Rap Quotations | Page 10

To be hip-hop is much more than just rapping in the production. It is more in the attitude.

I mean, there's an aspect I've always said that is - it's, you know, it's not poetry but it's kind of like it. It's not song lyrics but it's kind of like song lyrics. It's not rap but it's kind of like rap. And it's not stand-up comedy but it is kind of like stand-up comedy. It's all those things together.

I listen to a lot of crazy stuff like pop, techno, rock, hip-hop, rap, baladas, bachata...my iPod is crazy. I like listening to a lot of stuff in different languages, so my music is always out there for me.

Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice: It has to do with lots of lovin', and it ain't nuttin' nice.

Rap is not pop. If you call it that, then stop.

So concisely, musically we are the herb So sit back and light me. Inhale... My style's kinda fat, reminiscent of a whale.

You never know: rain, sleet, hail, snow, See you gotta accept that's how things go. Prepare for the rainy day, or the sun's glow, But there's clouds movin' in and the clouds gonna blow.

Funky like your grandpa's drawers, don't test me We in like that, you're dead like Presley

The world is kinda cold and the rhythm is my blanket, Wrap yourself up in it, if you love it, then you'll thank it

One step at a time, a man walked on the moon. One record got played, Kool Herc said, 'Boom!'

Ayo, shout out to Mobb Deep, the Extra P Busta Rhymes, De La, the J Beez, so don't sleep

How far must you go to gain respect? Um... Well, it's kind of simple: just remain your own. Or you'll be crazy sad and alone.

So pay attention, it's not hard to decipher, And after the horns, you can check out the Phifer

Rock and roll to the beat of the funk fuzz Wipe your feet really good on the rhythm rug If you feel the urge to freak, do the jitterbug Come and spread your arms if you really need a hug.

I'll have you weak in the knees that you could hardly speak, Or we could do like Uncle L and swing an ep in my Jeep.

Satisfaction, I have the right tactics... And if you need em I got crazy prophylactics.

I am recognizing that the voice inside my head Is urging me to be myself, but never follow someone else Because opinions are like voices, we all have a different kind.

All we want in this life is peace, prosperity and a little paper.

We got to stay awake for all these lizards and snakes; Some of them come as friends, some of them come as Jakes.

We got to mediate our greedy levels, Cause the lust of currency can have us sleepin with the devil.

Back in the days when I was a teenager, Before I had status, and before I had a pager, You could find The Abstract, listening to hip-hop, My pops used to say it reminded him of be-bop. I said, 'Well daddy don't you know that things go in cycles. The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin' like Michael. It's all expected, things are for the lookin', If you got the money, Quest is for the bookin'.

know the feelin, when you feelin like a villain, You be havin good thoughts but the evils be revealin'. And the stresses of life can take you off the right path, Jealousy and envy tends to infiltrate your staff... We gotta hold it down so we can move on past All adversities, so we can get through fast.

But treat dimes fair and I'm bigger than the city lights down in times square

Mix me with violence, blend me with peace, Combine me with hate, and I can't face defeat.

When you're rapping, you do have to perform to a certain degree, but not every rapper is necessarily a gifted actor.

I started doing shows in places that I couldn't pronounce, didn't know existed, and I've seen people that didn't speak English or Spanish rapping to every lyric and singing to every hook. I said, "This is the type of music that I want to do."

I am a huge Eminem fan and find it flattering that he would rap about me. Personally, I'm honored.

A lot of incredible rap albums over the past couple of decades have deserved Album of the Year. To Pimp a Butterfly is an extension of those albums.

It's deep-rooted, the music of being young and dumb, It's never muted, in fact, it's much louder where I'm from.

I don't sugarcoat it you'd die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it

Let bygones be bygones...but where I'm from, We buy guns and more guns, to give to the young.

Every time I write these words they become a taboo, Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here's true, Living my life in the margin, and that metaphor was proof.

We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise, Getting the big picture, and making it wallet-sized.

