I'd stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans. People would roll down their windows saying, 'Isn't she cute'. I had a vivid imagination. I always pretended it was some big stage.

I talked about my father being abusive to my mother - people have never heard me talk about anything like that. That brings people a little bit more personal with Missy.

It's just that back then we didn't know that was considered being a coproducer. I would sit on the side and say what I wanted musically, but at the time we thought if you aren't the one playing it, you don't get the credit. Now you'll start seeing my name listed as producer.

I try not to be cruel to people. I know there's a karma, and I'm constantly thinking of my blessings. I live and die by being a Baptist. If I can't go to church on a Sunday, I'll get a tape by the Clark Sisters and slide it in for the day.

Music is a male-dominated field. Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down.

I was very disturbed to find that a few people were angry at my weight loss.

No, I'm a flirtatious person; I'll flirt all day long, but it really is hard to get into that when I'm so into the music, and I'm in the studio all day long and all night sometimes. That's not an exaggeration.

When I'm in the studio, I like to be in there by myself because if I'm in the mike room, and I look out and see people talking, or they're not nodding their head or rocking to the music, it makes me feel like it don't sound good, or I'll be scared to really open up vocally because I might mess up, and they might be in there laughing.

Before Missy, there was no comparison to what Missy was doing.

My imagination is so far out there already. People couldn't imagine what goes on in my brain.

Now everybody's sampling.

I don't think Puffy knows what he did for hip-hop. Because he intertwined hip-hop and R&B so that people weren't intimidated.

Seeing my mother become very strong and very independent had a huge impact on me.

I feel like, O.K., if I can make it as a singer, then let me try rapping. If I can make it as a rapper, then let me try writing. All right? If I make it as a rap singer and writer, then why not try to produce? I don't feel limited in any way.

You get people who rap about stuff that they don't do all day long. Half those guys, you hear them on the radio, and then you meet them, and you're like, 'Wow. They're so sweet.'

The person I eventually find will have to like me and my style.

Maybe I should find myself one of those sexy British soccer stars. David Beckham is hot. But I've got a hell of a lot of competition.

Women are not always taken as seriously as we should be, so sometimes we have to put our foot down.

I felt like, 'How do I fit in?' But then I never fit in. The whole time, I've never fit in.

I want kids of this generation to see that everything is cool, that there's some kind of unity in hip-hop. We all found something that's really important to us, and music is all we've really got.

When you are creating to the magnitude that I try to create, your brain is like a computer, and you need to refresh.

I think it's being innovative and very creative to stay away from flat-out sampling somebody else's record. To me, that doesn't show too much of your creative side unless you take a little piece and add it, almost like spice on a chicken.

Rule number one in negotiating anything with Missy is never try and run me over. Never push me, because I am a very strong woman. I'm nice, but I'm very strong. When it gets down gritty, I can get grittier. Never, ever underestimate me.

I know that some people shy away from what I say. They think it is too blunt, but when you don't give people that, they feel like you are being fake and you're not telling the truth. So it's like, you want me to tell the truth, but when I do, it's too much for you.