There’s a perception that you were deeply bothered at being shown as a sex object in the “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” video.
I’m at peace with it, and I feel there’s been too much made out of it. Any issues I may have had were me thinking that it wasn’t about the song — that it was all about me appearing in the nude. But now I think people gravitated to how sexy and beautiful the song was. It wouldn’t have raised the eyebrows it did if the song wasn’t good. The video was just a great accompaniment.
What’s your general feeling about race relations? How much optimism do you have?
I’m an idealist. So in that respect I’m very optimistic. At the same time, awareness is the biggest thing we’re missing. When I say “we,” I mean us as black folk.
When I was coming up, popular tastes bent toward consciousness — the Rakims of the world, and the Public Enemys, and the Boogie Down Productions. Discovering Malcolm X was trendy. So if there’s things in the world you want to change, you first have to make those changes within yourself. I hate to sound like a Hallmark card, or like “Man in the Mirror,” but that really is the truth [laughs].
But what should be done in the face of entrenched racism and institutional corruption? What can artists do?
The first and best thing is to speak about it and sing about it. Aretha Franklin was as important to the civil-rights movement as Malcolm X and Medgar Evers. Artists can choose to take on the tremendous amount of responsibility we have, or choose to ignore it. I can’t knock a motherfucker for not singing what I feel like I should sing. But I know it’s time for me to say it.
At the same time, your live show isn’t all that political.
I never want to feel like I’m preaching. I do feel music is a ministry, but I’m not trying to make myself Bob Marley or nothing like that [laughs]. Motherfuckers get themselves in trouble that way — when you put yourself on that pedestal, people don’t expect you to be human.