When you sit quietly and look inside, things that seem so difficult on the outside become a lot easier to digest. Concerns that might’ve caused a lot of anxiety just come and go.
If it feels like your life has become a nasty, brackish puddle of water, never forget that you do possess the power to transform it into a beautiful, rushing stream that will carry you to enlightenment.
Culture in America and everywhere else comes from the suffering, from those who don’t want the old ways. They want to bring in the new, whether it’s the ballet, when it started, or Shakespeare.
It is only through opening your hearts will you be able to see that by promoting freedom for all, you are unchaining yourself. I guess I’m an optimist.
I just said let’s get some poets on tv. And when they said that sounded unlikely, I made it worse. I said, no man, I want to put a bunch of black poets on stage, too.
The politicians already in office don’t want to change. A few might have it in their hearts to change and to start working for the people, but even some of the most progressive politicians are silent because they know that the candidate with the most money wins.
It’s all about the work. Nothing is going to fall into your lap. If you want to be a lawyer, see yourself as a lawyer, go to the library and start learning the law. If you want to be a rapper, start rapping and get out there. Live your life as if you already are where you want to be.
My wife Kimora once told me while we were watching “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” that it’s a vegetarian movie because the way that the woman was screaming, “Aaaahhh,” and trying to run away is how every animal you eat reacted at the slaughterhouse.
Hip-hop is about tearing down the system to better it, tearing down the system to better themselves. No matter how flimsy it might seem, they always wanted the finer things in life.
I am very lucky that I have talented and creative people around me. Also, mediation has been a very big part of my freedom, because it allows me to watch all the things going on and allows me to focus.
