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Critics try to pin so many different inaccuracies on me and my music; they look at the complicated things and try to simplify them. They think they can nail your whole life down just by knowing the bare bones of your history in partaking in 10 minutes of conversation.

I don't mind what the critics say, so long as I get some reaction. The worst thing is to be ignored.

I don't care about the critics. I took a lot of nonsense. I got stuck with silly labels like 'White Hope.' What about other guys like Tex Cobb - they never had those labels?

Have you ever noticed how most critics disagree with the public? That should tell you a lot about critics.

Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did.

But I honestly don't read critics. My dad reads absolutely everything ever written about me. He calls me up to read ecstatic reviews, but I always insist that I can't hear them. If you give value to the good reviews, you have to give value to the criticism.

If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count.

Once you get labelled, people expect you to behave within the very narrow confines of that label.

I don't focus on the critics. Everyone who is making any difference in any field has critics. As long as I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, then I don't worry about it.

Critics can say horrible things. It only hurts when I agree with them.