Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've been lucky enough to reach a place where I can speak what's in my heart, and people know that it comes from a real place; I don't have to worry about doing what someone's not doing - I can do me.
Today, with the media, the internet, things get out there about anybody, anytime, so there's nothing wrong about talking about your life, because someone else is going to talk about it and mess it up.
It's like I'm married to the silencer, Until I file for divorce and release my ex-calibers. Do art with your arteries, place that for my adversaries, Put your snap back cap back, cap your capillaries.
I'm very unpredictable, but at the end of the day, I'm working. Sometimes things change in my life. It's like, 'Hold up - that ain't feel good. That felt good.' And that's how I look at anything I do.
There's no major label in the world that would have let me make video game music, then conscious hip hop. They want you to find your audience, your lane, and stay in it until it ends. I can't do that.
I'm not a mainstream artist. But I've seen my kids being born; I've seen them take their first steps, I've seen them grow up and start school. That's worth more to me than any umpteen million dollars.
Somebody's trying to sell you a Mercedes and he pulls up in a Civic with mustard stains on his shirt, dipping a pretzel in some cheese? Nobody wants to hear what you say unless you look like somebody.
Drake and Kanye, y'all gotta move out of the way. I'm younger than y'all. I look better than y'all. I got more swag than y'all. And it just is what it is. I'm here to take it. I'm the new best rapper.
I think R. Kelly's range is so vast and broad that in order to stimulate himself creatively as an artist, he has to step so, so far outside the box, or else he feels like he's not challenging himself.
I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing. Through every dark night, there's a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep ya head up.... and handle it.
I was raised in the city, shitty Ever since I was an itty bitty kitty Drinkin' liquor out my momma's titty And smokin' weed was an everyday thang in my household, And drinking liquor til' you out cold
Disco is the first technology music. And what I mean is that 'disco' music is named after discs, because when technology grew to where they didn't need a band in the clubs, the DJ played it on a disc.
Even though I'm out there as an artist, I continue droppin' mixtapes, I continue doin' this and continue showin' DJs love personally. That's why I continue doin' a lot of things other artists don't do.
I treat everybody equal, and so I want to be sure that my listeners and my followers do the same if they're gonna represent me. And if I'm gonna represent them, then I also want to do it in a good way.
Hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It's a platform where we could offer information, but it's also an escape.
I never gave up rapping - it gave up on me. There was no industry and no appetite for UK rap back then and I had a daughter to feed. I couldn't keep doing something full time that didn't pay the bills.
Once you make something that people enjoy then you are forced to promote it. Instead of just going right into the next project, you have to be where they need you to be and do what they need you to do.
In my community everyone seems to listen or have an interest in what I have to say, what I'm wearing, or what I'm doing. They just follow what I do, I don't tell them to. I just try to lead by example.
If you really analyze my music, there is a lot of violence in my music because the Bronx, at the era and time I was coming up, was almost equivalent to how a 'Braveheart' or 'Gladiator' movie would be.
When I first decided I wanted to make beats and write songs and stuff like that, it wasn't like I sat down and the first thing I wrote was even halfway legit. It took a while to find my way through it.
I'm satisfied and proud of the things I did - even the bumps and the bruises that I've had on the way. You fall down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you keep going. And that's what we're doing.
As an artist, you make music. And if you see people who don't know how to market your music, you get involved in it. Otherwise, what you want to accomplish 'gets lost in translation' - no pun intended.
Nothing me and Kanye can do musically was gonna match the event of what we were trying to do. So we were trying to deliver an album and experience at one time; that was the idea for 'Watch The Throne'.
What is American education? What should our students be taught? Is hip-hop something that is worthwhile and useful for students to learn? Of course, if you're learning it from KRS-One, I would say yes.
I think people have a misconception of me, period. My life has been a whirlwind sometimes, but it's different to what people think. I definitely feel like there's a misconception about me and who I am.
