Hip hop

"So if I act like a pimp aint nothin to it gangsta rap made me do it If I call you a nappy headed ho aint nothin to it gangsta rap made me do it If I shoot up your college aint nothin to it gangsta rap made me do it If I rob you of knowledge aint nothin to it gangsta rap made me do it"

"The only trend I do not like in rap right now is the message rap. I consider the message rap the equivalent of what strings were to rock n roll in the late 50s - a capitulation to the adult norm who cant accept the music on its own terms. The people who considered "Sixty Minute Man" by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Annie Had a Baby" - as the pinnacles of 50s R&B now are super uptight over the - in quotes - hotel/motel lyrics of rap. Rap is definitely as true to the essence of rock n roll as anything thats out there today."

"[T]he hip hop nation is wonderful. Surely there are those who would demonize this group of young people, but they are only doing what our ancestors have always done: used what they have to get where they need to go."

"I think it’s unconstitutional when art is used against an artist to implicate them in a crime. The First Amendment provides that people have free expression, and I think with Black men the lens — we’re evaluated almost exclusively through a criminal lens. And so what would be art in the eyes of, or at the creation of, one person becomes a crime when it’s created by a young Black man. Again, it’s good that the judges pushed back against those attacks on 2Pac’s artistry and his constitutional right, but we’ve seen that since that time, prosecutors have continued to use rap lyrics to try to chill free expression."

"Many black rappers--including Ice-T and Sister Souljah--contend that they are being unfairly singled out because their music reflects deep changes in society not being addressed anywhere else in the public forum. The white politicians, the artists complain, neither understand the music nor desire to hear whats going on in the devastated communities that gave birth to the art form."

"Young black kids didnt grow up wanting to be a pimp or a stripper like they do now. You might think Im making generalizations, but I dont think I am. Thats how serious this stuff is. When I was young, cats going to college got as much (love) as the ones who could rap or play ball."

"This is hip hop. Hands up, if youre forever a fan of hip hop. I wake up hip hop, go to sleep hip hop. Dream about hip hop, because I am hip hop."

"Please, please dont call rap music; its and some of its groovy. But if you cant hum it, its not music."

"These artists talk about ho this, bitch this, skank this and all the other stuff. Theyre talking about all our mothers, all our sisters. Theyre talking about their own mothers, grandmothers. You have to have knowledge of self and knowledge of history. Because if you had that you would not use that terminology. You would not even be in that mindset. And were in a time when young black boys and girls want to be pimps and strippers, because that is what they see. . . . Something is definitely wrong."

"The history of conscious hip-hop is interesting. The best MCs in the world have always — when I first came in the business — always needed to have something conscious, something dealing with the community, something uplifting, something positive. Even if the majority of the content was negative, you had to have that. And that changed over time. You had Tupac and Biggie came out, and then you had Jay-Z. And the best rapper became about who was the tough guy, you know? Whos busting they gun off or something like that. And now you have Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Wale, J. Cole. Theyre talking a lot about partying; you know, sex, having fun. And those are the guys who are considered the best. People consider conscious rap now, in hip-hop circles, to feel condescending or feel like not a part of the mainstream. So the challenge for me is, "How do I be as good or better than these rappers out here?" and "How do I stay relevant with my music still being considered conscious?"

"Because most rappers started out with a DJ playing records for musical accompaniment (no live musicians), many rap records are based around the chords and bass lines of popular songs."

"What people dont understand about rap, is that it brings back old music from every walk of life: R&B, country, you name it. If it was good music back in the old days, we bring it back. A lot of the tunes that get sampled are songs that nobody remembers any more. Rap music is like bringing to life the music of people who were dead. Its a resurrection style of music."