Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm signed to Atlantic through 300 Entertainment [Lyor Cohen's label]. That is my only contractual relationship.
I spend more time with Gucci [Mane] or Birdman than 300, but all this is just family. Who cares [about] contracts?
In my world, of course, it don't matter. You could be a gangster with a dress, you could be a gangster with baggy pants.
It was [Kanye West] who spoke, and then we met and recorded some songs. After, you know what it is: we all bump like crazy.
I did a song in eight minutes. I thought everybody could write songs that fast. But working with a lot of them, they don't.
You gotta understand, you can't look at no pictures and look at the media and the critics and what they saying on no Internet.
I know, every time I get somewhere, it'll be strange. But if I understand correctly, I also have fans here and it reassures me.
I ain't want my kids to grow up and call me Thug. I don't want anybody to kind of look at me like that. So I'm gonna just use my real name.
When I was 12, my feet were so small, I wore my sisters' glitter shoes. My dad would whoop me: 'You're not going to school now, you'll embarrass us!'
When you see them be successful, however small, you say to yourself, wow. And everything becomes possible. Never denigrate, to say we will not succeed.
My dad wanted me to play football so bad, he took me to Washington High School on the west side of Atlanta because they were number one. They never lost.
I don't want my kids saying, 'My dad was a gangster, so I need to be a gangster. I would rather mine say, 'My dad was a stunna, so I need to be a stunna.'
I like everything that people say. No matter what they say. You gay, you a punk. You got a nice girlfriend, you're ugly, you can't rap, you're the hardest.
Wayne and Drake, it takes them so long to do a song. I understand why, because they want it to be perfect. But I think I can do a perfect song in 10 minutes.
I repeat it until it works. It is important to record, otherwise you lose ideas. That's why I never stay away from the studio, I always [have] something to ask.
I do my stuff, my "mixtapes," as you say. We just need time to capture. After that, I do not know what he thinks, but for me, it is time to get things together.
All those who came out of my neighborhood before me. Beyond those you see on TV, the most important people are those who are close to you because they share the same reality.
You must not you worry about leaks or pieces [stolen] on your computer. You just make songs, you gotta make music, keep stuff out. You may not know rap, but that's how it works.
A mixtape is for the street, it's something you without necessarily thinking about it, because you have to stay in the game. It's like writing an e-mail saying hello to your friends.
I don't ever want to be like a peasant. I want to always be all right. But motivation is fans - not your kids, your mum, none of that. All of that matters, but number one is your fans.
It was stressful [to live as a child in a Sylvian Hills]. It's always been complicated, honestly... I do not really want to tell you, actually. It bothers me that you want me to tell this.
Mixtapes, it's for everyone and you throw them in the trash quickly. While an album is an object that only your real fans take the trouble to buy and know you have prepared something special.
Like, Jay Z has some of the sickest lyrics ever, but I would never buy his CD, just because of my age and because of his age. By the time I turn that old, I ain't gonna be doing what he's doing.
This is the industry that wants [music], the rap industry. You have to be on deck all the time, but you do not have the time to do the album. It is an energy, it must be present in everyday life.
If you're 30, 40 years old, you're not getting listened to by minors. Like, Jay Z has some of the sickest lyrics ever, but I would never buy his CD, just because of my age and because of his age.
I didn't used to do shows, because I used to be so shy. We'd perform, and I'd be at the back, thinking of another song. I was so shy, I ain't never getting in front of the camera; I would never get on stage.
It's a pretty crazy thing in which I tried to make songs, real songs, not the quick stuff like on a tape. A dose of Kendrick Lamar, a dose of J. Cole... because it's got to be an album that goes [in the] club.
The same image that I have of all the countries where I am supposed to go: it's far, it's different, it will be necessarily complicated ... It's another part of the world for me coming [from] the United States.
I always knew I could rap, and in a sense I always rapped. And I've always behaved like a rapper. But I started to take it seriously when I recorded with the people of Brick when I started to receive some money.
If you feel that you can just come in the studio and freestyle on my song, then I'm ready to rap battle you. That's just how I feel about it because I know I'm way harder than another rapper freestyling on my song.
When my song "Danny Glover" leaked, I was a little bummed, but it finally allowed Kanye West [to listen]. One of my biggest surprises was his reaction: he liked [it] and he said he wanted to make a record together.
Gucci Mane is my brother, Birdman also, we're working together but it is a form of brotherhood. We're friends but there is no need to contract. In a sense, I'm signed on their labels, but there is no lawyer, no contract.
Whatever I think of, that's what I do. I wake up and think, 'I want to buy a car', I buy a car. I wake up and be like, 'I just want to lay in bed with my girl', I do that. I wake up and want to rap, I rap. So whatever I think of.
I never write. Never! I do not even remember if I can write … This is a true freestyle in general. I put a beat, I said some stuff, I retain ideas, I do it again, with a particular intonation, I test, and especially I record live.
Atlanta is the number one place to live. You live better, you eat better, the rides are better, vehicles is better deals. It's better people. More mean people, but at my level you want it to be about business, so it's perfect for me.