“When you become an artist you’re working away from home for so much time. You really see what the use of time means to you once you’re an artist and you travel so much.”

You already past 21 and you still talking about “I’ma be a rapper.” You ain’t did one show, niggas ain’t seen you on TV. So Kendrick kind of went through the same thing I went through. He just had his mom’s house to go to.

I would definitely want a hit record, but I still want the success to be around the album. Only the music can help me.

I’m a performer. That’s what I do. That and making money – it’s the passion and the care factor for the people that support your passion, the people that support you, it’s the kind of people that go crazy and love your stuff.

People look at me and keep walking – but you can tell they know who I am. I want them to bug me. Its gonna be a sad day when they dont.

I’m not the ‘rappity-rapper’ type dude. All my music is really true. I can’t just rap about nothing, just metaphors and putting words together. I can’t just smash out material like other guys. I just want my albums to be crazy every time I drop one.

I knew school was stupid since the fifth grade.

I remember listening to Sugar Free and Jay Z and I never really understood some of the stuff they used to say until years later. Then you hear it again like, Damn that’s crazy. I just got what he’s talking about.

I got a Lucifer soul. I’ll be the Devil’s son, Devil’s work, gettin’ work.

The streets helps you a lot in music, cause it let’s you know that you can’t trust nobody and that nobody’s gonna wait for you. You can’t just sit there with dope in your pocket and think that people are gonna come to you. You gotta put the product out there.

I’m not anti single. I’m not one of them niggas that say “Aww record sales ain’t everything.” No. I wanna sell good. I would love a platinum record on radio and charts.

We’re living or dying. We’re already dead, the living dead. So do what you gotta do. Take care of your family, of yourself as a whole, and everything will be alright.

I think thats what most of us rappers do too often. We put too much information in some of our albums that could actually be on the next ones.

All these niggas that have good music have longevity.

One thing I’m big on is believing in giving an album time. I’ll say you’ll have to give an album three years before you can call it a classic. If you can’t listen to it three years later then it’s not really a classic.

I hate the business part of music. Music is just like the streets. There’s loyal and disloyal people, people saying one thing and then don’t do it.

I let my music do the talking. Ain’t no TV show gonna help me. Ain’t no hit single gon help me sell no records.

I think I’m a much better painter than an actor.

It feels like I’m starting to come into my own in terms of where I want to go artistically, toward more complicated, interesting characters.

All were artists, playing foolish, having fights and making love as if the rest of the world had no racial problems whatsoever.

People sometimes ask if I want to be a solo artist, but it just wouldn’t be any fun being on your own.

There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.

I want to sell out arenas and make an album and work with some of the best artists in the world.

I am an artist. I am here to live out loud.

I grew up in an artists community in New York, in a building that was government-subsidised for artists. No one made any money, but they made art for the sake of art.