Ari Lennox

And I always was getting fired and quitting jobs, so I was not going to ruin Public Storage, and I was excited about Public Storage because I knew eventually I could be one of those property manager people that had their own apartment on site. So I had these big dreams for Public Storage.

I'm going to fight for what I want.

I can't believe people love my music. It just feels like a dream because that is all I ever wanted.

I just feel Black women, we get slept on a lot and people don't recognize our greatness in our curls and in chocolate skin.

I started gravitating towards Soundcloud. So, that was my hustle and then I met my manager Justin in 2012 and we were just grinding it out in New York.

I came across this guy named DJ Grumble and I just really liked his beats because they were different. I felt like they spoke to me.

I'm hoping to bring some raunchy, risky, soulful frankness to the stage, really.

You know, sometimes people recognize me, sometimes they don't.

I just was always singing. I didn't know if it was good or not, but my grandma, she told me that I sounded like an angel.

Like, even going to Duke Ellington School of the Arts, like, they slept on me. I think they thought I was talented, but for whatever reason, they didn't want to give me a lot of solos or any type of just love like that. But I don't know. I think that's what encouraged me to grind so hard.

I never had an apartment before, so just finally having my own place. And it was magical. It was gorgeous - beautiful tub. I never could use the tub because I was afraid of the roaches.

I was scared of planes and then also just got this job. It was $10 an hour. To me, that was way more important than meeting J. Cole.

When it comes to creativity, or my artistry, when it comes to how I wear my hair and what I'm dressing like, some things I'm going to fight for; and it's really about picking the battles, but usually I'm not backing down.

You just want fame so bad. You want success so bad. You just believe anybody who conjures up a pretty contract and they're telling you all these sweet nothings I guess.

Yeah, the first contract I signed, that was the first time I realized, Oh man, never mind, I don't want to do this anymore, but it was too late. I realized it was a bad thing because I wanted to try out for 'American Idol' and all these different things couldn't do that because I was in this contract.

People will appreciate who you are when you're naturally being who you are.

I'm always going to take an experience and a fire beat and marry it all together with adult melodies. I try to paint, just like Frank Ocean paints with his lyrics. I try in similar ways to paint my life into these songs.

I've been trying to be a singer ever since I was 2 years old and I'm a whole 27 years old now so it's like, things can happen or they can't. It's a humbling experience every year, every day.

My favorite style inspirations are between Rihanna and Diana Ross.

It's just really hard to commit to clean eating, and then sometimes you don't want to eat cold salads. Sometimes you want that warm comfort food.

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the entire world.

I don't have good discipline at all.

I don't know why God has been blessing me to make it look like I'm fit. I haven't worked out in months.

I use shea butter, olive oil, Shea Moisture - the coconut hibiscus bottle. A mix of that. If I want to do a slick bun, I'll use Eco Style Gel even though it has fragrance in it. Oooh, scary. I'll survive. I keep using it because it works.

I always imagined having so much energy on stage, versus me being somewhat chill, soulful R&B.