I play a bunch of instruments, like piano, drums, guitar and bass. And the kazoo every now and then. I'm trying to learn how to play the trumpet and the saxophone. That's what I'm learning how to play.
When there's light shining on a tree, that tree takes on different meaning. If there's no light at all it just looks dead. If you look at light as godly meaning, the world comes alive in a certain way.
Literally, there is a lot of talk about sparks in the Kabbalah. It talks about when God created the world initially, there was an explosion that happened like a Big Bang but based on vessels and light.
Hip-hop is such an amazing thing that kids still want to do it. They're not saying, "Ugh, that's the old people's music." No, they're younger than they've ever been that want to get into hip-hop music.
As far as cities, I love London. I go to London very often because I think the young people there are very creative. I also love New York, of course, and the clash of different cultures you find there.
I've never really taken more than four days off, so it was a lot for me to go away for three-and-a-half months. I went all over Europe. I walked on a whole bunch of beaches and I did a lot of thinking.
Without no disrespect to any artist, there's a lot of degrading music out there as far as degrading the culture and degrading society as well. That's individuals that choose to make that kind of music.
It goes to extremes - from people saying I'm the best of all-time to people saying, "I hate that white boy." Who cares? At the end of the day, if people don't like you, they're not your friends anyway.
Boxing is a full-body workout, and while you're in it and learning the procedures and steps, you're working out at the same time. Sometimes it don't feel like you're actually working out, which I like.
A lot of black actors will sit there and go, 'Every role is about being a gangster' - then they get an opportunity to write a script and they write about a gangster. You know... write about a superhero.
The crowd response has always been great, we always have fun at the shows and we will definitely be back representing our album to give people entertainment with a stage show, most rap shows are boring.
My grandmother introduced me to B.B. King. She wasn't someone who had a lot of posters, but there was a big poster of B.B. King on the wall as soon as you walked into her house in Meridian, Mississippi.
The whole point of the game is not to stick with one thing, because when that one thing ends, then what are you going to do? For me, I have movies, '106 & Park,' music, and other things to fall back on.
If I asked you something about basketball and you don't really know about basketball and you try to talk it and fake it, I'm going to be able to tell. It's the same way about music; you have to be real.
Out of frustration, I say things. Now, people listen to me so much I can say it under my breath and everybody hears me... I said in the past that I'm a work in progress, and I feel like I'm progressing.
Picked up the yoga, put down the soda. My healthy mind...that's what's gon' help me over. Life of a stoner (if you still concerned), I never lose, I only win or learn; It's all about your state of mind.
Just because I had a winner, it doesn't mean I'm gonna be like, "OK, I need a new 'Successful.'" That's silly. I just don't want anything to sound like anything else, which I hope is everybody's vision.
My three wishes are just be respected out the game. I want respect from everybody. And just make a successful clothing line and company. I'm not going to put a number on it. Just to have a great career.
When Nas and AZ send you a track, you know it is serious business. Same with Styles P and Jadakiss - then it is serious business. But when you get a trap music track, you know it's time to dumb it down.
The cool thing about college tours is you make friends with a lot of other artists because the schools come in and they're looking to make a diverse grouping together and then it works out for everyone.
For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton... It's crazy. It's mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians, by America in general.
Money is important, but I gotta like the song to play it. I won't just jump on anything because someone asked me to jump on it. I'm a musican. I love music. I gotta like it and feel comfortable with it.
The more I grow in popularity, the lonelier it gets. Because you don't really know me. You just know this part of me. You fell in love with that. But it's way more intricate than what meets the surface.
I know Diplo knows a lot about underground music culture - he was one of the people to put me onto music like that when I used to listen to the Mad Decent Mixes. It was like, 'Oh, he knows what I want.'
In L.A., like, there's a lot of, like, materialism, and, you know, people who think they're better than each other because of the clothes they wear or how they dress, and in Oakland, it's not like that.