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" I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice. "

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" You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah. "

" All the things that are worth doing, take time. "

" Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else. "

" Reckless capitalism kills black people. "

" I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it. "

" I'm growing as an individual, but your always growing. All of my albums are snapshots of where I am artistically. "

" I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it. "

" It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.' "

" Bob Marley performed the 'One Love Peace' concert in Jamaica with the two different warring political sides. There's always been that in black music and culture in general. It's no surprise because black music is such a reflection of what's going on in black life. It's not unusual for hip-hop. "

" Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary. "

" I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it. "

" I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody. "

" I get reminded a lot of the time that my life is a little bit different, but I'm just trying to keep it as regular as possible because I like it that way. "

" To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming. "

" When people say, 'I don't see you enough,' well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist, or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up. "

" I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift. "

" Record companies are not necessarily interested in you realizing your artistic dream. The bottom line is that they got to sell records. "

" To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way. "

" That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension. "

" African art is functional, it serves a purpose. It's not a dormant. It's not a means to collect the largest cheering section. It should be healing, a source a joy. Spreading positive vibrations. "

" I'm an independent thinker. And I'm not the poster child for any movement. I'm trying to support whatever's right no matter where it is. "

" In the early '90s, when I really started to find my voice, I was reading a lot of books, and I was moved by the writers, like Chinua Achebe, and I wanted to be able to write rhymes that were as potent as what I was reading. "

" I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different. "

" I'm not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that's a buzz kill. There's got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette. "

" If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing. "

" There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists. "

" Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years. It's a name that the streets taught me, a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment. "

" You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. "

" If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio. "

" It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people. "