To have the chance to see your music be elevated and to have almost universally positive response to that music, makes me feel better every day. I feel more confident and inspired, and that's fun.
Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of lyrical ideas, but for me the music tells me what to talk about.
My first album, 'Get Lifted,' was a hip-hop soul album that had some of its roots in the church, as far as the sonic choices, in the way that I sing and write songs. I have always had that as part of my background and part of my influence when I am making music.
We weren't allowed to have secular music in the house growing up. I was home-schooled, and gospel was the only choice we had.
Anybody under the age of forty knows hip-hop, gospel and R&B pretty well, and it's all a part of what we consider to be 'black music.' There is a natural synergy between the three.
Everyone I know who'd been (there) said (South Africa) was beautiful, the people were beautiful, and it was a nice mixture of Africa and Western culture. I knew from friends that my music was popular (there), so I was excited to go.