You don't need a band to do hip-hop; you only need a DJ.
The-Dream
When the Atlanta Braves were owned by Ted Turner, he was very passionate and did whatever it took to do something good - and eventually he made money. Labels used to be the same way. Now they're corporations, and it's only about their stock.
Money affects everything, from who I'm with to what label I'm on, so everything I do now is about protecting it. But I didn't understand how powerfully that would affect my home life.
I've always had a soft spot for women because of my mom. Just their power.
I am pretty frank of a guy. That used to be appreciated, back in the day.
My gears that I have to go through... One minute in my mind to be Beyonce and one minute to be Rihanna and one second to do a hook for Kanye and then have to write records for myself. I'm so many people, I'm never just one person. So I don't have to reinvent because artists around me reinvent for me.
My uncle used to say, 'You'll go on and become the dream of the family.' That's how I got my name.
At the end of the day, I'm a songwriter.
What I look forward to the most is influencing an individual to go out into the world and make the world a better place.
I love Kanye. He's literally the only person that challenges me. He has an overwhelming love for music also, and that's why he's misunderstood. The boy is a genius. You can be mad all you want, but he loves what you listen to more than you love it. When he lost his mom I cried.
My days, sometimes, it's just about work. I'm not thinking about taking a picture in the studio, and I don't have the time to stop being creative to stop and post on Instagram. That's not a part of my creative process.
Whether I'm working with a Top 40 artist or crafting my own music, it goes back to one thing: telling a powerful story and having that story resonate with people.
Man's biggest enemy is a woman who has it in for them.
I understand freedom of speech but if I made my living spreading rumors about people, my family wouldn't claim me.
I'm everybody in music's guilty pleasure.
I'm a vulnerable guy, which is always been there, you know? Like, most of the time I put myself in positions where I am vulnerable, because I don't think you're living unless you do.
I was playing a lot of Coldplay before the world knew who I was, before anybody knew my 'Umbrella' song. Those songs still stick in my head. I just love it. It's without pop culture, it's just a song. It's just singing.
I got fed up with the idea of partnering with labels on a major scale because of how they have to deliver things. They get gun-shy.
The-Dream is a fantasy, but without fiction.
It was always in me to just put records out. I don't like holding on to records.
What I want to do is to create a conversation piece and something people remember. I want to make it repetitive enough but not use what I call 'thin thinking' - the kind of thing anyone can do. A hook tells me what you are talking about and it doesn't have to be a lot of words.
People are so over what they did yesterday, they don't even sit and discuss what made it a great time. They'd have to be reminded by their Instagram, after 52 weeks, and it's like 'Oh, I remember that now.'
Music was always a passion, but when I was a kid I didn't see it as a viable career.
Frank Ocean is definitely amazing.
The world gets better as soon as people start doing exactly what they're great at.
I'm an artist because of how I do things, not because I'm trying to be one.
I love Aaliyah.
One thing is relationships: Don't get in a relationship if you're going to leave a man if he cheats on you. Because 99% of the time he's going to cheat.
I love it when people come in my house and ask for my paintings off the wall, and I have to tell them that I did it. I love art.
To somebody else saying all I need is 10 million dollars, then I've probably made it. But there are Paul McCartneys walking around with $500 million catalogs. That's pretty much what I want. And that's just music. That doesn't even include directing and writing of movies and all of the other things that I want to go on to do. So I have a big dream.
Politics changes music most of the time. Ronald Reagan - you can kind of say that he made hip-hop what it was by the embargoes that he set. Certain things that he did created N.W.A in a way. Politics has always done that.
Anytime a musician says they're going to retire they're lying.
Most of the time, men don't really express ourselves.
I'm an oddball Georgia working guy.
People aren't really honest with themselves about anything. That's one of the reasons why we ended up with Trump in the White House.
My mama died when she was 35 years old.
It takes a lot to put a 5-piece band on, even though we need it. We need those harmonies; I need those four background singers - not because I can't sing but because I need to relay the message of what the song is emotionally, or the feeling, period.
I grew up looking at the Grammys. It was a childhood infatuation with these people walking around with gold statues. I felt like they were the best, and that's why I started working so hard.
Men don't really change. That's just how it is.
If I do five, six records that sound great, I want it to come out as fast as it can. I don't care how many copies it sells. It's about musically moving the needle.
I love movies. They've always influenced the music i've done.
Writing a song is about inhabiting a specific frame of mind and conjuring a mood, a character, an entire vision.
Every time you hear an 808 drum machine beat on one of my songs, it comes from Freaknik.
R&B is a conversation that you should be able to sit down and have.
I don't believe in cards. I believe in cash. I'd carry gold if it wasn't so heavy.
I'm just not Mr. Joe that goes to work nine-to-five. I never will be.
Spiritually, I just have an innate feeling about things and individuals in life and I'm touched in that way that I can't explain.
I call my attorney three times a day.
I think of myself just as a writer.
The easiest part is growing something from nothing because there's no expectations.
