Quotes from Freddie Gibbs

I remember I used to go school with guys who couldn't afford notebooks, pens, paper: the necessary tools needed in order to survive in school. It's a lot of kids in Gary who are at a disadvantage without that.

I don't have no... I love Lil Wayne. I grew up on the Hot Boys.

I started hustling in early adolescence.

A lot of improvisation and freedom went into 'Pinata.'

I tried to watch 'Inception,' but I fell asleep.

Me separating from CTE - I'm extremely happy about that because a lot of guys wrote me off, Jeezy included. He really wrote me off.

There's some dudes that did Gangsta Grillz tapes who probably weren't worthy of it - their label just put up the bread, or they did a favor.

I think that with me and Madlib, I was never afraid to really experiment with his tracks and things.

I'm an educated individual.

Gary is a really impoverished town; it's in industrial decay. There's low employment and things of that nature.

I wanted to be a gangsta from birth, not because of the music but moreso what I was seeing, what my uncles were doing. I was just fascinated with the street lifestyle from a young age.

I don't mind travelling. I'm independent, so I gotta get on the grind.

I'm like LeBron, man. I'm like a smaller LeBron. That's why I'm not in the NBA. If I had about five, six more inches, I'd be in the league.

Sports is one of the keys to my life. It definitely kept me out of a lot of trouble and gave me a lot of discipline.

My mom had me at a young age, like 20, and she was the oldest child. All her brothers were seven and 10, so I was like a younger brother more so than the oldest child. I was the younger brother to all my uncles, so they were going through their childhood and their teenage years, and I was right there.

I'd be a liar if I didn't say I learned things from Jeezy. Hell yeah, I took some things, some pluses and some minuses, do's and don'ts.

I wasn't fully aware of the things that Madlib did musically, but my manager put me up on game. I'm not gonna act like I was a Madlib head when I wasn't. I didn't understand a lot of it at first. But it opened my mind to some things, and it's me bringing that gangster element to things that he does. It's like a perfect marriage.

I don't like pre-written raps; I think it makes the song better if you listen to the beat first. In a sense, you have to make a marriage with the beat. I ride the beat, hear the flow of the drums, get the melody of my flow, and then from that point, it's a process of what I want to say.

Just give me a mic, and I'll rock it.

He's been my number one influence. If you say Tupac didn't influence you, then you don't really need to be rapping because nobody evokes that kind of emotion on a track like Tupac does.

You've got a lot of Tupac clones, but I don't think I'm one of them. I just think I give people a little piece of the feeling he gave them.

Tupac is definitely an icon. There'll never be another Tupac, so I'm not gonna ever, ever try to fill those shoes. I'm just gonna stay in my lane and be the best me that I can be.

I always want everything I do to be somewhat cinematic. I don't want to be the rapper that'll just post up and shoot a video anywhere with no real meaning to it.

I'd be quiet as a mouse if I didn't have the correct feeling about my music. I feel like I'm able to talk about it and say I'm one of the best because I think I got the music to back that up. I got the live show to back that up. That's all that matters.