A dollar might turn to a million and we all rich that's just how i feel

I'd rather not live like there isn't a God Then die and find out there really is Think about it

I'm standing on a field full of landmines doing the moonwalk hoping i blow up in time

Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa

It's the beauty in her, But when the makeup occur, I don't see it, All i see is a blur

Everybody looking at you crazy, What you gon' do? Lift up your head and keep moving, Or let the paranoia haunt you?

I live this life at a pace that anyone can go. Know your place, and dedicate your role ...To the faith that you'll die alone

Don't you know your imperfections is a wonderful blessing, from heaven is where you got it from

And I'm not sure why I'm infatuated with death, My imagination is surely an aggravation of threats... Maybe cause I'm a dreamer, and sleep is the cousin of death, Really stuck in the scheme of wondering when I'mma rest.

If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

Life Will Put Many Red Lights In Front Of You, But Sometimes We Must Push On The Gas And Trust God

We hurt people that love us, love people that hurt us

The sky is falling, the wind is calling Stand for something, or die in the morning

Look inside my soul and you can find gold and maybe get rich. Look inside of your soul and you can find out it never exists...

Good and bad is tricky," she said. "I ain't too certain about where people stand. P'raps what matters is which way you face.

The only thing intimidating about Cube is that he's the father of gangsta' rap. You just worry about getting your lines right, or he might shoot you.

My mom, she got taken away from me when I was 14 years old. She is incarcerated. My sister was incarcerated. I was homeless. When my mom went away when I was 14. ... I was forced to live with my aunt. My aunt, she doesn't like rap music. She thinks rap music is the devil's music. Basically she said, "Yo, if you are going to do music you can't do it in my house."

I describe me sound as international: reggae, pop, rap, R&B all in one. I think I have my own style. I can't really even describe it. People say, "What type of genre is your music?" It's Sean Kingston genre. I have my own genre. No disrespect to no artist or dudes out there. I feel like I am my own person. I am doing my own thing.

All of my projects are done right because I know the game, and I consider myself a rap expert.

I dribble rhymes like basketball... People call me 'E.T.' What's that, Shaq man? 'Extra Tall.'

The biggest thing that will define my legacy is how I've done it, and what I've done, and who I am. I'm a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way. Went to the police academy to become a police officer. Get his master's in criminal justice, stayed out of trouble. Played for three different teams. Changed three different franchises around. This is a guy who they would have secret meetings about to change the rules. So, that's going to be my legacy: the most dominant player ever.

Why is the world round? Why do the suckas bite? Why do the freaks come out at night? Why they paint Jesus white? I sit and wonder why we breakin hip-hop laws, Doing videos in houses that we know ain't yours.

It seems to me like all these people claim to be the victim, Acting like the whole entire world is out to get them. Stand up on your own, And prove that you are grown, Because the life that you save may be your own.

To me, the 90's signaled the end of glam rock, the beginning of gangsta rap, and hopefully the beginning and end of boy bands.

At 24 I decided that my life is enough for me, and I stopped looking for some other piece to complete it. I also learned how to needlepoint ironic cross-stitches of rap lyrics and gave them to my friends as presents. I’ll let you decide which is the more important revelation.

We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish. Some don't love theyselves, so they perception is tainted.

These niggaz ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government. Don't matter if you Independent, Democrat or Republican, Niggaz politickin' the street, get into beef, Start blastin'...now a new cat is executive chief.

Why give you the cure when the disease makes money?

Consider me the entity within the industry without a history of spitting the epitome of stupidity.

God gave us music, so we play with our words.

Everybody could write, deejay, rap. Everybody could do it all.

You see somebody rapping and you're like, "Nah, my cousin can do that." You're spoiled by the experience. Overseas, it's still something that people can appreciate.

I feel like your city - with hip hop in particular, because we're always beating our chest and shouting where we're from - your city is just as influential as your parents. Even the grimy, hardcore gangster rap from New York - KRS-One and Wu Tang, the stuff acknowledges it.

They hope for the Apocalypse like a self-fulfilling prophecy Tell me when do we stop it? Do they ask you your religion before you rent an apartment? Is the answer burning Korans so that we can defend Islamics?

When I met you it was magic... We polar opposites, but attracted like we was magnets.

