I listen to what people say in the songs, not just the melodies. With rappers you gotta listen to what they say.
When I did ‘Funkdafied’ with JD, he was like, ‘Okay, look Brat. I’ma tell you now – female rappers pretty much only go gold. So if it doesn’t do whatever, don’t be disappointed.’ And I was like, ‘Okay… I just want to do music.’
Whatever rappers wear is cool to people.
I’ve always used Southern rappers in epigraphs for my novels. For ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing,’ I wanted to use Big K.R.I.T. – because I have so much respect for the lyrical depth of their music.
However, people need to understand that it ain’t that deep to try and convince people of what your persona is. You are who you are, and what you are will show in time. What you aren’t can be hidden, but eventually it will come to light. Long story short: rappers should never take themselves too seriously.
Back in the early 1980s when rappers couldn’t perform in the fancy venues because the police were too racist and scared, it was the punk venues letting them in to perform.
Rap is hardcore street music but there are women out there who can hang with the best male rappers. What holds us back is that girls tend to rap in these high, squeaky voices. It’s irritating. You’ve gotta rap from the diaphragm.
I think that’s what most of us rappers do too often. We put too much information in some of our albums that could actually be on the next ones.
All those rappers, they’re the only glamorous people working in music now. They dress up in these chains of gold, cars, girls and this and that, high-heeled shoes.
I started listening to rap music in 2012 or something, because that was when I started becoming friends with American people, and they showed me rappers to listen to. I actually started listening to Macklemore a lot. He’s the first rapper I started listening to.
I think that when it comes to emceeing that there’s so many different approaches. You have your party rappers, which pretty much is where it all originated from. With DJ Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Eddie Cheeba, and all those guys in the ’70s. Basic party rap.
In hip-hop, what you have is you have a lot of formulaic-type bands or rappers that come up. They saw something on the radio, and they want to mimic that formula. And that’s just boring. I don’t wanna record something just to make money; I want to record something to enjoy it and have fun because I’m a music lover.
If you look back, you get stuck in a year. I’ve seen rappers and singers get stuck in 2002 or 2005, and they can’t get out.
A lot of times, when people say hip-hop, they don’t know what they’re talking about. They just think of the rappers. When you talk about hip-hop, you’re talking about the whole culture and movement. You have to take the whole culture for what it is.
My favorite rappers are, I can’t really say. I like Kanye because he’s so creative. He’ll just do anything. I like what Kanye’s bringing to the game. Lil Wayne. I like Wayne.
It’s certain rappers that can really rap, that really spit all bars, so I understand why someone would say, ‘You not a real rapper.’ But the main thing is, if you can make good songs, who cares? So I don’t know why guys be tripping on Drake. He makes great music. He’s dope.
Earlier in our country, rapping was not considered as a proper art form, as it is not a song. But now, incorporation of rap in Bollywood songs, is giving rappers a chance to show their talent and it is coming to the mainstream.
When I saw rappers in the ’90s cameo in films – all of those ’90s rappers – it seemed like whenever you chucked a rapper in a film, they could just act. It seemed like all rappers could act.
I’ma sound like all your favorite rappers.
I can remember being a young kid, twelve, thirteen years old just with my headphones on, on the train, listening to rappers paint these vivid pictures. Listening to Mobb Deep and feeling like I was in Queensbridge even though I’m on the Southside of Chicago.
We opened the door for women rappers.
I plan to break the barriers that people try to trap female rappers in. This isn’t about ‘Oh she sounds good for a female rapper,’ it’s about ‘Yo, she sounds really good on this and can really rap!’
I like underground rappers – Cory Gunz is a young kid that’s been really doing his thing. I’m a Gym Class Heroes type of fan even though they’re not new, but they’re definitely trendsetters.
Barriers have been broken: rappers are singing, and singers are rapping. You might catch a rapper on a rock song, a pop artist on a hip-hop song – there are so many different things that are going on today. That is the same way in which we live our lives; we’re all over the place. I like to try different things.
