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" I come from a very specific love of hip-hop. I'm saying hip-hop, not rap. That's what saved my life. I carry that badge with a lot of pride and honor, and I really enjoy trying to raise the perception and the bar of what we do. "

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" Sometimes I think albums are so ambitious, they don't stand as bodies of work because you try to achieve so much, and sometimes we need to do less. Say less. "

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Stand

Think

Work

" When people get to see me interact with the creative giants, they see the perspective and the respect. A lot of times, people don't have that respect, from a music perspective, with the music people. "

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Music

People

" I have a Chicago personality, which means that just because I'm friends with one person, I don't assume I'm friends with his friends. "

" Wine gets better with time. So does art. "

" For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad. "

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Wonder

Great

" Ghostface, when it comes to hip-hop, was one of my favorite rappers and definitely one of my favorites in the Wu-Tang. He's also a really cool dude. "

" Honesty, vulnerability, pain - these are things that always supersede the trends of the day. "

" I come from an era where you just build something. Me and Common built what we built from Chicago from scratch. "

" I'm not going to put my music up on some little corner of the Internet or give it away for free. What does that do? That's just giving up. I'm not giving up, ever. "

" I don't speak out of place, but if you ask me, I will definitely speak the truth. Also, my opinion is my opinion. I don't feel the need to force anybody to agree or disagree with me. But if you ask me, I do feel it's important to speak with confidence about my feelings about whatever the questions are. "

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Truth

Confidence

" The effect that 'Illmatic' had on us at that moment was serious. "

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Moment

Effect

" My entire approach is built on the idea that things can be commercial and artistic. "

" I just want to work on music and make some new stars. I'm not interested in being a star. "

" The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did. "

" Common and I have a long history of making great music together. "

" I've never been a mega-star. I'm more of a tastemaker of hip-hop. I try to be more of an ambassador for the era of hip-hop that I came in. "

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Ambassador

Try

" There's so many things that Kanye does that I agree with and disagree with at times. I just say, 'You're in a different place, and what you're doing is experimental. Nobody's been there in hip-hop.' "

" I'm not interested in anything besides making some good music, helping some artists, being an executive. I'm pretty happy with that. "

" I think that sometimes, as producers, we just service the artists who's really just the main front or person. You know, our roles are really just to help them get where they're supposed to go. "

" Most of the greatest albums in the history of music are one producer. It's just a fact. Or one collective. "

" Part of my growth as a producer was not just about making beats but also helping in the process of inspiring the song and making the song the center. "

" I've got a philosophy I call 'no dancing in the end zone.' You score, get back, and run another play. "

" A lot of my favorite artists didn't sell much out the gate. I didn't with Common at first. Neither did first albums from Outkast, Nas, or Jay Z. It doesn't scare me. "

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Gate

Sell

" After 'Resurrection,' I was getting calls for people to do work with me, and I was turning it down. "

" When you really make things that really challenge the status quo or challenge issues, and you do it artistically, and you do it with no fear, people are listening. "

" I take a lot of pride in helping people become great. I think that's an element of being a producer that people don't always take in: They want to be great for themselves, whereas I'd like to be recognized as having helped the most people get over the hump. "

" You make some good music, people are gonna find you. "

" Hit records create slang, and if you create slang, you get into a broader conversation level. "

" I'm not here to put my music out on the Internet with no support and then say I got creative freedom. I've got creative freedom wherever I go: I don't create anything that I don't want to create. That's freedom. Since when does a company force you to make something that you don't want to make? If they do that, you leave. "

" If you think about 2Pac, Biggie, and Nas, all of those guys were teenagers or in their early 20s when they got started. Everybody acts like young people have to be silly and lack perspective. Those guys had incredible perspective, and everything that they said was before 25 years old. "