Quotes from Ad-Rock

Part of me feels it's better we're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I wonder what it would have been like if I could actually sing.

You think about when you're with your friend, and you hang out with your friend. And then you go do whatever you're doing, your life. You know, and then you see your friend again. But for us, we were friends that, we would be together, and then we would go to work, which was us still again, so we were always together.

I would say think about the thing that makes you happiest, and do that. If it's drawing or dancing or listening to music or bowling, whatever it is that makes you happy, I would focus on that, and you'll definitely gain some confidence.

What I work hardest at is just trying to not let things get me crazy.

There's songs you listen to at really heavy times, and you associate those songs with being depressed. 'English Rose' by The Jam, I can't listen to - it's just too heavy for me. 'Julia' by The Beatles, too. That popped up the other day, and I had to skip to the next song. They're both really awesome, moving songs, but I can't listen to them.

'Licensed to Ill' was like a cold, and we took so much vitamin C that we'd never get that cold again.

I guess I'm the guy from the Beastie Boys. I'm one of the guys from the Beastie Boys. I guess that's what I'll always identify myself as.

Mike is the craziest person. He's scattered; he's all over the place. When you hold him down and tell him, 'This is what you're doing,' he's fantastic. But you have to hold him down. Like, when he had to write his verse for 'Hello Nasty,' we had to take his phone away to get him to do it.

'Grand Royal' started because we were on the Lollapalooza tour, and we wanted to send this message to people that the mosh pit is corny. Stop doing that. MTV has ruined it, and it's dangerous, and girls are getting hurt.

The two biggest influences of the '70s were Don Cornelius and Bruce Lee.

I grew up - my dad, every time I was with my dad, he was always - not always, but he wrote. He's a writer. So he was always in his office writing. He made a plan and, like, a point of, 'This is my work. I'm going to do this every day for these amount of hours.' So I think that's where I got, like, a work sort of ethic.

You'd think that my acting in 'Lost Angels' would have been the reason why I gave up on it. But yeah, I'm just not that good at it. Auditioning is super weird, and I'm bad at it.

Rap is the only super-current music. If you're into reggae or dancehall, and you don't know Bob Marley, then you don't really know what you're listening to. But if you're listening to rap, and you're 15, you're like, 'Grandmaster Flash? Who's that? Public Enemy? Yeah, my dad told me about them once.' And that's just how it is.

I do dream. I mean, I must every night, right? But I only remember a couple a year.

Since high school, I was in this band. And you know, it's one thing when you're in a band in high school, but then to have it last for so long - that's who I am and what I did forever.

A lot of Jewish kids do identify with us.

I head a Salt-n-Pepa song one time, where they named every rapper in New York. And they didn't name us!

New York taught me everything.

In New York, you can't really like anything. You know? Pizza's all right. I mean, I've been having pizza since back in the day, so it's whatever.

To me, a New Yorker is someone that has general disdain toward landlords, mass-transit authorities, electric companies, sports-team managers, NYU and its students, and anything new.

Boys, for the most part, are not very observant - or all that together smart, for that matter.

I make a little music every day just because it's fun.

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be an actor.