Maino is an artist that I feel walks what he talks – you can tell what he raps about and what he’s been through is very similar. You’ve got a lot of rappers that rap about what they’ve heard or seen, but I think Maino is one of the rappers that has actually lived it.
Nas is one of my favorite rappers because you don’t get any of that flashy stuntin’; you get the real, just raw bars. The way he tells stories and his vibe, I think we would make great music together.
I want people to follow their dreams, yes… but I’m not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers… I want to show them that there’s so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.
Why still be pretty and all that when there’s so many girly female rappers already? You can be a rock star instead.
I’m the type of guy that always respect the older rappers who paved the way for us to get here.
Over the years, a lot of rappers – Lil’ Wayne, Ice Cube – have used my name in their songs. I’m a real touchstone of history.
Rich people are so eccentric, and I don’t think people really realize. Especially by the turn of the century, they were living like rappers, and there was no income tax. They are some of the most fascinating people, and I am endlessly fascinated.
You don’t want R&B singers to get into beef. Leave that to the rappers, let them do that – R&B, be classy.
I have a hip-hop podcast and get to meet all these rappers I love, so I feel very lucky.
I wanted to write a book like a rapper would write it – I didn’t want to hold back. Rappers catch a lot of slack; I’m not going to be cursing up a storm, but when I look at Nas… his first album is one of my favorites. I want to tell stories like that.
I think the best rappers practice concept albums in their work.
I like smart rappers who aren’t necessarily trying to be deeper than you, like Danny Brown.
People stereotype female rappers a whole lot.
You can count on one hand the white rappers that have made it. So I just wanted to show the point of view of an actor in Hollywood, because what could be more soft than that. Rapping about auditions and acting and stuff. I thought it was just uncharted territory to clown on, so that pushed through with Dirt Nasty.
If I was a white rapper, the bar for me would be Eminem. Of course his white skin helped him excel to heights that a lot of other rappers couldn’t, but he still was talented. People gravitated towards him because of his skills. He stood the test of time.
Female rappers get it the hardest. You have to be a girl, yet you have to be just as hard as the guys. I think some female rappers get scared out of the business before they can make it.
I don’t dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the ’80s when rap was inspirational. Public Enemy were awesome. But it’s all about status and bling now, and it doesn’t say anything to me.
I want to do films and have my name mentioned next to Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. I don’t want my name mentioned next to other rappers at all.
I understand what rappers are talking about. I think rap is less about educating people about the black community and more about making money.
It’s not nice to say it – I know female musicians, but not so many rappers. I can’t think of one I idolize, which is sad, but I’m hoping that will change.
There are not many people that I respect more than rappers. I’m a huge fan of hip hop. It’s incredible, one of the most influential things to me. It takes real genius to be able to do well. It’s a very deep art form.
I just like country because a lot of those guys are from towns that I’m maybe from, for one. But also, I like how humble they are, and they’re genuine people, I think. I’m not saying that rappers or rock and roll, those people, aren’t. But I just feel like I get along with those guys because they’re from small town.
I always had pressure on myself through my life. I put pressure on myself and not from other people. I always wanted to be one of the hottest rappers. So the pressure comes from myself.
I wrote and produced millions and millions of selling records, so my publishing company alone was worth millions of dollars. I didn’t have to work anymore in life because when the rappers started sampling… I’m the most sampled artist in history.
Rappers were my storytellers.
By the end of high school, I was interning for no school credit, no money, no nothing, for Jonny Shipes. He was my first entry into going to XXL, being around rappers, meeting Yams and A$AP.
Usually when you hear about rappers in Asia, they always try to be like gangsters and stuff like that and I don’t get it.
DJs play a big responsibility of what hip-hop is doing… At the end of the day, it’s up to us to control and to own hip-hop. DJs need to challenge us rappers. They got so much power, they need to challenge us.
