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Biggie was the King Of New York as a rapper. There’s a lot more dangerous guys than Biggie Smalls out there, you know what I’m saying? John Gotti was way closer to King Of New York than him.

Jay-Z

I don’t think any rapper can go back. You can be a car salesman, a bank teller – I mean, really good jobs, and people are still gonna look at you and be like, ‘You used to rap; what happened?’
JAY-Z

Any Back Bank Good Job Look People Rapper Teller Think
I came into this music business at 26 years old. I was a fully developed man at that point. At that age, I didn’t have anything to prove.
JAY-Z

Age Anything Busines Develop Fully Man Music Old Point Prove Six Twenty Year
I’ll make a song with Rick Rubin, a song with Beyonce, a song with Lenny Kravitz. I just believe in making good music. I’m not trying to section myself off into just making hard-core rap music.
JAY-Z

Country Involve Make Market Music People Person Song
Religion is like a personal computer. You let people in if you want to… We’re all gods.
JAY-Z

All Computer God Let People Personal Religion
By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn’t need pen or paper – my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.
JAY-Z

Album First Listen Memory Need Paper Pen Record Song Time Trained Twentymsix
I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.
JAY-Z

Artist Beginning Businessman CEO Force Record Try
I remember the first time I saw the ‘Sugarhill Gang’ on Soul Train. I was 11 or 12. I was like, ‘What’s going on? How did those guys get on national TV?’ And then, when I was a little older, a rapper from the neighborhood got a record deal. I was shocked.
JAY-Z

First Gang Remember Show Soul Sugarhill Time Train
The burden of poverty isn’t just that you don’t always have the things you need, it’s the feeling of being embarrassed every day of your life, and you’d do anything to lift that burden.
JAY-Z

Always Being Burden Day Embarrassment Every Feeling Life Need Poverty Thing
One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That’s the American ideal.
JAY-Z

Country Deep Everyone Get Ideal Inequality One Reason Rich Want
Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who’ve never done anything because if you haven’t been successful, then you don’t know how it feels to lose it all.
JAY-Z

Anything Bigger Done Failure Fear never People Success Successful
Around 20. I’d been trying to transition from the streets to the music business, but I would make demos and then quit for six months. And I started to realize that I couldn’t be successful until I let the street life go.
JAY-Z

Around Been Business Demos Make Month Music Quit Six Street Transition Twenty
That was the greatest trick in music that people ever pulled off, to convince artists that you can’t be an artist and make money. I think the people that were making the millions said that. It was almost shameful, especially in rock n’ roll.
JAY-Z

Artist Greatest Make Money Music People Pull Trick
That’s why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club.
JAY-Z

Any Club Ever Generation Go Least Racist Time
The burden of poverty isn’t just that you don’t always have the things you need: it’s the feeling of being embarrassed every day of your life, and you’d do anything to lift that burden.
JAY-Z

Always Being Burden Day Embarrass Every Feeling Life Need Poverty Thing
Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I’m a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best?
JAY-Z

Best Compare Man Poetry Shakespeare Write Wrote Yourself
My brands are an extension of me. They’re close to me. It’s not like running GM, where there’s no emotional attachment.
JAY-Z

Attachment Brand Close Emotional Extension Like Run

Biggie was the King Of New York as a rapper. There’s a lot more dangerous guys than Biggie Smalls out there, you know what I’m saying? John Gotti was way closer to King Of New York than him.

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Biggie was the King Of New York as a rapper. There’s a lot more dangerous guys than Biggie Smalls out there, you know what I’m saying? John Gotti was way closer to King Of New York than him.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Jay-Z Quotes