Hip Hop Artist Quotes

There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible. ~ Wyclef Jean

Today's Baudelaires are hip-hop artists. ~ Jonathan Franzen

Was I the rebel kid? The lost college student who just wanted to be accepted? The legalistic man who battled self-righteousness? Was I a husband or a father or a hip-hop artist? Like a tree trunk, all those people were a part of me. They are a part of me. But more than anything, Lecrae is a child who is unconditionally loved by God. I'm a sinner who has been rescued by God from my brokenness and called to glorify the One who has never left my side. That's who Lecrae is, and that's who I'll always be. ~ Lecrae Moore

I think that people have been claiming hip-hop as being dead since the moment it started. I think there are people - and I can be included in that category sometimes - that get frustrated feeling like maybe the industry has handcuffed itself, or trained its artists to do or think about music in a way that classically hasn't led to the greatest records in hip-hop. ~ El-P

I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist. ~ Talib Kweli

I love hip-hop and you can't tell me I'm not a hip-hop artist. ~ Derek Luke

That's one of my struggles as a hip-hop artist. If I feel like doing a super conscious song where I don't even rap. ~ SonReal

I'm a small-time white kid trying to represent hip-hop. If a hip-hop artist comes up and beats me in a battle, who did they beat? A small-town white kid who ain't never been an MC, who ain't never done nothing. Now if an MC comes to battle and they get beat by a small-town white boy, that's MC suicide. ~ John Cena

There are situations where I'm uncomfortable saying, "I'm a hip-hop artist." In some circles, the response is like, "Oh, OK, so ... you have whores and your ties are shiny?" ~ Pharoahe Monch

As a hip-hop artist who likes fashion, who can't help but notice people like Kanye West, Tiger, Big Sean and definitely T.I.P. These guys really understand how to be progressive and fashion forward. ~ B.o.B

1. Close Friend, someone who got yo back, yo "main nigga."
2. Rooted in blackness and the Black experience. From a middle-aged social worker: "That Brotha ain like dem ol e-lights, he real, he a shonuff nigga"
3. Generic, neutral refrence to African Americans. From a 30 something college educated Sista: "The party was live, it was wall to wall niggaz there"
4. A sista's man/lover/partner. from the beauty shop. "Guess we ain gon be seein too much of girlfriend no mo since she got herself a new nigga" From Hip Hop artist Foxy brown, "Ain no nigga like the on I got."
5. Rebellious, fearless unconventional, in-yo-face Black man. From former NBA superstar Charles Barkley, "Nineties niggas... The DailyNews, The Inquirer has been on my back... They want their Black Athletes to be Uncle Tom. I told you white boys you've never heard of a 90s nigga. We do what we want to do" quoted in The Source, December 1992).
6. Vulgar, disrespectful Black Person, antisocial, conforming to negative sterotype of African Americans. From former Hip Hop group Arrested Development, in their best-selling song, "People Everyday" 1992: A black man actin like a nigga... got stomped by an African"
7. A cool, down person, rooted in Hip Hop and black culture, regardless of race, used today by non-blacks to refer to other non-Blacks.
8. Anyone engaged in inappropriate, negative behavior; in this sense, Blacks may even apply the term to White folk. According to African Ame ~ H. Samy Alim

I love all types of music. Jazz, classical, blues, rock, hip-hop. I often write scripts to instrumentals like a hip-hop artist. Music inspires me to write. It's either music playing or completely silent. Sometimes distant sound fuels you. In New York there's always a buzzing beneath you. ~ Chadwick Boseman

Speaking out against rap music is useless, and it's futile. The reality is there's criticism for everything, but Jay-Z is one of the most remarkable artists of our time of any genre, and as a hip-hop artist he carries the weight of that art form with such splendor and grace and genius. ~ Michael Eric Dyson

Comedy is the one absolutely self-aware art form. Actually, hip-hop's another one, I suppose. Because in your songs you're talking about how good a hip-hop artist you are. It's like a painter painting a panting of himself painting a painting. ~ Bo Burnham

It's a lot different being a hip-hop artist. You just show up with a piece of paper with your words on it, say it in the mic, then you leave and some other guy does all the music. ~ Caroline Polachek

I don't wanna be known as just a hip-hop artist. I wanna take it to a whole 'nother level. ~ Eve

Quentin Tarantino is a hip-hop artist. I told him, 'You're hip-hop!' You keep seeing surprises, and a clip here and there, because Quentin is hip-hop. A hip-hop artist will drop a single, leak something over here, and drop something over there 'cause he knows it's hot. He's on the spot with the way he does things. ~ Jamie Foxx

The only people playing the roles of classic rock stars are hip-hop artists, now. Kanye's stage persona, and the way he approaches making albums, and the way he wants to be better than everyone else? That's reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. That's reminiscent of the Beatles. ~ Jack Antonoff

I am a hip-hop artist, as you probably know. My hip-hop name is Big Smalls. ~ Jo Brand

I just want to kind of tackle every kind of form that exists in the comedy world; whether it be stand-up or hidden camera or parody. Kind of slap it in a movie with hip-hop artists and actors, comedians and girls. I just want to do something fun. ~ Pauly Shore

