“I just make music however I feel and pray that it connects, and if it does, I’m super thankful. I think genres are more for other people, not for yourself.”

I’m a Scorpio with a Pisces moon. I am very critical of myself. I’m actually way less critical of others than I am of myself. I’m in my own head a lot. It’s hard and really discouraging.

Desperately yearning to accept its all as it should be.

Sugar makes me feel crazy – like, makes my body hurt kind of a thing. I don’t really eat fruit because it has a lot of sugar. I try not to eat a lot of red meat, but every now and again, I feel like I need iron or something – something that I’m missing.

I love empowering women. I think it’s crazy: if you ever try to belittle women, you’re playing yourself – I ride with whoever rides with me.

Searchin for peace be like fishing for water.

I’m a visual learner, so the film is a huge inspiration to me.

I’ve been known to wear pajamas onstage for the sole reason of wanting to make sure I’m free enough to execute new things vocally on stage and give my best performance possible.

I live in my imagination, so sometimes movies help me get lost. I feel like I’m in it.

I was raised orthodox Muslim. Very sheltered, very conservative.

I was a funky kid.

I was a gymnast for 13 years, so I was heavy into sports.

I just think I have too much anxiety to listen to music. Sometimes it feels like noise, and sometimes it’s so affecting that I can’t recover from it.

I love folk. I love rap.

I learned everything the hard way – like, literally, everything. I know that God does that to people that he has lessons for. I just wish that I had learned less extreme lessons.

Wearing a hijab never made me feel any more conservative – it made me feel safe. Then, after 9/11, I became the butt of a joke on the playground, so I stopped wearing it. Kids can be really cruel when you’re the only black girl in your Girl Scout troop.

I feel like when you say ‘activist,’ you have to have so much clarity, and I don’t always necessarily have so much clarity on how I want to help others, I just have this weird, deep urge to help other people. I’m trying to let God guide my body and use it as whatever kind of vehicle or vessel it needs to be.

It’s all about hope, kindness and a connection with one another.

The spiritual path is not a solo endeavor. In fact, the very notion of a self who is trying to free her/ himself is a delusion. We are in it together and the company of spiritual friends helps us realize our interconnectedness.

The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe. It contains hundreds of billions of cells interlinked through trillions of connections. The brain boggles the mind.

The future of the United States and the most important election in a generation, and he [Donald Trump] is trying to con people into giving them their vote, just like he conned these people into giving them their money.

Scientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this fact.

They have found absolutely nothing to connect us with the Communist Party of the United States. In regards to your question about whether I myself am a communist, as I said I do not belong to any other organization.

If what I say resonates with you, it’s merely because we’re branches of the same tree.

Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than those who are most content.