Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I really got deep into downloading music when I moved to the South and got a computer. So I was downloading the The Diplomats, AZ, Half-A-Mil, 40 Cal.
For me, sampling is a high art. Most people don't see it that way, but it's a beautiful thing. I wouldn't know anything about music if it wasn't for samples.
Either people cling to the past and refuse to advance their ways, or they're always looking to future and not appreciating what's in front of them right now.
When I released 'Veteran' and the reception was good, it was the first time I ever worked really hard on something and had that hard work reciprocated back to me.
The first time I ever went to Texas was on a bus with curtains draped over the windows. I just joined the military and got shipped off to basic training in San Antonio.
My first live performance was when I was in the military. I went to some bar, and they had open mics. You could just sign up and perform. Nobody cared. Nobody liked it.
When I die, I want people to be like, 'Respect the music.' I don't really care if you hate me or like me - what I want badly is the validation and respect of the people.
Back in the early 1980s when rappers couldn't perform in the fancy venues because the police were too racist and scared, it was the punk venues letting them in to perform.
The first thing I ever put on the Internet was actually a beat tape, but the first thing I ever put on where I was rapping was called 'Generation Y,' and it was hella political.
The idea of me being an icon or something is a very funny thing, just because of my own weird insecurities. But, yeah... probably because I toiled away being nothing for so long.
People in rock had this idea that rappers aren't talented. In my opinion we're better writers, we think deeper, and our concepts are harder - Rap evolves faster than any other genre.
One consistent good thing I can say about the music industry is that at least I can make music freely now, and I don't have to do it when I'm off of a nine to five shift or something.
I'm aware that if I make a country album and release it, and it gets on the Grammys, the Grammys are going to put it in the Urban category. Just my blackness automatically sets it in there.
There are so many odd things that happened that are centered around Britney Spears it's kind of amazing. There's just so many cultural moments centered around her existence and nothing else.
If I wasn't making music I'd still be listening to it and talking about it. That's why I'm able to chill with Denzel Curry and then Jeff Tweedy, because the thing that's linking us is music.
After the military, I floundered around between jobs for a while, and there was an opportunity for me to go live in Japan. I was living on the Okinawa Airport Base, off the grid, no real address.
As a black person, I have two parties to choose from: liberal and conservative. If I choose to be a liberal - regardless of who I choose - I'm picking the lesser of two evils in my mind basically.
I don't know if there's anything Kanye West can do that can erase his influence on me, because it's here. It's already there. He can't even reverse that himself, because it's just so ingrained in me.
If Kanye was not in the equation, I literally wouldn't even be here. His music pushed hip-hop - the man is a master at taking a complex idea and presenting it in a way that is accessible for everyone.
Well, me and Freaky been knowing each other for a while, and he was always playing crazy music in his room, but he would never release it. He's, like, the most underground rapper I know, and he's crazy talented.
Originally my entire goal with music was for it to be my job. When I sit down to make a beat, I wanna know that I'm gonna get paid from it, and that I can pay my bills and still have money left over to be a person.
America to me is where I grew up: in Brooklyn, around other black and Latino people who helped and loved each other. I just want to show people that America doesn't have to be this 'I'm in the NRA, blah blah blah' type of place.
I don't want anyone to expect anything from me. I just want them to know that I'm gonna put 1,037% into whatever I do. If I tell you I'm gonna release a folk/reggae/country album, just know at bare minimum there's gonna be 1,010% put into it.
The only real thing I took away from the military is that it just reinforced all the things I already thought about the underbelly of America, like how racist it is. So, it didn't really affect my music literally, but it affected the way I work on it.
Now that I have a little platform, and there are more eyes on me to release something, all that does is challenge me and put me under pressure, and I love being under pressure, especially musically. I might fail, but I'm excited about the possibilities.
I honed my craft in the military, because it's the only thing that got me through it, to be honest. Working on music - being able to come home and work on music whenever I got off - was essential. If I didn't have that, I probably would've lost my mind.
When I first heard 'Pearly Gates' by Mobb Deep and 50 Cent growing up, the rapper Prodigy had a line about wanting to beat Jesus up. I wasn't religious, but I'd never been introduced to something like that. I was scared and mad, but then I asked why I felt like that.
Black people are not a monolith. Black people have different thoughts. And sometimes people just need to hear the harsh truth - even myself. But you can't manufacture a hard truth and place it on somebody. When Kanye says slavery was a choice, that's not a harsh truth.
Liberals allow right-wingers on their platforms to have a 'civilized discussion,' but there's no reasoning with racists. I don't want them to have a platform that humanizes them. I want to talk down to them and meet them exactly where they are, with absolutely no respect.
I am used to experiencing so much trauma, that when I see it, I have to speak out. I don't think rappers have a responsibility, but if you don't say something or be silent or avoid it, I believe it shows your true real character to the world. It's like, if no one wants to rap about gentrification then I am going to fill that void!