I was one of those kids, inner-city youth and finding my way. I made it. I made a success out of myself, surprisingly.

Music is a means of spreading the good word and spreading positivity and productivity. Those things speak to me.

Tolerance, compromise, understanding, acceptance, patience - I want those all to be very sharp tools in my shed.

I want to burn as a beacon of possibility. I don't want nobody to misconstrue the commercial success I've had as anything other than an example of what black music is capable of. And what it's capable of is being more than just black. I'm not black or white anymore. I'm Cee Lo Green.

There was a time when I didn't like myself at all. I thought I was a cruel joke. But now I've come to realise that maybe I am not cute, but I am beautiful.

All art stems from a place of alienation. Intimate and alone. Most people are oppressed by the opinion of others, but I was not that way. I was afraid of the repercussions of not doing what I was told to do, what I was called to do by a creator.