Rap Quotes

I'm Ready to Die without a Reasonable Doubt
Smoke Chronic and hit it Doggystyle before I go out.
Until they sign my Death Certificate, All Eyez on Me
I'm still at it, Illmatic, and that's The Documentary. ~ Jayceon Terrell Taylor

Davis is naturally a sweet-natured person.He's just been hanging around Nick and Gavin too long.Its a wonder they don't have him stealing candy from babies, or blasting rap music out of his car stereo in front of the retirement home. ~ Jennifer Echols

I'm livin' in times where my daughters are found around
Kids who can't afford thinking caps ...
But always found drinkin' raps and eatin' off beats,
Claimin' laws of the streets. But who made the laws?
Everybody playin' rebel with no sign of a cause. ~ Kelvin Mercer

Excuse my charisma, vodka with a spritzer. Swagger down pat, call my shit Patricia. Young Money militia and I am the commissioner. You don't want start Weezy 'cause the F is for finisher
So misunderstood but what's a world without enigma? ~ Lil' Wayne

I don't listen to much rap, really. I can rarely listen to a whole record of it, because musically, it's very formulaic, and oftentimes it doesn't have the best hooks on every track. ~ Nellie McKay

My inspiration for writing music is like Don McLean did when he did "American Pie" or "Vincent". Lorraine Hansberry with "A Raisin in the Sun". Like Shakespeare when he does his thing, like deep stories, raw human needs.

I'm trying to think of a good analogy. It's like, you've got the Vietnam War, and because you had reporters showing us pictures of the war at home, that's what made the war end, or that shit would have lasted longer. If no one knew what was going on we would have thought they were just dying valiantly in some beautiful way. But because we saw the horror, that's what made us stop the war.

So I thought, that's what I'm going to do as an artist, as a rapper. I'm gonna show the most graphic details of what I see in my community and hopefully they'll stop it quick.

I've seen all of that-- the crack babies, what we had to go through, losing everything, being poor, and getting beat down. All of that. Being the person I am, I said no no no no. I'm changing this. ~ Tupac Shakur

I don't want to see old people doing rap or rock and roll. It makes me cringe. ~ Grace Slick

We just wanted to get as far away from the rap-rock scene as possible, because its been done and other bands do it better than us anyway. ~ Adam Rich

Being a student of hip-hop in general, you take technical aspects from places. You may take a rhyme pattern or flow from Big Daddy Kane or Kool G Rap. ~ Eminem

My life after childhood has two main stories: the story of the hustler and the story of the rapper, and the two overlap as much as they diverge. I was on the streets for more than half of my life from the time I was thirteen years old. People sometimes say that now I'm so far away from that life - now that I've got businesses and Grammys and magazine covers - that I have no right to rap about it. But how distant is the story of your own life ever going to be? The feelings I had during that part of my life were burned into me like a brand. It was life during wartime. ~ Jay-Z

I feel like when I reach my 500-million-dollar goal, then no other woman in rap will ever feel like they can't do what these men have done ~ Nicki Minaj

I'm putting everything on the line in being able to express myself in a different way than rappers normally do. They might say, 'It's rap' or 'It's R&B,' but I'm stepping outside the box and making music for me and making music for the fans to understand me. I'm going the extra distance to be able to come across different. ~ Nayvadius Cash

Rosa Parks turned to me sweetly and asked, 'Now, Bryan, tell me who you are and what you're doing.' I looked at Ms. Carr to see if I had permission to speak, and she smiled and nodded at me. I then gave Ms. Parks my rap. 'Yes, ma'am. Well, I have a law project called the Equal Justice Initiative, and we're trying to help people on death row. We're trying to stop the death penalty, actually. We're trying to do something about prison conditions and excessive punishment. We want to free people who've been wrongly convicted. We want to end unfair sentences in criminal cases and stop racial bias in criminal justice...Ms. Parks leaned back smiling. 'Ooooh, honey, all that's going to make you tired, tired, tired.' We all laughed. I looked down, a little embarrassed. Then Ms. Carr leaned forward and put her finger in my face and talked o me just like my grandmother used to talk to me. She said, 'That's why you've got to be brave, brave, brave.' All three women nodded in silent agreement and for just a little while, they made me feel like a young prince. ~ Bryan Stevenson

Put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth.
Motherf
. I, will, not, lose. ~ Jay-Z

I would never challenge any rapper to a rap-off. It's weird, I'm not that type of rapper. ~ Donald Glover

Memorization has gotten a bad rap recently. Lots of students, and even some educators, say that being able to reason is more important than knowing facts; and besides, why bother committing things to memory when you've got Google? My response to this - after I've finished inwardly groaning - is that of course reasoning is important, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know facts as well. It's not like you have to choose between one or the other. Besides, facts give you a foundation on which to reason about things. ~ Stefanie Weisman

Couldn't afford a car so he named his daughter Alexis ~ Kanye West

The man does not beat your head because you got a Cadillac or because you got a Ford; he beats you because you're black! ~ H. Rap Brown

I never fronted, you can get it if you want it ...
Won't say I'm the best, but I'm not that far from it. ~ Lord Finesse

And when I smiled, 'Bing!' I almost blinded her.
She said, 'Great Scot, are you a thief?
Seems like you have a mouth full of gold teeth!'
Hahahaha, had to find that funny,
So I said, 'No child, I work hard for the money.
And calling me a thief? Please ... don't even try it,
Sit down, eat your slice of pizza, and be quiet.' ~ Slick Rick

A forty and a blunt, that's all she really wants. ~ Grand Puba

Jazz isn't as profitable for labels like Hip hop or Rap. Jazz needs subsidies to continue, just like European classical works of Bach and Beethoven are subsidized. ~ Jimmy Heath

As millions use social media as a primary source of information, the risk of falling victim to being misinformed is high. Readers who quickly scan newsfeeds tend to only read (and share information about) a headline: focusing on "the hook." Whether due to complacency or lack of time, few explore the content. This allows bogus media outlets to descend on the unsuspecting (and unprepared) seekers of instant information, creating false stories with dazzling one-liners, secure in the knowledge that there will be little effort to pursue confirmation or research an entire story. ~ Carlos Wallace

I mean even though we were going through our drama
I would never wish death on nobody, you know what I'm sayin'
Because there ain't no coming back from that ~ The Notorious B.I.G.

I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six. It's a maxim, an oft-repeated rap lyric, a last-ditch rock and hard place algorithm that on the surface is about faith in the system but in reality means shoot first, put your trust in the public defender, and be thankful you still have your health. I ~ Paul Beatty

Reality does get a bad rap. But I'm not concerned about it 'cause I know who I am. They can edit it, but you are in charge of what you do. ~ Niecy Nash

I'm a mother myself, and sometimes mothers get a bad rap just because they've tried to do their job. Some people have more of a knack for it than others do, but almost all of it falls to, 'My mother's suffocating me.' Whatever. ~ Annie Potts

A digital sound sample in angry rap doesn't correspond to the graffiti but the wall. ~ Jaron Lanier

I cannot stand no wack MC.
So step back if you please,
And don't test me, you're history. ~ Del Tha Funkee Homosapien

Swimmin' laps around a bottle of Louie the Thirteenth
Jumpin' off of a mountain into a sea of codeine
I'm at the top of the top, but still I climb
And if I should ever fall, the ground will then turn to wine. ~ Lil' Wayne

You ain't as hard as you act.
When I GPS 'pussy,' I end up at your welcome mat ... ~ Vakill

When I hit the skins they all say, 'Damn Kane ...
You knock out the Bush like a presidential campaign!' ~ Big Daddy Kane

It started back in '79,
My whole darn future was on the line.
I created a brand new sensation
Through my mind and the whole darn nation ... ~ Sylvia Robinson