I grew up in New York City in the '80s, and it was the epicenter of hip-hop. There was no Internet. Cable television wasn't as broad. I would listen to the radio, hear cars pass by playing a song, or tape songs off of the radio. At that time, there was such an excitement around hip-hop music. ~ Michael Rapaport

Am I the only one who measures time using songs? Oh it only took me 4 songs to get here! that's not to long! ~ Kendrick Lamar

I started off thinking Eminem was a flash in the pan, a kind of hip-hop Hanson brother. How wrong I was. Recovery is sometimes funny, sometimes terrible, always painfully honest. The matching of Eminem and Rihanna on "Love the Way You Lie" is pure genius. "Not Afraid" is pretty great too. ~ Stephen King

I relieve rappers just like Tylenol ~ Big Daddy Kane

I got into DJing and making beats when I was about 17. I was always fascinated by the four elements of hip-hop: you know, writing, rhyming, breakdancing and graffiti. ~ Abbie Cornish

I'm just starting to take some more voice lessons but hell no, I'll always stick into the hip-hop genre. ~ SonReal

Memories have to be our most painful blessing. ~ Kanye West

I make an ass clap like tap shoes. ~ Driicky Graham

Speak what I want, I don't care what y'all feel. 'Cause I'm my own master, my Pop told me be your own boss. Keep integrity at every cost, ~ Nas

So you think that hip-hop had it's start out in Queensbridge, If you popped that junk up in the Bronx you might not live. ~ KRS-One

Hip-hop don't have no fresh energy, none at all. It's money driven, everybody tryin' to make that cheque, nobody putting art in their albums any more. ~ Andre Benjamin

The big change was reggae and hip-hop, which came along after Split Enz had started. When Bob Marley first visited New Zealand, he lit a fuse that is still burning very brightly. The Maori people particularly honor reggae music in a very big way. So there is a strong reggae scene and a strong hip-hop scene, especially among Samoans. There's still plenty of quirky stuff around. No one expects to make much money here, so it definitely does encourage an underground sense. ~ Tim Finn

I think there's too much of the wrong type of influences that stem from hip-hop. ~ Vince Staples

My partner, Danny Strong, came to me with this idea of telling a story about my life and merging that with music and the hip-hop world. He wrote 'The Butler' and originally wanted to do 'Empire' also as a movie. ~ Lee Daniels

Anybody under the age of forty knows hip-hop, gospel and R&B pretty well, and it's all a part of what we consider to be 'black music.' There is a natural synergy between the three. ~ John Legend

A lot of time we didn't know where we were going or how it was going to transition from fishnets into hip-hop ... But it's worked out. We believe in what we do and I think people get that. ~ Nicole Scherzinger

Being materialistic is part of the hip-hop community's nature, because jazz and blues and rock 'n' roll, when they started out in the urban communities, were about the American Dream, and the lack of opportunity in that structure. So they talked about everything - uplifting and getting what is perceived as success in America. ~ Russell Simmons

I'm down for you, so ride with me.
My enemies your enemies,
Cause you ain't ever had a friend like me. ~ Tupac Shakur

Just because no one can understand how you speak,
Don't necessarily mean that what you be sayin is deep. ~ Talib Kweli

I grew up in Chicago, so hip-hop has always been a part of my life. ~ Gina Rodriguez

The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized. ~ Russell Simmons

I was listening to Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, because that was new music for me. I really hadn't been up on them. I mean, I'd heard of them, but I wasn't up on their music. And I kept listening to Radiohead, and I was like, Man, I want to make hip-hop that feels like Radiohead. I want to make hip-hop that can use guitars and soul and jazz and just fuse it all together. ~ Will Ferrell

I think 'Country Girl' is one song that can veer into country or hip-hop or rap. You can listen to it and enjoy the humor and the fun in it. ~ Luke Bryan

You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low?
I'll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! ~ Busta Rhymes

A lot of times, when people say hip-hop, they don't know what they're talking about. They just think of the rappers. When you talk about hip-hop, you're talking about the whole culture and movement. You have to take the whole culture for what it is. ~ Afrika Bambaataa

I was fed by the music I listened to as a kid. Hip-hop fed me psychologically, spiritually, politically. I learned from that music. ~ Saul Williams

And while you was bangin on tables, I was bangin Snow White. ~ PMD

Too many MC's take that word 'emcee' lightly;
They can't Move a Crowd, not even slightly. ~ KRS-One

You a lame so yo dame playin mind games;
I'm a pimp so I stay in that mind frame. ~ Lil' Flip

It was Saturday night and I was feelin kinda funny,
Gold around my neck, pockets full of money. ~ Schoolly D

We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish.
Some don't love theyselves, so they perception is tainted. ~ Talib Kweli

Puffy's contribution to hip-hop culture was the remix. He offered us the music that his mom played in front of him, with newer drums and younger artists. That worked, and will consistently be there. The remix comes right after the original record, that's something Puffy did to influence the culture. ~ Curtis Jackson

DJs play a big responsibility of what hip-hop is doing ... At the end of the day, it's up to us to control and to own hip-hop. DJs need to challenge us rappers. They got so much power, they need to challenge us. ~ Nas

Blues, rock and hip hop are more about a lifestyle and culture than notes on a page. ~ Jake Shimabukuro