A Quote by Nelly

I wasn't a kid when I came out. Soulja Boy was 16. I'm saying that when he came out he was a kid so it was naturally a show for him. It's not about the music right away. It's a show for him. Not that he's not putting enough effort into his music, but how much effort can a 16 year old put into his music because as you mature and get older even the songs he's doing now has evolved and he's looking back.
I learned an invaluable lesson from a kid in Argentina when we were playing Buenos Aires in 2002. I came out of the hotel and this 16-year-old-boy asked me to sign his copy of my Six Wives of Henry VIII album. As I was signing it I asked him 'what does a 16 year-old like about this old music?' and he looked at me, quite hurt, and said, 'it might be old to you, Mr Wakeman, but I only heard it for the first time last week. When you hear something for the first time, it's new.' I've never forgotten that.
After a show, I'll get the 16-year-old white kid whose lip is pierced, his head is shaved and his parents hate him, and the young gangster from the screwed-up 'hood, and they say that now they realize there's someone out there who thinks like they do.
The young cast that's coming in now, Dylan Sprayberry and Khylin Rhambo, they're great! Dylan Sprayberry came out to surf with me a couple of weeks ago and he's such a good kid and he's a kid! I mean he's 16 years old, and you forget the energy and the dynamics and the mindset of a real 16-year-old. It's just beautiful! It's limitless energy and just a whole different kettle of fish. I think that they're a great addition to the show.
When I was 16 years old, watching football for the first time, the Cowboys were always on TV - unfortunately, looking back at it now - but Jason Witten was the guy who carried himself, in my opinion as a 16-year-old kid, the right way. He was a phenomenal tight end.
Leaving Nickelodeon was definitely an adjustment. Because then, it was back to the real world of, 'Now I'm an adult looking for a job,' as opposed to a kid that's getting introduced to all these people like, 'Look how cute this little kid is. Don't you want to put him on your show?'
I wasn't interested in sport or anything obvious, so I didn't stand out. I was interested in music, but I couldn't read music, so I wasn't allowed to do the GCSE. I was interested in painting, but no one's interested in a 16-year-old boy who's interested in painting. I wanted to get out of school very, very quickly.
We met because Chad was in one of my classes, and I was looking for someone to write music with. I knew that he wrote his own music, and he seemed nice, so I found out he was going to be in a practice room, practicing his trumpet. He'd already said he was too busy to hang out or hear any new people or work on any music, so I stalked him.
I love John F. Kennedy. My mother had been a worker on his campaign and adored him. I was just a kid when he was around. I did a lot of preparation, a lot of research. I can't do him... I sort of get a slight Boston accent, and I tried to get his rhythm. My only fear was that I was too old to play him, because I was much older than he was when he died, so I was concerned about that. But it was one of those, "Oh what the hell, I'm doing this. It's a great part, and I'm going for it."
I got 'Power' on my own through my agent and my team. I didn't know 50 until I got on the show. Because my character is so close to his, we spent a lot of time as friends. But even in that, I didn't really bring up music to him because I saw how everybody else was bringing up music to him.
You know when I started playing music as a young man I felt the need to be noticed and to prove myself. My motivation is much different now but what's still left is the love of music and the joy of entertaining people- the feeling that I make a difference, giving something back rather than just taking. Every year or two I come out with new music, or new arrangements of old music which keeps my show fresh.
You know, Steve Jobs came to the music industry and pitched them the idea and they kept shootin' him down and shootin' him down, and now he makes money off the whole music industry regardless. Which is a minor part of his empire, 'cause obviously it's gadgets that make him all of his money. But regardless, he has basically monopolized the music game.
MacGyver of course, that's probably my favorite show of all time, because it was a guy who was so, so smart and could use his wits, and his technical know-how could get him out of any situation. There's something about the adventurer aspect of that show that I loved, that he went on all these great missions and saved people without having to use guns or anything like that. And I think that show might even be coming back, too.
I started over again with an image: Nothing goes right. Then when The Godfather came out, all I heard was, Show respect. With me, you show respect. So I changed the image to I don't get no respect. I tried it out in Greenwich Village. I remember the first joke I told: Even as a kid, I'd play hide and seek and the other kids wouldn't even look for me. The people laughed. After the show, they started saying to me, Me, too - I don't get no respect. I figured, let's try it again.
I wanted to make an album where every song is kind of interacting - where you can't tell what's the string arrangement and what's the song. I guess that came out of going to college, majoring in music, studying classical music, and even as a kid, being really drawn to classical music.
I just remember falling in love with the old Chris Brown music, where it was, like, that real R&B, and I love the radio smashes he's put out since then, but I go back to his older music for that R&B.
We [with Cisco Adler] came back to the concept that our music, our lifestyle, and what we stood for was dope. So whoever the show brought to the music, they would stick. It was a way to bring people to the music, and I'm still doing that.
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