I have a hell-fire temper.

I have done quite a few things that I'm not proud of. But now I can equate it to artistry without an outlet. At school, I couldn't help but colour outside the lines. My passion just caused my reactions to be that much more volatile.

Honestly, this face of mine will always be familiar to people. It's that unique quality, man. If it's a dark and crowded room, people are just able to point me out. I think I'll always be famous. I just hope I don't become infamous.

My first rap name was Ralo. Because my first name is Carlos. I likened myself to what Busta Rhymes was doing when he first came out. And what Onyx did when they first came out - they reminded me of me.

All art stems from a place of alienation. Intimate and alone. Most people are oppressed by the opinion of others, but I was not that way. I was afraid of the repercussions of not doing what I was told to do, what I was called to do by a creator.

I want to burn as a beacon of possibility. I don't want nobody to misconstrue the commercial success I've had as anything other than an example of what black music is capable of. And what it's capable of is being more than just black. I'm not black or white anymore. I'm Cee Lo Green.

The fact that you can love something that's lost is all of the incentive that you'll ever need to love again as opposed to becoming comfortably numb.

I believe that the plight of life and all existence is to master one's self, you know, one day at a time.

Ultimately, I'm a fan of music. I describe writing music sometimes as hieroglyphics, like, you know, excavating, gently brushing off these artifacts and discovering the song underneath it all. It seems as if it is already written in it.

I am a rare occasion. I think if everyone had known it was going be me who succeeded, they would have supported me a lot more. They would have known what to do with me a lot earlier. They just didn't know.

I get a kick out of not being ideal. I think it's awesome. That's entirely the point. And I think my creator is quite a character for letting that be.

Predictability is the cousin of death: I don't necessarily want people to see me coming. You know?

I'm a normal guy at heart. But on stage, they don't pay me for normal.

I would like to be a gang leader on 'Sons of Anarchy' or own a lemonade stand on 'Boardwalk Empire.'

My varied listening palette is all-inclusive of all walks of life. No one individual is exempt from the human experience, so it is that intangible that is a universal truth. In that regard, I've had success in encapsulating something cosmic.

I'm drawn to the unconventional because I've been drawn unconventionally. I believe that I'm supposed to topple over these false images of what's idealistically beautiful. Because, of course, these intangible qualities are very attractive to women. Sincerity. Sense of humor. Success.

I'm not trying to emulate or imitate. But I do believe that I embody that spirit from Robert Johnson on up.

You can't be all of the people you're influenced by, so you make your own filter and create your own beautiful, unique thing in the world. Soak up the world, man, and make something of your own.

Music is a means of spreading the good word and spreading positivity and productivity. Those things speak to me.

I was one of those kids, inner-city youth and finding my way. I made it. I made a success out of myself, surprisingly.

To lose my mother just as I'm right on the brink of crossing that threshold over into a career, it was pretty compelling. My entire career is my mother's work, for me.