No, I can't do rap music! ~ Dolly Parton

I used to do more melodic stuff, and I used to do more actual rap - like traditional hip hop vocals. I think my method of storytelling has led me to this point, at which I want to pare down my style. I think I give the lyrics more thought, and then when I try to perform the lyrics over the track I'll try it over and over again, and eventually the lyrics will sink into the track by the way I project them. ~ Galcher Lustwerk

My life is a blunt to the head, a prayer for the dead,
Run around hustlin ... scared of the feds.
They said death is eternal sleep,
But the only thing is you ain't really sure if you prepared for the bed. ~ Styles P

An interesting thing happened today," she said, giving me just enough time to get the word "hi" out of my mouth. "I opened the front door and there was a man on my doorstep. A big man. A very big, very black man."

"Rachel - "

"You said it would be discreet. His T–shirt had the words 'Klan Killer' written on the front."

"I - "

"And do you know what he said?"

I waited.

"He handed me a note from Louis and told me he was lactose intolerant. That was it. Note. Lactose intolerant. Nothing else. He's coming to the reading with me. It was all I could do to get him to change his T–shirt. The new one reads 'Black Death.' I'm going to tell people it's a rap band. Do you think it's a rap band?"

I figured it was probably his occupation, but I didn't say that. Instead, I said the only thing I could think of to say.

"Maybe you'd better buy some soy milk."

She hung up without saying good–bye. ~ John Connolly

Now let me ask you all a question, what's more pathetic and sad to you? A bunch of poor black people who listen to rich black rappers rapping about their wealth, or a bunch of poor white people who listen to rich white country singers singing songs about how much they love being broke rednecks? ~ T.J. Kirk

It's an accompaniment to life. It's not something that I do to rap; I smoke when I open my eyes ... I don't know any other feeling. ~ Action Bronson

It's 5:22pm you're in the grocery checkout line. Your three-year-old is writhing on the floor, screaming, because you have refused to buy her a Teletubby pinwheel. Your six-year-old is whining, repeatedly, in a voice that could saw through cement, "But mommy, puleeze, puleeze" because you have not bought him the latest "Lunchables," which features, as the four food groups, Cheetos, a Snickers, Cheez Whiz, and Twizzlers. Your teenager, who has not spoken a single word in the past foor days, except, "You've ruined my life," followed by "Everyone else has one," is out in the car, sulking, with the new rap-metal band Piss on the Parentals blasting through the headphones of a Discman. To distract yourself, and to avoid the glares of other shoppers who have already deemed you the worst mother in America, you leaf through People magazine. Inside, Uma thurman gushes "Motherhood is Sexy." Moving on to Good Housekeeping, Vanna White says of her child, "When I hear his cry at six-thirty in the morning, I have a smile on my face, and I'm not an early riser." Another unexpected source of earth-mother wisdom, the newly maternal Pamela Lee, also confides to People, "I just love getting up with him in the middle of the night to feed him or soothe him." Brought back to reality by stereophonic whining, you indeed feel as sexy as Rush Limbaugh in a thong. ~ Susan J. Douglas

Lil Wayne is somebody who I used to ride to school listening to in my car. You know from Tha Carter to Tha Carter II, to Dedication 1 & 2, to Da Drought, his mixtapes. You know you got that for him as him being a rap legend, somebody who you look up to. ~ Big Sean

It's been a long time ... I shouldn't have left you
Without a strong rhyme to step to. ~ Rakim

I got ice in my veins
Blood in my eyes/Hate in my heart
Love in my mind ~ Lil' Wayne

The 9th chamber, leave you trapped inside my hallway
You try to flee but you got smoked up by the doorway (blaow! blaow! blaow!)
No question, I send your ass back, right to the essence
Your whole frame is smothered in dirt, now how you restin ~ Ghostface Killah

The colder the weather, the bigger the gun
Got to rock a lot of clothes if you tryina hide one
In June it's .22's, February it's fifths
But all year round, it's 616. ~ Willie The Kid

