“I see N.Y. hip-hop like I see N.Y. streets. N.Y. streets are grimy; it’s a grind. N.Y. rappers are hustlers – whatever sound is in, we can adapt to that; there’s nothing wrong with that.”

DJs need to challenge us rappers. They got so much power, they need to challenge us.

I don’t know who I will collaborate with, but there’s a great chance of something happening.

My record company had to beg me to stop filmin’ music videos in the projects.

Africa has been going through so much for so many years; it’s time that it stands up the way other nations are standing up.

Once you make it to your point of making it, you’ll appreciate the struggle.

Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate… I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it.

Stillmatic’ is the rebirth of ‘Illmatic,’ my first debut album to come out in 1994. ‘Stillmatic’ is me coming full circle in my career and with everything, and just bringing pure hip-hop back.

I don’t have time for the news clippings. I got my own mission.

I love the art world, I love art galleries, I love what it means – I love art.

Hip-hop is really standoffish. It’s really competitive and it’s really about who’s number one all the time. Sometimes it gets out of hand.

When you’re a teenager, you want to meet a lot of girls – you want to get the most girls.

Marley is someone before his time, man. He’s – he’s almost – he’s like a deity, like almost, you know what I mean?

I’m smiling. Those things are really not bad enough to put me in a slump. I’m smiling with the opportunity to wake up every morning.

Hip-hop is bigger than the South; hip-hop is bigger than New York.

When you have a daughter, you want to protect her from the things that I’ve seen out there, you know, the things that’s out there that ain’t good for her. It’s a crazy world we live in.

I think if I heard someone else talking about their life, describing all the problems I’ve had, they’d look like they were through. Done. But there’s something about me.