The personal threat is something that's always been a part of our lives.
I called the album 'The Chemo' because it seems like the industry and music overall is dying slowly.
It's been three years since I last performed here so I'm dying to tear the roof off Wembley Arena with some old school joints and brand new bangers. When I'm done, you're gonna remember it for a long time to come.
You could put me on any track. I support that one million percent. Whatever the track is, I'm going to smash it. Believe that.
Buy a nickel bag, smoke a little lye, get high tonight, get high tonight.
It's almost not safe to be an artist, the way everybody is randomly picking people to feud with.
I got you open like supermarkets!
I want you to see that I'm looking. Look at me look at you. I'm cool with that.
With every song I have a person in mind who, in a perfect world, would perform with me. Usually I end up not getting that person, and I'm forced to settle for someone else.
New York is traditional New York, you know what I'm saying? It's the stomping ground of the hustlers and go-getters
I started growing my hair in December '89. I was seventeen. I signed my record deal and said I ain't combing my hair no more. I don't have too.
I feel like I introduce another level of my creative ability on every album.
I love hip-hop, because you can do this like that and still be super successful! You ain't gotta hold your tongue.
Brooklyn is where I primarily developed. I had an opportunity to make records and perform in clubs here and there, and I started networking with the right people in the right places.
I have a song called 'Decisions' that features Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and Common. It's about people who have made a decision to really stand by you as friends.
I will be so glad to take the picture and pose and look good for the picture. But when you catch me while I'm looking real sideways and the picture's ugly as hell, I don't want you to have the picture like that!
Yes, Yes Yall, You know we talkin it all see how we bringing the street corner to Cargenie hall
I feel like the quality of privacy and respect of people's personal space has been completely disintegrated. You can ask to take the picture. I will be so glad to take the picture and pose and look good for the picture.
I never knew that I would see the day that I would meet the devil himself.
I try to really understand every aspect of the most high; for me, the most high is Allah... I live my life by Islam.
At the end of the day, man, you can't protect yourself from a haymaker that's coming in toward your face if you don't see it coming.
I appreciate the additional additives and preservatives that help sell a project, but I'm sticking to what works best for me. I gotta sell the album live on stage and make people believe in the songs.
For me the best thing about winning an award is when the people cheer for your win. When you can see that the people are really happy that you are winning something, that's the most reward thing in the world.
I'm trying to set up opportunities for myself so that I don't only have one outlet to go through and rely upon as far as a support system financially, emotionally and mentally.
Got demons on both shoulders.
Then i starter krompy kromp with Kroomp Krompp and the i kromped all over the Krommmmp!
My thinking is that if we're going to take from a culture, let's take from a culture that has exemplified success for thousands of years.
My making it is a combination of grinding, grinding, grinding and being lucky enough to finally get a shot.
I have no trouble being a good dude because that's what I am.
You need to sweat yourself. Don't sweat nobody else.
You're gonna notice me when I come in. I'm gonna make a statement without opening my mouth, and when I leave, you're gonna remember that.
Hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It's a platform where we could offer information, but it's also an escape.
I am extremely happy. It's just an amazing feeling to be in this space at this stage of my life after all that I've gone through and still be able to make the music that is garnishing this powerful momentum in the game right now and you know, get the excitement of my record company and my family and my kids, coming home from school, talking about how their friends declare me the unanimously as the hottest artist in the game right now. All of that is the rewarding feeling you can't put a price tag on.
My craziest ideas come from cartoons. I approach music by taking that cartoon extreme and the real life extreme and finding somewhere in the middle. The animated element lures people in, but the real-life substance puts the nail in the coffin.
I really only respect the Arab culture. I ain't really trying to pay no attention to, ya know, these little people in political positions and executive positions that ain't Arab culture oriented people because a lot of the times, what are you really showing all of this concern for?
I'm concerned with being in shape, and I definitely experienced the results of being in shape. And I know how incredible it makes me feel, so when I feel like I'm gaining a little weight, I make a conscious effort to return back to being in shape. Being shape has given me a feeling and an ability to perform in many different areas.
I wanted to make something that reminded people of the way albums used to feel. I wanted something as good as the stuff put out by the Bomb Squad, or Dr. Dre and his production crew, or 'A Tribe Called Quest.' I miss albums like those.
