I think America concedes that true American music has sprung from the Negro.

I don't think there is much American music.

I like America, and I think probably the American people like me.

I think the women - Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu - are doing new conceptual things and using their voices to create new American music.

American music culture is black culture.

I think it's that thing of growing up all the time watching American movies and listening to American music. It hits you in a way that's a lot purer because you are not in that culture that you're watching.