Just because no one can understand how you speak, Don't necessarily mean that what you be sayin is deep.

Nowadays rap artists coming half-hearted, Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets. Where were you the day hip-hop died? Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?

A flower that grow in the ghetto know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows.

You gotta get back to your essence, Use your gifts and share your presence, Don't count your dollars 'til you count your blessings.

Life without knowledge is death in disguise.

If you ain't using all the talents God provided you with For the betterment of Man, understand, You ain't nothing but a waste.

Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half.

My brother's been producing rap music and hip-hop for maybe 10 years.

I went to Sirius Satellite Radio and did my show, Rapping With Rip.

If I'm boxing, I'll probably have rap on, or something a little more angry. If I'm lifting, maybe some rock 'n' roll. If I'm doing some cardio, something fast paced.

I wish I was a rapper. There are certainly times when I wish I could just drop an album and channel all my ideas, anger, humor and energy into some music and be done with it.

There are poor white people who hear rap music and feel it is about them, because it is. That's why you have an Eminem and a Bubba Sparxxx and rappers like that.

I think the rap community always tells the truth. And I think that it's important that we listen to their voices so we can have a roadmap, because artists - almost every single artist in hip-hop, they paint a picture of society that's overlooked. The misogyny, the racism, the violence, the homophobia, these are things that we try to avoid instead of dealing with. All of that I see it so often.

If you want to say something profound, writing from your heartbeat is different than writing from the loud voices you get from music. If they're rapping from noise, it's about robbing people. It's that simple.

I think that's what made rap such a stable footprint in culture, that it's so honest.

It's all about the work. Nothing is going to fall into your lap. If you want to be a lawyer, see yourself as a lawyer, go to the library and start learning the law. If you want to be a rapper, start rapping and get out there. Live your life as if you already are where you want to be.

Ive never been against women. That anti-feminist rap is bogus. I think men should be nice to women, buy them diamonds.

The trouble with being an activist is you end up like Eve and you get kicked out of the Garden of Eden. You know, Eve was the first person who thought for herself. And she still gets a bad rap. I named my daughter after her.

As far as anybody in the rap game ever tryin to assassinate my character, thats impossible. You talkin about a man who has always walked the walk and talked the talk.

I don't have any sympathy for the subject matter, [but] I have great respect for rap artists. In fact, not for the rap artists, but the people who make the music over which they rap. Rap music - the music itself is incredible - but [the people that make the music] are hardly ever credited.

Rap to me is a modern blues. But until we really confront the truth, we are going to have a Tupac or Eminem or Biggie Smalls to remind us about it - and thank God.

See, I don’t expect to win a prize for stoic control and dignity at mourning time. Death deserve tantrums. Beating back shocked indignation, kicks in the groin, stones, classified unacceptable, not to be tolerated, not to be wooed, not to be conspired with. Only then can music, dance, movies, plays, rap be about life. Only then can life be cherished and adored.

I have periods where I listen to regular rap, Jay-Z, Eminem and Lil Wayne. The next day I might have some Christian alternative music. The next day I have on some dance music. It all varies what I listen to.

Rock 'n' roll is sexuality personified. It is attitude. It is all the things that your parents told you not to do. It's the freedom to express yourself. It's being alive. It expresses the times. It's a magazine, a newspaper that tells the truth. If you listen to rap today, it's all about the truth. And that's what we all want. Just give me a little truth.

It's a new year, new year, new money, money!

Am I really just a narcissist, Cause I wake up to a bowl of lobster bisque?

It started back in '79, My whole darn future was on the line. I created a brand new sensation Through my mind and the whole darn nation...

Leaders trust their guts. "Intuition" is one of those good words that has gotten a bad rap. For some reason, intuition has become a "soft" notion. Garbage! Intuition is the new physics. It's an Einsteinian, seven-sense, practical way to make tough decisions. Bottom line, circa 2001 to 2010: The crazier the times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and to trust their intuition.

Rap music... sounds like somebody feeding a rhyming dictionary to a popcorn popper.

If you asked me to write a rock song or a rap song, I couldn't do it because they're not in my fingers.