Q-Tip Quotes

You can tell how good a filmmaker is if you can turn the sound down but you can still feel the story.

If there's a 'Cruel Summer' then there's got to be a 'Cruel Winter,' right? That's all I'm saying.

Genetics and beats? I feel like the drumbeat is a natural thing. Our heartbeat moves at a certain BPM. The drumbeat, being the first instrument, the platform for us, being that we all kind of come from that - it's all beats.

Ayo, shout out to Mobb Deep, the Extra P
Busta Rhymes, De La, the J Beez, so don't sleep

We got to mediate our greedy levels,
Cause the lust of currency can have us sleepin with the devil.

I feel like Barack Obama, kind of in a political sense, embodies that same kind of spirit as a Q-Tip or a Santogold or a Common. I feel like there is a synergy going on here in this country and abroad. I feel like the doors are open, and it's time to push them wide open.

Rap is not pop. If you call it that, then stop.

Dealing with those personalities and the people who run this music thing has been most challenging. It's hard to really communicate things to people who run a business yet forget the nature of the business. They only look at the bottom line and the financial return, you know, they forget what it is they're packaging. It's art.

How far must you go to gain respect? Um ...
Well, it's kind of simple: just remain your own.
Or you'll be crazy sad and alone.

One thing the music industry has taught me is to manage my expectations.

One step at a time, a man walked on the moon.
One record got played, Kool Herc said, 'Boom!'

I don't really listen to my work. If I have to DJ and I play something, I hear it. But I don't sit quietly and listen to my work; I'm always off to do the next thing.

Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice:
It has to do with lots of lovin', and it ain't nuttin' nice.

I grew up on the rough side of the tracks. If you looked like you were soft, you would be fodder for the wolves. I came up in my neighbourhood like, 'I'm just gonna be me,' and all the thugs just said, 'It's OK, he's special.' They knew I had the talent with the rhymes, so they kept me around.

I like music with soul and passion and the good of humanity. As long as it has those things, I'm all the way in.

So pay attention, it's not hard to decipher,
And after the horns, you can check out the Phifer

I shot a movie with Nicole Kidman that I got cut out of - it was crap anyways.

I think I have great responsibility, and when I do my music, when I try to relate to my audience, I just try to do it in an honest fashion, you know, just try to be as earnest as possible and sometime it may be self-effacing. Sometimes it may be finger-pointing. Sometimes it may be beautiful, and sometime it may be ugly.

I'm in a hallowed league of artists. Whether it's Billie Holiday or Rakim or Jimmy Hendrix or ... I don't know, MGMT, we're all blessed to be able to create. It's a lineage that extends a long time. And to be able to be active in it and have made a difference in it, it's humbling. To know I had a place in all of this; that's the rewarding part.

The world is kinda cold and the rhythm is my blanket,
Wrap yourself up in it, if you love it, then you'll thank it

I feel like Obama in a way. His idea that hope means not shrinking from a fight; it's the courage to reach for something. My music is that. Those are principles I try to embody.

I have a very connected history with Bilal. I heard his demo years ago. I heard all of the magic instantly. He's a master at interpretation of song.

I sang in church, but growing up in the neighborhood, music was more of an expression of relief or entertainment.

On the radio there's only a certain amount of artists: Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, T.I., Mary J Blige, Alicia Keys. Other artists are achieving things that are really special, they have a hard time getting people's attention. Music has been just a little bit lacklustre.

In 1999, I just came out of putting out the song 'Vivrant Thing' and 'Breathe and Stop' off the 'Amplified' album. Clive Davis signed me to Arista.

A lot of people who curate in the business, and curate the art, don't really have good artistic sense. They may know commerce, but they aren't savvy enough to know how to balance commerce and art, you know? They don't know how to satisfy both palates.

The song, 'Life is Better,' is about hip-hop. It's about my love for hip-hop. And, you know, I go through all the artists from the beginning to the end, you know. And, well, not to the end, but since the beginning to now, you know.

For people who love Tribe, I'm the defector. They say, 'You should get back with Ali to do the beats.' But a lot of people don't realize I did all the music in Tribe. In the first three albums, I did all the beats!

Predating the Internet and predating videos, you had an active imagination. You would hear sounds and then get mental pictures of what these sounds felt like to you. It engaged you and made you more invested in it. It made you want to get tickets to the show, buy the album, put the poster on the wall. Now it's sensory overload.

Satisfaction, I have the right tactics ...
And if you need em I got crazy prophylactics.

I read the Koran and it appealed to me. At the time I was agnostic and it really breathed spiritually back into me. For me it's really a cushion; it's cool, I'm cool with it.

You know, I hate to sound self-involved, but I feel like I haven't peaked yet.

Back in the days when I was a teenager,
Before I had status, and before I had a pager,
You could find The Abstract, listening to hip-hop,
My pops used to say it reminded him of be-bop.
I said, 'Well daddy don't you know that things go in cycles.
The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin' like Michael.
It's all expected, things are for the lookin',
If you got the money, Quest is for the bookin'.

Know the feelin, when you feelin like a villain,
You be havin good thoughts but the evils be revealin'.
And the stresses of life can take you off the right path,
Jealousy and envy tends to infiltrate your staff ...
We gotta hold it down so we can move on past
All adversities, so we can get through fast.