Creativity Quote by Brian McKnight

There is a sly honesty in Brian McKnight admitting, almost cheerfully, that he "rip[s] him off every day". In an era obsessed with originality as branding, McKnight flips the script: influence isn’t a dirty secret, it’s the whole job. The line lands because it’s both confession and flex. He’s not saying he lacks ideas; he’s saying his ideas come from standing close enough to a giant that the fingerprints show.

Calling Stevie Wonder "the godfather" does two things at once. It’s reverence, sure, but it also frames lineage the way hip-hop has long framed sampling: borrowing as a form of tribute, a public acknowledgment of debt. McKnight’s R&B sits downstream of Wonder’s harmonic adventurousness and melodic generosity; the "rip-off" is less theft than apprenticeship. The wink is that Wonder almost makes imitation inevitable. If you grew up on modern Black pop and soul, those chord changes and key modulations are practically part of the air.

The second sentence widens the claim into cultural critique. "Nobody can say they aren't influenced" isn’t literal; it’s a dare aimed at the myth of the self-made artist. McKnight is pointing at how influence works in pop: it’s systemic, not optional. Wonder’s innovations in songwriting, synths, and vocal phrasing became infrastructure. McKnight’s candor also protects him: by owning the borrow, he controls the narrative. It’s humility with backbone, and it reads like an artist insisting that the most honest kind of originality starts with admitting who taught you how to hear.