of people sleep on Black Milk. Black Milk is a monster. He from church. He from the street. He get down how I get down. He's a soulful cat, and I love how he get down.
Style is a big part of my life. I used to work in retail before I was an artist; a lot of people didn't know that. I was so good at selling clothes and shoes, and just the lifestyle, that I could tell what size someone was wearing just by looking at them.
What's love without a soundtrack, you know?
When you are making an album, it is about the purpose - you are creating both a concept and vibe, then you follow through with that.
My whole childhood was church. But as an adult, I've grown to understand my relationship with God versus how I sing. People in church are like, 'You sing the devil's music,' but I believe in balance. I can't just party with you. I got to help you, too.
Most people have to learn the words to the National Anthem before they sing it. I learned these words when I was a child in elementary school, so this is something that's been embedded in me ever since I was an adult.
Just to be a part of something that can travel beyond and reach the lives of people and help them through a daily problem or struggle or even just giving encouraging words, period. I feel like it's very powerful. I thank God for my gift.
My dad helped me understand songwriting because of him playing Babyface a lot. I don't even know if my dad realized that him just being him, him just living his life, loving what he loved, poured more into me than anybody ever would know.
You can't be afraid to be honest and to be yourself. We all have imperfections and fall short at some point. Showing your human side creates a sensitivity, openness and trust. That's the beginning of the demise in a relationship - not being honest and not being you.
Living my life socially means there is a swagger to how I dress, walk; it's not about being 'cool,' it's just being me - that's understanding your place and your center - that's what swagger is, and I guess that's where the soul comes from.
The most important and common thing is to be able to connect with your fans. If you can't live life, then you can't connect with the fans.
Passion without purpose is kind of pointless. I think God gives us the vision and wisdom to help enforce what he sees for us. You don't just sit at home and end up on 'Empire.'
Honestly, I've learned from results, period. Everything isn't a failure. Sometimes it just doesn't work. That's not a failure. Maybe it just means it wasn't its time.
I just love how everyone with that Motown sound seemed to come from a two-block radius from the actual original location. The original location was a house, and then when they outgrew it, they bought the house next door and the house next door and the house next door until they had seven houses on the same lot.
The world hasn't noticed, but R&B has shifted. It's changing course.
I ain't rocking with Trump, but politics I kinda keep to myself.
As a man, if you're married, your happiness is with her happiness. If she's unhappy, everything's messed up. It's a woman's world for sure.
Falling in love in our generation just isn't as popular as it used to be.
I just believe in giving people their roses while they're living. That's my new thing - period.
My mom and my dad was the best example of unconditional love I could see as a kid. I've known it my whole life. Interactions, kissing, hugging - it definitely wasn't the fake love.
Singing is something I do every day - not every other month. When I touch the mic, the same thing happens every time.
There's something about real music, dawg. It comes to you; you don't have to go to it.
On my block, we grew up like family. Summer times, man, psshh, we in the back in the alley or in the front on the block. Somebody has some music playing, and nine times out of ten, it's soul music. We got whatever we drinking that day, we got some food, we probably even grilling. It's just a good time.
Have you seen the oddest couple in the world, to your eyes, walking down the street? That means there's someone for everyone.
Every hip-hop artist I have worked with has a respect for higher power, whether that's church, Allah, or any sort of higher being - they all have a humbleness.
Success for me is being comfortable, and not in terms of a certain level of financial status, but that comfort comes from within.
It's crazy all the dreams you have about what you want to do, how you want to do it, and when you're going to do it. As a child, you never know the date or that one person who's going to take you to the next person, who is going to put you in position and give you that one opportunity.
I only collaborate with the people I rock with in life, period. I rock with people where I really respect their craft and respect what they're doing. That's what collaboration should start from.
I realize how much my life lines up with artists like Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. My sound comes from church, but the stories come from actual personal experience, being out there in the streets living life.
I grew up in church and on the block; the best of both worlds.
I love loyalty, and I love paying back my end of loyalty, you know what I'm saying? I love making it full circle.
I definitely have a relationship with God for myself, and yes I grew up that way, and I choose to keep the relationship that way. It's real; that's my balance. Sundays, I was in church, and Monday through Friday, I was with the knuckleheads having a little fun.
Chicago taught me when to talk, taught me when to shut up, taught me when to stay, taught me when to go. And really it all forms to make BJ the Chicago Kid.
