Quotes About Hip-hop

Every ten years, we get a new old school. In 1987, we thought 1977 was the best era in hip-hop. Here we are in 2007, and we're discussing '97/'98, when 50 Cent just started.

I made my name and reputation DJing in hip-hop clubs in New York. 'Celebrity DJ' is a term that I hated. To me a celebrity DJ is someone that's on 'Big Brother' or in some kind of B-movie who gets a gig to DJ even though they're not talented enough to do it.

I think taking back the term 'mumble rap' was important to me because I appreciate and love every facet of hip-hop and everything that's going on right now in the game, so I felt it kind of disrespectful that people kept referring to that whole genre as 'mumble rap.'

I don't want to disrespect hip-hop by being something I'm not. I'm Pooch Hall. My strength is in front the camera and holding dialogue.

Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don't even have to like your music. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you.

I think that we, as the African-American men in hip-hop, we have a greater responsibly because we have the ears of so many millions of our young people. And they listenin'.

Most people have a blank slate and can start from nothing. But for me, I had to break a bad habit that I've been doing all of my life, which is freestyle hip-hop.

No, I work for the newspaper, the Miami News. The hip-hopper's stare was blank. "What channel?" The future of my chosen profession looked bleak.

The majority of the high schools and the public schools in N.Y.C. don't even have band programs. Hip-hop in a lot of ways is an outgrowth of a lack of instruments and a desire to play music, so we can't really fault the kids for that.

The paradox of being in an industry where other people are usually the gatekeepers: publishers, editors - there are a lot of barriers to having control over your career. But coming out of hip-hop, the mindset was always to create your own.

In the hip-hop world, Eazy-E was the personification of evil. He paid my hospital bill, about $60,000, but he made me pay him back, which is cool, except that I later found out that he paid the bill out of my share of a publishing deal he made for me.

If I could have anybody I haven't had, I'd want to interview somebody like Jay-Z or Puff Daddy, pick their minds a little bit.

Growing up I was listening to Puff and Biggie.

I don't think Puffy knows what he did for hip-hop. Because he intertwined hip-hop and R&B so that people weren't intimidated.

If it was the '70s, I'd be a punk artist. I was just born into hip-hop.

In my opinion, hip-hop has a lot to do with rock and roll, because at one point it was considered an alternative - edgy, independent. Hip-hop is pots and pans the way that punk is garage. You make something out of nothing.

I was a fan of heavy music - first metal, then punk, then hip hop.

Hip-hop influences my talent, but I think that punk and everything else I listened to growing up was who my idols were.

Barry White, Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield are big influences for me. But I'm also a metal head. I was in a bunch of punk rock bands. The Bee Gees, hip-hop and the Beach Boys are just as much of an influence on me as Smokey.

Hip-hop and R&B is mostly what I listen to. I don't have a connection with punk rock - I just never had that experience.

Before Lil B, hip-hop and music in general was in a different space. Lil B really just pushed this independence.

What sets 'Some Nights' apart from anything we've ever done is the hip-hop influence. Not so much the actual sound of hip-hop, but more the vibrato and the artistry that comes with it. Right now, the artists that seem to be pushing to be the greatest artists and are trying to change the world are hip-hop artists.

I put Compton on the map.

I am from Florida, so I didn't 'grow up' on Wu-Tang.