Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" Young kids should be doing music that has shock value. They'll grow out of it. "

Related Quotes:

" There are staples to my show. I have to be conscious about switching things up because I know people who saw me last year will say, 'He did that last time.' But if certain things work, they work. "

" Woman are complex creatures. "

" I will never do a record without some sense of responsibility. "

" Once you're signed to a label you compromise. "

" My fondest memories were watching the Beastie Boys get prepped to come on stage. They had a lot of antics and they play a lot of basketball... then they were giving out cameras to the crowd, and performing from the bleachers. The most important thing I learned was that you control your crowd, not the other way around. "

" Things are fluid in this world, and if you don't remain fluid, you get lost in the sauce. "

" War is not civilized. "

" The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves. "

" I think hip-hop is no more misogynistic than America is as a society. I just think hip-hop is a lot more brash, a lot more bold, a lot more loquacious. There are a lot more words that go into a hip-hop song than go into a regular song. "

" My musical influence is really from my father. He was a DJ in college. My parents met at New York University. So he listened to, you know, Motown, and he listened to Bob Dylan. He listened to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones, but he also listened to reggae music. And he collected vinyl. "

" You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft. "

" The way I see it, if people truly love my music, they will support me in some way down the road. "

" I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist. "

" If you look at my career, doing albums with Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne or KRS-One and Jean Grae, I can't be pigeonholed. "

" Hip-hop isn't as complex as a woman is. "

" That's what hip-hop is: It's sociology and English put to a beat, you know. "

" I'm a fan of Bjork, a fan of Premier, you know, those are the first two names that come to my mind. You know, I've learned a lot from every person I've collaborated with, from Madlib to Jean Grae and Hi-Tek, to Mos to DJ Quik, to even somebody like Jermaine Dupri. I've taken something important away from every experience. "

" The only way for me to be an artist is to be honest in my craft. If I veer from that, I'm not giving the investors what they want. Sometimes it's my job as an artist to know what I want to do, even when the fans tell me different. "

" But you have to be creative on how you sell yourself and market yourself. "

" People consider Black Star a great album, and I think it's a classic album. But the fact is, both me and Mos Def have made better albums since Black Star. "

" I think once you're in the public eye, whether you're a boss, a teacher or whatever you do, that you're automatically in the position of role model. You have people looking up to you, so whether you choose to accept it or not is a different question. "

" Homosexuality in hip-hop is an extension of homosexuality in the black community. The black community is very, very conservative when it comes to homosexuality, and I don't mean conservative in the good way, like we're saving money. I mean very intolerant. "

" As an artist, I have to be a leader of my fans, not, like, follow them. Because if I chose to follow them, you know, they could do it. You know, it's me who's doing it. "

" Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well. "

" I'm not looking to set a standard... but, I believe I have offered a challenge to others with my work. "

" You gotta eat right, you gotta have healthy habits, you know, and balance out your decadence with a healthy lifestyle during the day. "

" I think music sharing of any kind is great. "

" I take certain steps to make sure I'm relevant artistically. I always have new music and a reason to be on the road. I'm not just playing 'Get By' over and over. I have 12 albums. "

" You have to learn how to harness technology so you can use it for positive stuff without being disconnected from nature. "

" I think all those artists are artists who are appreciated because you believe their words and you appreciate their honesty in their music. If you don't appreciate the honesty in the music, the beat can be fly as hell but you'll never give an emcee props. "