"I literally have my hand in every aspect of the art world that you could imagine. That's what I've always done."
"I don't have much in life but my work is what makes me alive."
"Growing up, I loved Boy George, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross."
"Queer culture was introduced to me at a very early age. It was introduced to me with a semi-positive facet because no one in my family is remotely homophobic or closed-minded."
"I don't have a make-up artist and I don't need a stylist."
"Everything really came together on ‘1992.' That isn't to dismiss my earlier works - they were great - but when I focused myself on hip-hop everything just clicked."
"I try not to be overly nostalgic, and I don't use nostalgia to be kitschy."
"Oh, I never fit in anywhere. I'm a loner. I don't even have many friends."
"To me, the music industry doesn't exist, it's like the devil, it doesn't exist if you don't believe in it."
"I like Marvel because characters look like me and women don't have roles that make them look too sexual."
"Growing up in the '90s was the coolest thing to me."
"The principles of punk-rock culture, of self-expression and DIY culture, that really spoke to me."
"Black people created rock music, it's a fact. Black people created bluegrass and rock and roll way before Elvis Presley and The Beatles."
"Black people created punk - the band Death was way before The Ramones. Same with Bad Brains. If you think about it, the wool has been pulled over our eyes."
"I always wanted to make rock music as well or as an element of what I do."
"Black people have always loved the blues - they basically created the blues."
"It took me a long time to get to where I am, but I am here and it is everywhere I want to be. A place where both my artistic merit and hard work meet. A day where I can say, ‘Yeah, I'm a musician. A good one.'"
"I'm a Puerto Rican woman whose family has roots in Regla de Ocha, also known as Santeria."
"I like to honor my West African and Taino ancestry, I consider it sacred and divine."
"My mother picked my name with a spiritual intention: Destiny, 'what was meant to be.' She was a very special woman, and a gifted witch."
"My ancestors had to keep their customs secret for fear of death or persecution, so it's common to be secretive and discreet about Regla de Ocha. But it's my family's spirituality, so I don't want to keep it secret."
"The music that I will continue to make will certainly draw upon those experiences of being a loner, of being an emo goth kid, of being a New York City aficionado, of being a witch, a feminist, a brown radical woman."
"I think that the power of reinvention is very important."
"I feel like I've had a really great time just being able to make all the music that I've always liked to make and listen to and expressing it in different ways."
"I like a lot of older rock ‘n' roll artists, like legends like Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. They really influenced me to be very, very androgynous and very commanding, and very very - I wouldn't say odd, but I would say eccentric."
