As responsible artists, it's our duty to let the youth know the importance of devotional music.

Music industry is like fashion. Things keep coming, things keep going, trends keep changing.

Our sons are the next generation who are more clued into the new trends of music. So if I want to understand the vibe of the new generation, and if I want to stay relevant with time, they are my source of learning.

Fundamentally, if there is any secret, it is about the need to find that peace and calm in our personal space with music, as most of 'learning music' is about listening to music and practicing over and over again.

Early on I saw the plastic quality in colored people and had friends among them; and later was to work from colored models and friends, including Paul Robeson, whose splendid head I worked from in New York. I tried to draw Chinamen in their quarter, but the Chinese did not like being drawn and would immediately disappear when they spotted me.

Loyalty and friendship trumps politics for me.

I grew up with artists and drag queens. These were just my neighbors and friends and the people who are raising me.

People have got to form some kind of unified fronts where you know who your allies are, you know who your friends are, and really begin to work together to create different kinds of infrastructures to protect one another and to help one another thrive.