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My first memories of music are of my mother playing Dominican music in the house because my parents love to dance. They love to throw parties and dance, so there was a lot Latin music in the house.

I had a Latin master who, for no rational reason whatsoever - I was a very quiet kid at school - just hated me.

I grew up in a big ol' Latin family, so that's all the music we used to play - salsa music. We'd always dance and have fun. You know how families get down, man! We just had fun with it.

I know that people think of me in terms of Latin music and that's wonderful, that's my heritage, that's who I am, but there's so much more to me and my music.

From a young age, I was encouraged to sing, dance and learn folk and popular songs in Spanish.

I did not try to conform to anybody's ideal of what a Latin celebrity or movie star should be. I took a lot of hits for it.

I definitely have some stereotypical qualities of being a Latina. I talk with my hands, which means I knock stuff over all the time.

My mom brought me up by herself, so I was a latchkey kid. I would walk myself back from school and spent a lot of time at home alone, watching TV. There weren't a lot of Latinas - or any women of color. And the ones I saw were usually presented as stereotypes or treated like jokes.

I'm the Latin artist who has been the most successful in history at representing the Latin culture. The stylings of my words are immodest, but it's the truth.