"Please do something different. Barack Obama is a true example of something different. He's a true example of something our children can have in the future, what they can look at and say: 'Wow, we can really, really do something. We can really, really be something.'"

"I love Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey's music saved little ghetto children's lives. Songs like "Vision of Love" gave us hope and we would sing those songs and try to hit every note like Mariah -- which we can't. I don't think she knows what a big part she plays in Mary J. Blige's life. And then to meet her….she's such a beautiful person that you can't do anything but defend her when [the media] starts acting stupid on her. She doesn't deserve that."

"I don't think the music business, as far as females, would be anything without Madonna."