Quotes from Big Daddy Kane

With New Edition it would get to the point where kids would have their New Edition posters; say like it was in a household of sisters. Each sister would have also have an individual poster of the member of New Edition that they liked. Now that's star power.

I always loved slow jams and wanted to make them, but didn't know how I could because I couldn't sing. Then Barry White made 'Love Serenade' in which all he did was talk the entire jam. I said, 'I can do that.'

Eminem is a major star. Em and JAY-Z have achieved things that I have never came close to achieving in my life. They are both major stars in Hip Hop. And to top it off, they are both very lyrical.

Early on I was a fan of Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers. I liked the way that he used a bunch of words to rhyme together in one line. And I picked up sarcasm by watching the older cats at the barbershop. They were just out there talking and saying slick lines to one another. I also got inspiration from Smokey Robinson.

One of the smartest things I ever did was move to North Carolina.

My song 'Smooth Operator,' I think that's a real simple, easy, sing-a-long kind of song. It's not too complicated.

I watch a lot of the YouTube battles: Goodz, Loaded Lux, I'm into stuff like that.

I wanted to be different. I wanted to address everyone. I wanted to address the hood, but also the people that was getting money. I wanted to address the men and women, the kids and the adults.

The flow that I use, I really developed my rap style in the mid '80s based on Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers, from listening to him. That's like really who I pretty much patterned my style from and I just really took it to another level once I had the opportunity to get out amongst the world myself.

I think 'Long Live the Kane' was pretty much a real boxed-in mindset with me just doing what I represented in the hood.

It's all about the family tree, there's a family tree. You know Melly Mel birthed KRS-One, KRS-One I think birthed Tupac.

To me, fresh means you're in something new, something that looks real nice... and something put together creatively.

When I started working on my sophomore album, I'd seen more.

The Lifted Crew, I think that they're a great band that plays great soul music. They may have studied a lot of soul, but really, their heart and soul is in hip-hop.

If you come on stage rocking the same LRG shirt and Ed Hardy jeans that two people in the crowd have on, then what makes you different than them?

I feel that in the music industry there are so many artists it's easy to be forgotten because it's so cluttered.

It's hard making a woman your wife when you've been humpin married women for most of your life

Shyheim, I took him on the road with me on the Budweiser Superfest. He was like 15 years old, too young to be on a tour sponsored by a beer company.

I went to this club in North Carolina and saw Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings perform. Just looking at the demographics of the audience, I thought it was interesting. A few weeks later, I was at the same spot to see Talib Kweli perform. And 60-70 percent of the crowd were the same people.

I was going to different neighborhoods around Brooklyn battling cats back in - this started in '82, so that's like eighth grade. Maybe 13, 14.

What can I say? I like breaking ground and exploring new things.

My view is that I would love to see people united and loving one another, working with one another, supporting one another. I think that's a beautiful vision, so anybody trying to bring that about, I'm all for it. However, I would hate to see people pretending to unite people just for the sake of relocating them.

R&B stations don't say 'We have old school artist Ronald Isley in the house.' They say 'We have the legendary Ronald Isley.' But if I come do an interview, they're gonna say 'We have old school rapper Big Daddy Kane in the house.' We belittle ourselves, our music and our culture. It's hard for a lot of legendary artists in hip-hop to overcome.

Whatever form of hip-hop you like, man, love it and keep it going. Keep it strong. Make sure it stays powerful.