Quotes from Freddie Gibbs

I played wide receiver in high school; then I went to college at Ball State and played safety.

I look at some of my fans at my show, and a lot of them look like they're straight out of a punk rock show. They like what I'm coming across with. I had seen them same thing when I went to this Scarface show, so it lets me know that I'm on the right track.

Nobody else was saying what he said on air, and sometimes he pushed the envelope when he said the newest Jay Z line with a Michael Jordan highlight. But Stuart Scott was an artist.

This is the land of getting over. The land of second or even third chances; the land of doing whatever you have to do by any means necessary in order to fulfill the American Dream.

I ain't never detached myself from Gary.

When you go to places like Gary and Detroit, you see the economic problem in this country and who it's really affecting.

We have good, neighborly people in Gary.

I've been interested in basketball since I was a little kid - like, 3. The Bulls were my team. If you grew up in Gary, the Bulls were everybody's team.

I'm just glad we get to see old records being broken. That's what sports is all about.

When everybody goes left, I'm gonna go right most of the time.

I like good music, whichever lane it comes out of. As long as it's dope, that is all that matters with me.

I feel like I influence more than just rap.

'Pinata' is a great rap record for jazz fans.

When I first came in the game, I had a bunch of homies that rapped that was hanging around me just because I was getting the rap attention, and they felt they could feed off of that.

I'm trying to bring gangster rap back to the forefront, like in the early '90s.

I don't like rap that doesn't have a story behind it.

After I got dropped by Interscope, I knew in my heart that I had to fight back some way or not rap at all. I just took it upon myself to get myself where I needed to be.

Scarface is my favorite rapper.

Ninety percent of the general public aren't gangstas, so all of the rappers aren't going to be gangstas.

I always knew that I would be some type of public figure, but I never knew that it would be rapping, 'cause my dad sang: I saw him deal with the ills of the music industry, just on the outside looking in.

Jeezy just recognized my grind, and I jumped on board with him to enhance it. Artistically, we're in the same mind frame. We come from very similar backgrounds - poverty. That's something that we can both relate to, something that we can convey in our music.

I feel like some artists need a record label, and some don't.

I'm so hands-on and involved in my own music that I feel like if I put the same effort into another artist, then I can definitely cultivate something great.

I've been known not to bite my tongue.