“At the very worst, if I have a short-lived career, at least I could say I sparked a change – that I inspired some leniency in what people accept in hip-hop. And if I have a very long career and can be gyrating in a leotard at 35, that would be great.”

Women in music have the bigger balls anyhow we endure much more harassment and critic.

First things first, I’m da realest.

My real name is Amethyst. It sounds like a stage name. My mom is kind of crazy.

As a child, I remember my dad would sometimes drive me into town with him to play pinball machines together. It’s a bittersweet memory but also a favorite.

I love purple because my name is Amethyst.

I found it to be kind of ironic, because I’m white, therefore I’m appropriating culture, but then Eminem won it – who’s white and won it many times – and they didn’t seem to say anything about that. I suspect it was just because they dislike me.

I think that music is still art, even if it’s commercialised.

Anyone’s happier when they’re not being verbally abused all day long.

Really good things take time to grow. Foundation is not built over night.

Whenever my country has something bad happening I feel guilty for not being there. It’s weird.

I’d known since about eleven that I wanted to live in America.

I naturally want to be provocative.

Luxury lives in the finer details. It’s a cloth napkin at a dinner table. It’s a mint on your pillow before bed.

Iggy’ was my dog – he was named after Iggy Pop – and ‘Azalea’ is the street where I grew up; together, they have the right amount of syllables to make the perfect name.

Music is art to me, and you don’t censor art. You don’t go into a museum and censor things.

No money, no family, 16 in the middle of Miami.

Right now we have an economy in trouble, and someone who spent their career in the economy is more suited to help fix the economy than someone who spent his life in politics and as a community organizer.

I hope to be around past the 90’s. I don’t want to just be categorized as one of this era. My goal is to have a career that stands.

It’s your career, your face, your name. You have to be in control because if something gets messed up or something doesn’t look how you want it to, you’re the only one to blame.

I’m trying to mix the cool, independent stuff with the big stuff, but it’s been difficult finding the right roles. It’s been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned

My life, my career has been like a roller coaster. I’ve either been an enormous success or just a down-and-out failure.

It’s important to drive your own ship, and it’s your career, so you might as well take it by the reins.

It is commonly believed that anyone who tabulates numbers is a statistician. This is like believing that anyone who owns a scalpel is a surgeon.

I’ve always looked on myself as one of a band and never sought a solo career.