I've been around the world and I've had bras made in different places, and each time I'm experiencing the same troubles: the painful shoulders, the underwire cutting into my flesh.
— Jill Scott
I have a few caftans just for lounging purposes. When I want to feel free, it's the closest thing to feeling naked without being naked.
Nothing has gotten me out of Philadelphia. I moved 20 minutes away from Philly. That's about it.
I believe the relationship you have with your government is not so different to a love relationship.
The best gift I was ever given was the arts. My mum gave me those on a silver platter. Growing up, her and my grandmother would take me to ballets, classical concerts, even smoky jazz clubs I wasn't supposed to be in!
One of the things I love about Africa is the amount of dignity and respect and humility you see all the time. You don't realise how often you're disrespected until you are surrounded by respect.
Our minds do understand that people of all races find genuine love in many places. We dig that the world is full of amazing options.
I truly loved being pregnant and feeling what was going on inside my body and watching it change. It's difficult to recoup, but still amazing nonetheless. I would have another one.
You owe it to yourself to live beautifully. And I am.
Music shouldn't be a chore or feel like any kind of burden.
When I write a song, I tap into the emotion and the feeling and then I use the emotion to write the words. It's the opposite when I act. I use the words and tap into the emotion.
A nutritionist has told me to have very little butter and very little spices, but I can't live like that.
I was once making a burger for myself at my boyfriend's house and a lyric started pouring out and I had to catch it, so I ran to another room to write it down, but then the kitchen caught fire. His cabinets were charred, and he was furious. But it was worth it for a song.
I am a huge Prince fan. It's a very rare thing for him to have people open for him. It's been the Time and Sheila E., and that's about it. Building a relationship with him has been like a dream come true. I've been looking for a mentor, and I feel like I have that in him.
I've learned that friendship does not equate business, business does not equate friendship.
I would say for every successful black woman in America or in the world, really, it's difficult to be the head of the household, financially. It is for the man in your life. It can be very hard for them. And there's a delicate balance. I'm not quite sure I know what that balance is just yet.
As slavery died for the greater good of America, and the movement for equality sputtered to life, the white woman was on the cover of every American magazine. She was the dazzling jewel on every movie screen, the glory of every commercial and television show.
Everybody is supposed to be a part of their own community.
It excites me when a person puts their whole self in a song or rhyme, or instrument. It fills me.
Anytime you share life stories with other people, you know, you are acknowledging their humanity and kind of accessing some things about yourself, and other people start to expect things about themselves. It's kind of like a fellowship.
We all get angry and jealous sometimes, none of us is perfect, but we should not try to be different.
I'm going to be a strict mum. I know that love is the most important thing - you've got to have lots of kisses and cuddles - but you also need to mix it with discipline or you'll be in a heap of trouble.
Africa doesn't leap on you immediately; it seeps slowly, and it's incredibly important to be respectful and humble there.
There are a lot of difficulties with people trying to conceive.
My heart and prayers go out to all single moms because it's tough, and I can't imagine any teenager dealing with a baby and all those hormones raging.
I was conceived after doctors told my mother she'd never have children. I'm a miracle - we all are.
I defy any woman who is pregnant and trying to concentrate really hard not to feel distracted.
I'm a world-class people watcher. I like to watch people's body movements, their expressions. It says so much about them.
When I got my success, I became decadent for a while. This was 2003 to 2008. I fell for tiramisu really hard. I've become more moderate since, because African-Americans are prone to diabetes.
Heartbreak was the impetus to me writing poems and music in the first place.
I've done a lot of fighting in my time, and I'm down to do some more. I don't want to, but you know, there's just certain things that you can't sit down and take.
I see myself being a great-grandmother at my great-grandson's graduation from a school that has my name on it.
People is, I think, it's their nature - some people's nature, in a way, to be angry or jealous or just spiteful about somebody else's blessings.
African people worldwide are known to be welcoming and open-minded.
Every community needs a rec center.
For anyone who feels they are overwhelmed by their job, or maybe they take their job too seriously or are working too hard, I say go to a safari, particularly the Okavango Delta, and just be humbled.
I'm going to do as much as I can with this life, and then I'm going to make sure to take some time off and be simple and ride my bike and hang out with friends.
When I was 12, I wrote a list of things to do before I died. 'Own a Picasso' was one of those things.
Back in my mid-20s I was told I'd never be able to have children as I wasn't having periods. Doctors tried to start up my monthly cycles, but when nothing worked, they actually offered me a hysterectomy. Without it, they said I might get ovarian cancer in the future. I chose not to have the operation, and am so glad I didn't.
I'd been told that when you first put your feet on African ground, you'll be hit by a feeling of overwhelming understanding, like you've returned home and suddenly belong. Quite frankly, I didn't feel that.
When I get onstage, I automatically feel beautiful.
Africa the continent is not just what we see on the news. It's... not AIDS, and it's not just war and poverty. It's so much more. It's an abundant continent, and Botswana is an abundant place.
At my aunt's funeral, I promised myself that I wouldn't be bound by the belief that I'm supposed to stay in anything - whether it's a relationship, a job, a house, or a circumstance - if it makes me miserable. She gave me the courage to find my own happiness.
My stepfather was a very nasty individual.
I just think it's silly to be stingy with compliments. If you see someone and they strike you as beautiful in any way, why not let them know?
People think that lemon is good for the voice, but it dries it out.
There are black marriages that are still going strong 40 years later. You hear so many myths that there aren't any people making it, but there are. As long as there are some, there's hope.
I don't write on demand - I wait for inspiration to come.
There are repercussions to everything, even advancement and success. And I think that the repercussions to my success was the loss of my marriage.
There's a certain level of realness in Philly. You know, just - people are people. You know, it doesn't matter who you are or who you think you are, you're just a person in Philly.
