High respect goes out to our mothers, our single mothers. This is why today the real community uplifts femininity and holds womanhood above, not equal to, masculinity.
I look at it like this: you may only sell 20,000 to 100,000 albums. But those albums are going to be heard by future doctors, lawyers, judges, firemen, etc. Those albums are being sold to the right people that move society. They're interested in what you have to say.
In the future, hip-hop is going to be called American folklore.
When you seek to do something, if you don't know the whole game plan, you're usually going to work against yourself.
Educate yourself, because this society is geared to have us hate each other. The longer we hate each other, the more we can't come together as humanity and look at the knuckleheads screwing it up for everybody.
The Temple of HipHop has declared HipHop its own religion. We believe HipHop is divine. HipHop proves the existence of God.
Illiteracy causes violence. If you don't have enough words in your vocabulary, you can't even seek your way out of a situation.
The only time you had blacks, whites, and Latinos jamming together was in hip-hop. It's an unsung history.
Original hip hop manipulated technologies of all sorts; it was not manipulated by the technology itself.
I think that Napster is the greatest invention since sliced bread. Napster, to me, is liberation and freedom for artists.
For me, I see myself as a role model because, everything I do, there is a person somewhere who needs to hear me spread a message of non-violent conflict resolution.
Every ten years, we get a new old school. In 1987, we thought 1977 was the best era in hip-hop. Here we are in 2007, and we're discussing '97/'98, when 50 Cent just started.
Only love is consistent because only love is unconditional.
Even with so many artists using auto-tune, there's still a growing group of artists rising up and going in the opposite direction, making music that's real and fresh. And those cats are getting back to the basics without auto-tune. And a lot of those cats are packing out venues without getting played on the radio!
It seems like racism in the United States is overflowing.
Rap is no longer a pastime; this is a worldwide profession.
When I wake up in the morning, do I think I'm a role model? Yes. I'm not trying to have a pristine image, because a real role model shows you to the good and ugly.
Record companies feel they are the culture. Hip-hop has to begin to define, protect, and promote itself, and that's why we founded the Temple.
Self-management and self-control are the keys to advanced knowledge, and both are difficult to learn without a sense of your own cultural identity.
Hate is indeed self-destructive, and this is what real Hip Hop must avoid at all cost.
