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" My grandmother had a Ph.D in library science, so I grew up in a library, and I would appreciate those books and the smell of them and how they'd have these series, and it was cool to me. I always felt like, if I had an opportunity, I'd create an album that felt like a series. "

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" I really got back to my New Orleans roots - my grandfather played with Fats Domino. We had to leave after Katrina, but I feel like, spiritually, I'm back there. "

Dawn Richard

Roots

Back

Feel

" I don't wish homelessness on anyone, especially when you come from where your parents work hard. "

" My father's music is all I remember from my childhood. "

" People want to peg you as alternative R&B when they hear soul or see the color of your skin. It's comfortable when people see artists of color or artists that come from a different country to put that brand on us. It's just not as linear as that. "

" It doesn't bother me when I'm labeled, but it's so... limiting. It's so boxy. "

" I've had two platinum albums. I have worked with thousands of people. But the most rewarding feeling is to see people on Twitter say, 'Do you see what Dawn and them are doing? They are number one.' It's the most rewarding feeling because of all the tears, all the bad stuff, and the people that said I couldn't do it. "

" Be exactly who you are. You can fit in any space you see yourself in. Be fearless. "

" I always knew who I was, but everyone else wanted to me to be their 'idea' of the 'right' artist. At times, I even believed them. "

Dawn Richard

Right

Always

" Hair pieces and head dresses have always been something that's been part of my culture. "

" I lived in the library with my grandmother as a child. I still love the smell of books; the library card is still my friend. "

" I do not have a history in set design. I have a history in art. I draw. But I learned set design when I couldn't afford to have a team and I didn't want to look like I was indie. I wanted to give fans the visual. "

" Dreams rise like the sun and set like the sun: One minute, it is high and bright; the next minute, you might lose it. "

" I think, my entire life, I was a bit different. And I didn't think I was different; I just kinda always stuck out. "

" There's definitely that tribal Africana thing going on in my sound. It's that marching band, second-line music, that Creole-influence in the kick, and the snare that drives everything for me. I think it's really what's separated my sound from a lot of the R&B and pop music out there. "

Dawn Richard

Music

Think

" I can be a little messy and wild and carefree with my creativity as a solo artist. In a group, there's a certain structure, and everyone has a part to play, and being a solo artist, I can do as I please. "

" I just want to be a storyteller, and I think the way to do that is by your lyrics, by your visuals, by your choreography, by your dance. It's imperative as an artist. "

" There's a fine line between artist and product. I don't think the industry purposely does it, but I think that's just the way they maneuver. You have to be careful that doesn't become your story, where you become a product, and your art is tarnished because you're just seen as a tool to make money. "

" I want to show that you can be just as amazing as labels and compete as a business and work as a business even though you're an artist. "

" I got in the audition line called 'Making the Band' because I wanted to be in a band. If I didn't, I would have done 'American Idol.' "

" I watched my parents lose everything, from a house to birth certificates. We were homeless for about six months, then we stayed in Baltimore, and my parents got jobs. "

" When I look half naked on stage, it's not because I'm trying to be sexy but because I am dancing and want to be mobile enough to move. "

" My music speaks of warriors. It speaks of women being kings and this sense of pride of being more, even though you have less. "

" When I was growing up, there was no one. There were very few black women in tech; there were very few black women in the fashion game. We didn't have our Grace Jones - Grace Jones was before my time. We didn't really have a lot of black women in electronic and punk who were celebrated in the same levels as, say, your big mega-superstars. "

" My dad was a teacher. He has a Masters in music. He taught elementary school, and he played gigs his whole life, and we lived good. "

Dawn Richard

Teacher

Music

" The problem with Danity Kane is everybody wanted to play everybody's role, and when you're in a group like that, that can't survive. "

" You have to put time into the art to do it, and you have to know that what you'll get out of it is not a financial or a fame thing. It'll just be the pleasure of being an artist. And I'm cool with that. "

" A lot of 'Blackheart' was me, literally in a dark room, confessing my sins; Poe was the influence for that album. But that melancholy has a hopefulness - in every Poe story, there is always a moral at the end. "

Dawn Richard

Moral

Story

" 'Armor On' explains why I needed armor in the first place. Sonically, you'll hear this battle of, 'I love you, no I don't. I love you, I hate you.' That's what you'll feel. You see the story kind of fight against itself. "

" I did write more mainstream stuff with DK. But you could always tell the records that I wrote in contrast with everybody else's because the format was a bit different. The harmonies were used in a different type of way. Way more metaphors in the mix. "

Dawn Richard

Contrast

You

" How many people can say they had Anna Wintour on a record? Not even an album, just a mixtape? It's audacious, disrespectful, and I feel like it's a little bit raw, and that's what Dirty Money is. "

Dawn Richard

Feel

Dirty