Quotes About Authenticity

I shoot straight from the hip and do not play games.

I come from hip-hop - meaning that I don't mind if you come at me. In fact, I prefer it. But I prefer that you come at the show with credible critique.

I'm not hip-hop.

For me, hip-hop's not about the bling.

My style is black. It's hip-hop. It's who I am.

I didn't grow up around all white people; I never wanted to gentrify hip-hop, I've never wanted to speak to an all-white audience.

We went through an era of big dance records, an era of hip-hop being the biggest thing on the planet. The people who really break through are the people who are not afraid to express themselves in how they feel.

I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I'm a hip-hop artist. That's just that. You're going to have to accept me or just not be a fan, I guess.

The way you respect hip-hop is by being true to yourself.

Every generation wants that real hip-hop. And I've always been able to bring that.

Hip-hop has always been about keeping it authentic and being authentically you. That is what I try to do in my music and when I speak about the Bible.

When my time is up in hip-hop, it's going to remain what Afrika Bambaataa thought it was supposed to be. It's going to remain what Kool Herc thought it was supposed to be; what Wu-Tang Clan sees it as; what Outkast sees it as; what Snoop Dogg sees it as. People are trying to forget that brand of hip-hop.

I do hip-hop music, and I've gotten famous off of hip-hop music, and I know that I'm successful, and I've created my own definition of success, what success means to me. So the hip-hop world is all just really fake to me.

People so obsessed with being real in hip-hop because they don't want people to think that they're lying.

I worked in every format - pop, hip-hop, and alternative. I did a national sports show. When I finally got to decide what I wanted to do, country, to me, is the most authentic. I grew up on country music my whole life.

I'm not gonna force something or fake something to try to get more black people at my shows. I'm not gonna do some big hip-hop crossover.

The people who really know me understand that I have a tough exterior, but I'm actually just a hippie at heart.

I am a certified hippie and I love nature.

Hippies are so phoney and fake.

I mean, if people still want to hire my 34-year-old fat butt for campaigns and let me be myself then I'm all for it.

I'm not trying to be anyone. You know why other executives always hire phonies? Because they're phonies. They hire phonies because they like phonies. They're comfortable with them.

I'm not the type of person who can be a director for hire, I have to find my own way into it.

People aren't hiring me to be a 'yes' man. They have their girlfriends for that.

Coach Saban's a great coach; he does it his way, and I have to do it my way. I have to cut my own cloth.