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What we call soul has been around a long time. It comes out of a particular culture that is African in origin, but influenced by 250 years of slavery, as well as other forms of racial oppression.

Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free... Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.

And no book gives a deeper insight into the inner life of the Negro, his struggles and his aspirations, than, The Souls of Black Folk.

You know why we're stuck with the myth that only black people have soul? Because white people don't let themselves feel things.

Soul is a colourless thing. I don't think you have to be a black person to be automatically soulful. I respect Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake; they do what they do. For me, my philosophy has always been 'contribution before competition.'

When I think of the trials and tribulations that black men go through in America and that black artists went through, I feel very privileged.

Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.

Because as a youngster I longed to see the Black man free and I longed to see anyone stand up for us.

You've got to appreciate the things that come from the art of the Negro and from the heart of the man farthest down.

There had always been black people in and out of our house, and from the outset I had been taught that for them life was defined by struggle and filled with injustice.