Quotes from No I.D.

I come from an era where you just build something. Me and Common built what we built from Chicago from scratch.

Honesty, vulnerability, pain - these are things that always supersede the trends of the day.

Sometimes I think albums are so ambitious, they don't stand as bodies of work because you try to achieve so much, and sometimes we need to do less. Say less.

Nas' longevity comes from him having strong lyrical value in his songs, him being more like a poet and improving over time.

Pillow talk is the strongest conversation on the planet.

I take a lot of pride in helping people become great. I think that's an element of being a producer that people don't always take in: They want to be great for themselves, whereas I'd like to be recognized as having helped the most people get over the hump.

I'm not here to put my music out on the Internet with no support and then say I got creative freedom. I've got creative freedom wherever I go: I don't create anything that I don't want to create. That's freedom. Since when does a company force you to make something that you don't want to make? If they do that, you leave.

'Take It EZ' was actually the first video I ever produced for.

Part of my growth as a producer was not just about making beats but also helping in the process of inspiring the song and making the song the center.

The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did.

If you think about 2Pac, Biggie, and Nas, all of those guys were teenagers or in their early 20s when they got started. Everybody acts like young people have to be silly and lack perspective. Those guys had incredible perspective, and everything that they said was before 25 years old.

I hate filming in the studio.

I am the guy that, if you catch me saying something, I don't do the, 'Don't tell anybody I said it.' If I said it, I said it. I'm gonna stand right here and say it again to whoever - the end. What's the trouble? Where's the problem?

Wine gets better with time. So does art.

There's the way modern music is produced, which is, 'Here's a piece of music, and I'm the producer, so pay me and make sure my credit is right and get me my splits.' But I'm trying to go backward. Now, it's more like 'What's the texture? What's the over-arching story?' There are more things to pay attention to than 'Is this the right snare?'

Most of the greatest albums in the history of music are one producer. It's just a fact. Or one collective.

You make some good music, people are gonna find you.

There's not too many one-producer rap albums. There are lot of one-producer rock albums... and country albums.

I come from a very specific love of hip-hop. I'm saying hip-hop, not rap. That's what saved my life. I carry that badge with a lot of pride and honor, and I really enjoy trying to raise the perception and the bar of what we do.

Ghostface, when it comes to hip-hop, was one of my favorite rappers and definitely one of my favorites in the Wu-Tang. He's also a really cool dude.

I was a rapper. The reason I stopped rapping was because I realized that people wanted guys like Puff Daddy. That's not what I do. I quit. That was it. I had to sacrifice for my choice. I said, 'Forget it. I'll be a producer.' Nobody was going to make me do anything.

Common and I have a long history of making great music together.

I've won; I've lost. I'm at the point where I do what I believe in and, win or lose, believe in what I do.

For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad.