“I’m only in competition with my last level.” – Erykah Badu
54 Erykah Badu Quotes
- “Never knew what a friendship was, Never knew how to really love, You can’t be what I need you to, & I don’t know why I fuck with you”
2. “He definitely does what a partner is supposed to do, that is, evolve you.”
3. “I figure, if the mind just ‘has’ to be busy, why not make up happy shit?”
4. “I grew up listening to old soul.”
5. “Evolving requires elimination. You have to eliminate the things that no longer evolve you.”
6. “They play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they do not understand.”
7. “This pain to remain the same outweigh the pain to change… When you get tired enough is when you begin to want to sacrifice everything inside of you—the fear just leaves”
8. “I’m only in competition with my last level.”
9. “I planned my success. I knew it was going to happen.”
10. “No one chooses to raise children alone.”
Erykah Badu Quotes About Life
11. “When you’re performing, you’re creating a moment.”
12. “My life is built around my children. They inspire me, motivate me, I enjoy being their mother, teacher, doctor, nutritionist. They know that wherever Mommy is, that is where home is.”
13. “I think a lot of people have lost respect for the individual, you know, the individual, the person who doesn’t conform.”
14. “What I work hard at doing is staying on a path of being kind and showing and proving that I’m a good person to society.”
15. “Hopefully my music is medicine, some type of antidote for something or some kind of explanation or just to feel good.”
16. “When you’re in a relationship you want it to work. My parents did, I did. But we are not taught how to make it work.”
17. “Peace and Blessings manifest with every lesson learned. If your knowledge were your wealth then it would be well earned.”
18. “The light always shows on the outside if you are striving to be good on the inside.”
19. “Music is part of the fabric of my skin, my life, it surrounds me everywhere.”
20. “I never saw it fit to be my job to fit into any kind of category or label. I just have to do things that feel good. “
Erykah Badu Quotes About Art and Music
21. “Wherever I am needed, that is where I want to be.”
22. “Art is the absence of fear.”
23. “I think a lot of people have lost respect for the individual, you know, the individual, the person who doesn’t conform.”
24. “I love being an entertainer – not really fond of being a celebrity.”
25. “Being honest is my job. That’s what music is for me.”
26. “I was born to make mistakes, but I ain’t scared to take the weight.”
27. “There are millions and billions of atoms of memory of all kinds of musical themes in me.”
28. “I’m free. I just do what I want, say what I want, say how I feel, and I don’t try to hurt nobody. I just try to make sure that I don’t compromise my art in any kind of way, and I think people respect that.”
29. “I believed in myself, and I’ve always worked very, very hard as an artist, and I am an artist in every sense of the word.”
30. “Music and the music business are two different things.”
Inspiring Erykah Badu Quotes
31. “It’s almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It’s their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it’s harder for us.”
32. “Anything that had to do with art I been doing all my life. It was a gift. It’s nothing I work real hard at doing.”
33. “I’m a blues singer, so I just sing blues over different kinds of music.”
34. “People are organizing and fusing together to make change, and it’s inspiring. I think it’s part of the natural order of things.”
35. “The music business is motivated by money. Music is motivated by energy and feelings.”
36. “I don’t read music or anything, so when I produce, I go basically by ear.”
37. “I’m not satisfied with the explanations I get from tv or from school.”
38. “I have a master plan as an artist. I’ve always said I’m not going to be punching nobody’s clock. I will work as an artist to survive in this world.”
39. “I don’t walk around trying to be what I’m not. I don’t waste my time trying to get what you got.”
40. “I am not systematic at all when it comes to religion. I just love life. And I’m not judgmental. And I’m a vegetarian.”
41. “I’m pretty mutable as a human being, period – if you put me on Pluto, I can figure it out.”
Erykah Badu Famous Quotes
42. “Marvin Gaye is one of my favorite revolutionaries. He spoke from his heart, his mind. That’s what I want to do.”
43. “People who say that music is dead or hip-hop is dead are refusing to evolve.”
44. “I consider myself a nice, slow burn. Plus, it’s not a race. And I have a lot to share.”
45. “Time to eliminate things that no longer evolve me.”
46. “Giving energy and receiving it back through applause. I love it. That’s my world.”
47. “I consider my musical ability to be a gift from the Creator. It’s not that I try to work hard or nothing like that, it’s a gift, it was given to me, and I appreciate it.”
48. “My religion is art, from the time I was a kid I was in dance class or theater or making clothes, doing something pertaining to art.”
49. “Don’t let anybody infiltrate your dream.”
50. “I work at pleasing me ‘cause I can’t please you and that’s why I do what I do.”
51. “I don’t have any fears at all. At this point, they’ve pretty much dissolved. It was a choice. You choose to be in your mind and fears exist inside your mind.”
52. “We as Black people have to tell our own stories. We have to document our history. When we allow someone else to document our history the history becomes twisted and we get written out. We get our noses blown off.”
53. “I knew it would happen. I knew I’d be No. 1. I’m a new artist; I don’t know the rules. Nobody told me it wouldn’t happen.”
54. “Truth needs no belief.”
Additional Read: Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright, an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, was born on February 26, 1971. Badu, was influenced by R&B, soul, and hip-hop, gained notoriety in the late 1990s when her debut album, Baduizm (1997), put her at the head of the neo-soul movement and earned her the title “Queen of Neo Soul” from music critics.
In 1994, Badu opened a show for D’Angelo in Fort Worth, which led record label executive Kedar Massenburg to sign her to Kedar Entertainment and launch her career. In February 1997, Baduizm, her debut album, was made available. With “On & On,” “Appletree,” “Next Lifetime,” and “Otherside of the Game,” it gave birth to four singles. Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album triple Platinum certification. Live, her debut live album, was released in November 1997 and received a double Platinum certification from the RIAA.