Former King of Pop Michael Jackson sat down with Ebony magazine and dished the dirt on his life, reputation, his career, and what's he's working on now. Here are some highlights from the interview...
MJ on his Whacko Jacko reputation:
“I don’t pay attention to that. In my opinion, it’s ignorance. It’s usually not based on fact. … Every neighborhood has the guy who you don’t see, so you gossip about him. You see those stories about him, there’s the myth that he did this or he did that. People are crazy!”
MJ on the Michael he was 25 years ago during the Thriller days:
“That Michael is probably the same Michael here. I just wanted to get certain things accomplished first. But I always had this tug in the back of my head, the things I wanted to do, to raise children, have children. I’m enjoying it very much.”
MJ on success:
“When you’re on top of your game, when you’re a pioneer, people come at you. … But I feel grateful, all those record-breaking things, to the biggest albums, to those No. 1s, I still feel grateful.”
MJ on the state of music today:
“I don’t think people are being as experimental and innovative enough. I know people can easily say, `Well, we don’t have the Michael Jackson budget.’ Wrong, you can be so creative with almost nothing. And that’s usually the best stuff, when you strip it down to the bare minimum and go inside yourself and invent.”
MJ on his upcoming comeback album:
“I always want to do music that influences and inspires each generation. Let’s face it, who wants mortality? You want what you create to live, and I give my all in my work because I want it to live.”
