All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I’m feeling at the time, whatever direction I’m heading in.
JAY-ZAround 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.
More Jay-Z Quotes
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The experiences that I’ve had growing up with music, you know, I couldn’t trade them for any money in the world. Dancing in the living room to enjoy myself. ‘Enjoy Yourself,’ Michael Jackson.
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The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value.
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I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.
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Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way.
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As kids we didn’t complain about being poor; we talked about how rich we were going to be and made moves to get the lifestyle we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little money, we were eager to show it.
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People wanted to make products based on our child’s name, and you don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name.
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As an artist, you make music. And if you see people who don’t know how to market your music, you get involved in it. Otherwise, what you want to accomplish ‘gets lost in translation’ – no pun intended.
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The average rap life is two or three albums. You’re lucky to get to your second album in rap!
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Providing – that’s not love. Being there – that’s more important. I mean, we see that. We see that with all these rich socialites. They’re crying out for attention; they’re hurting for love. I’m not being judgmental.
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I got love for Damon Dash as I did before. I don’t know if we can be around each other in that way because times have changed. He may be a totally different person.
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Primarily I see myself as so much more than a rapper. I really believe I am the voice for a lot of people who don’t have that microphone or who can’t rap.
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My mom always taught me – you know, little boys listen to their moms too much – that whatever you put into something is what you’re going to get out of it.
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I don’t sit around with my friends and talk about money, ever. On a record, that’s different.
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What people have to understand is ‘Billboard’ is a magazine. They’re like elected officials – they work for us.
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I feel like with the history of this platform, from vinyl to where we are now, it just seems like the next logical step.
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