Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I find it fascinating how hip hop as a culture mirrors every mythology from the beginning of mythology. The concept of the single mother and child - the Madonna concept. Hip-hoppers were raised in that.
I spent some time in Cairo, and you see these Coptic Christians and Muslims holding hands. They got a rich history together of working together and cohabitating. You couldn't pay to see that in America.
I hate reality shows. It's funny because me and my wife be arguing all the time about reality shows 'cause she loves reality shows and watches them all day, all the time. And I be like, 'C'mon. No. No.'
The word 'crunk' means energy. 'Crunk' is the past tense of crank. So if you crank something up, you are getting it started and getting it going. So 'crunk' is when it's going... when it's off the hook.
But it's a blessing to be so successful within a year; it's the greatest feeling in the world, making money and doing the things that I'm doing, and I definitely trying to continue doing what I'm doing.
I always saw two sides of life. I saw the dudes who would be the gangsta, big-time guys on the block, but would also be dedicated fathers. It was kind of weird to see that dual story that everybody has.
Puff is more of a mentor rather than someone who's directly involved in my movement or helping me put my album together. It's not like me and him party together. He's definitely more of, like, a mentor.
Of course I want dubs and a candy painted 'lac Watch the videos and get the girls in the back But if that's what I believe in, and the reason that I rap Uncle Sam is my pimp when he puts me on the track
I'm not an expert in instruments, beat programming, or electronics. For some people it's all about doing it themselves. But for me, it's all about find the people that can help make my vision come true.
Hip-hop artist, especially the older ones, are the ones who new hip-hop was a worldwide phenomenon before the mainstream caught on, so hip-hop artists are forward thinkers. We want to stay with the new.
Real big pretty titty, shut down every city. If you want the kit kitty, gotta get the key from me, all new everything, plus pay the rent for me. If we in the woods then these niggas pitch a tent for me.
When I'm making the music, I feel like everything I throw out has to work. It counts. Because if you don't have people turning they neck all the way around to see what it is, it ain't stick on the wall.
I had a lot of respect for Prodigy. He brought the hood to the booth. When we were trying to shape this rap thing into something, he was one of the cats I respected for bringing the hood into the booth.
I'm making good money but I ain't rich. Even if I don't wanna rap I still gotta work. Pride don't feed the babies. I'm going to do whatever it takes. As long as my fingers and toes move Im'ma get money.
My life is a blunt to the head, a prayer for the dead, Run around hustlin...scared of the feds. They said death is eternal sleep, But the only thing is you ain't really sure if you prepared for the bed.
As far as being on a major label, some labels get it and get what they have to do, and some labels don't. I don't think the label I'm on necessarily gets it, but I think over time they're gonna have to.
Never surrender, it's all about the faith you got: don't ever stop, just push it 'till you hit the top and if you drop, at least you know you gave your all to be true to you, that way you can never fall
I could have easily got T-Pain or anybody like that, but let me just get somebody very left. That'll wake them up. Gaga. She's never done a rap record before. Pay attention. It's a method to my madness.
From Snoop, I've learned quite a bit. I learned that sometimes I need to keep my mouth shut. It's a long story, but definitely to sometimes keep my mouth shut. I also learned to always ignore the haters.
To me, it isn't tight sweaters. That's not what rap is. That's not hip-hop at all. Every phase went through changing up their dress styles and all that, but since Run DMC came out, it's been baggy jeans.
Really, even in this whole Obama initiative, and everything that's going on with the economy, the only way to jump start it is we have to give each other opportunity. That's the only way to make it work.
I wish that we lived in a time and a generation where people would stop viewing my honesty as overly emotional. People always act like I spend my life crying in a dark room. I don't, I'm good. I'm a man.
A lot of people - they might think I fell off, but they don't know I'm eating. I'm on the West coast, eating. It's just they don't hear about me because they don't see me on the TV. But I'm still around.
Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there's nothing. So when it's damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.
I hate to get on the racial thing because that's something I've always been totally against. But the problem with the media is that they think that the word rock means white and the word rap means black.
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.
I was happy to be a scrub. I was proud to be a scrub. When I got older and I started talking to girls, part of my game when I was talking to them was to tell them how poor I was. I actually enjoyed that.
It also makes me worry about photos of me that exist that I might not even know about. How do I appear in these unwitting photographs? Who is taking them, without my knowledge or consent, and from where?
I've had good times and I've had bad times and I reminisce, maybe when I lay down, but throughout my day I keep myself engulfed in whatever moment I'm in because it could steer me into a depressed state.
I've just always been a reader. My grandmother just expressed the importance of literacy, if I said that correctly. She just always expressed the importance of being able to write and being able to read.
I'm never on Twitter. I'm never on Instagram. And that's not by choice: it's just that those things never really interested me. I might post a picture here and there, but that ain't really been my focus.
I have always had stuff on the internet, way back in the Myspace days, I had a lot of friends on Myspace. And it is just all about like networking - contacting people and showing people, like, your mind.
Somtimes I regret [that debut album was titled "Bad Azz" ], because people take it the wrong way. Everybody got a bad ways, and I'm a 'Bad Ass'... whenever I'm not good, so that's what I'm talkin' about.
...it's almost natural because when you're an artist you know what you want. And then if you're able to mentally turn that into being a CEO, now you know what the artist wants. That's kinda how I did it.
We didn't know we might become role models but it's good that we did because if you're put in a position like this, you should try to make a difference because a lot of kids today don't have role models.
Everybody has their opinion on what's 'real,' and what's they choose to listen to and their personal preference. Whether they're 2 years old or 200 years old. And people can listen to whatever they want.
I'm somewhat of a raptivist but I wasn't attempting to make a socio-political statement as much as I was attempting to voice for the voiceless whatever ideas that came to mind if I was in that situation.
When you're a teenager, you want to meet a lot of girls - you want to get the most girls. You don't know anything about respect; you don't know anything about being faithful and loyal to your girlfriend.
As gang members, as young dudes in the streets, especially in L.A., we're the effect of a situation. We didn't wake up and create our own mindstate and our environment; we adapted our survival instincts.
A Tribe Called Quest was one of those things where it was supposed to be about growth. When I say 'growth,' I don't just mean with our sound or our product, but Tribe was supposed to grow as individuals.
I think the sound of 'The Infamous' came naturally from our lifestyle and some of the criminal things we were doing. We always rap about what we're living, and to put a beat to lyrics like those is hard.
I started studying in '85 and got knowledge of self and started spitting. What was going on was taking the understanding of what I was reading and applying it with my life and applying it with my rhymes.
I've been fortunate enough to experience financial success on a large scale through both my music career and my many business ventures. With this type of financial success comes financial responsibility.
As far as my New York influence, one thing I'm proud of in my career is, I rep Brooklyn, New York all day. But people don't look at my music as New York music. People consider my music underground music.
I always tell myself, 'When I'm working on my record, I won't cut my hair.' I get so focused on the music that I'm not really going to the hair shop and getting cut up. I just have one thing to focus on.
I know what people want. I know what everybody wants - I know what the streets want, I know what the suburbs want, I know what corporate people want. I know what-all type of music these people listen to.
I always show love to the local record stores because they actually listen to me... They know the songs on my cds. They look like me, straight out the hood. They know whats hot and what is on they shelf.
Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there's a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of fitted suits, elegant cuts; I think it's cool to mash up a lot of different looks.
Everybody needs a release. Sometimes people mosh at my shows. That inspired me to make records to get the people more crunk. People need a release and I enjoy being an artist that can do that for people.
I think the I Am album allowed me to show fans that I'm more than just a mixtape artist, who can make music on a different platform, a bigger platform, and I think more people respect what I'm doing now.