Speaking of people I had to exclude: Hank Williams. which is to say, songs are part of lyric poetry in my book, my thinking. In fact they are the urgent element of poetry in our time, they carry the most emotion for the most people in our culture. everyone LOVES poetry, because we all love (one form or another) of rock and roll (be it folk to emo to rap). It's all rock and roll and all lyric poetry. ~ Gregory Orr

I think you gotta always do things that keep you excited in an [rap music] industry that's so bullshit. When you know that you have so much energy and so much to give, it would be a shame if the facilitators of that aren't enthusiastic about you doing it, because you've been doing it for so long. So you just gotta figure out ways in this insane business to keep it fresh. ~ Nas

Damn, I can't wait until it get dark,
So I can light these fireworks up at the park,
And celebrate my independence,
It's the 4th of July, but I ain't got 10 cents. ~ Kam

There are few things that's forever, my lady.
We can make war or make babies. ~ Method Man

Guns turn you boys into pussies, sex change ~ Lil' Wayne

Political leaders and presidents were shot at or assassinated about as often as rap artists are today. An unpopular war cost fifty-eight thousand American lives. Those who bravely served our country returned home to be treated with unwarranted scorn. Promiscuous sex and hallucinatory drugs were celebrated as the path to enlightenment. Race riots set major cities aflame. Police were called pigs. And no one over the age of thirty was to be trusted. Worse, some people wore leisure suits - in public - and they were proud of it. ~ Larry Osborne

Being a man is the continuing battle for one's life. One loses a bit of manhood with every stale compromise to the authority of any power in which one does not believe. ~ H. Rap Brown

When I got into rap I didn't exactly win any popularity contests. I called myself Dee Dee King, after B.B. King, to the total dismay of my fellow Ramones. ~ Dee Dee Ramone

'You claim to be the man, you want me for a lover,
So you can do my girlfriends and my sister and my mother?'
I said, 'You're very blunt,' with quickness to the cue,
'So whassup with your mother, does she look as good as you?' ~ Dres

Rhyme to kill, rhyme to murder, rhyme to stomp,
Rhyme to ill, rhyme to romp,
Rhyme to smack, rhyme to shock, rhyme to roll,
Rhyme to destroy anything, toy boy.
On the microphone:
I'm Poppa Large, big shot on the East Coast. ~ Kool Keith

Rappers hate each other, not the labels that got rich,
Don't care about culture, they only want profit.
If your album sell slow, bet you'll get dropped quick;
Q-Tip warned us: the industry's toxic.
For reference, check out BDP's Sex and Violence. ~ Cormega

There's gonna be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing
If my burglar alarm starts ringing ~ The Notorious B.I.G.

No-frill rappers: you will evaporate, disintegrate, deflate to your fate,
as the great will dominate straight to the state
Of reignin', gainin' ... So put Kane in
That category. Period. End of story. ~ Big Daddy Kane

The truth is easier when you leavin' it out.
Like when you "5 minutes away" but you're just leavin your house? ~ William Wordsworth

I keep it wrapped until i meet the right one
'Cause I ain't Mumford, I ain't trying to have sons ~ Donald Glover

I used to be focused on being the dopest rapper in the game, and then once that became what I was, I wanted something different, and I wanted to become the best businessman in the game. I wanted to learn how to master the business like I mastered the rap. ~ Snoop Dogg

Your white tee, well to me, looks like a nightgown;
Make your mama proud, take that thing two sizes down. ~ Andre Benjamin

I live in New Jersey now, which always gets a bad rap here and there, but I must say, I enjoy living here too. ~ Paul Muldoon

Styles be fat like Jackie Gleason, the rest be Art Carney. ~ Phife Dawg

I write poetry, and I put it to a beat - I mean, that's what they call rap. ~ Keith Stanfield

Truth brings light, light refracts off the mirror,
Visions of yourself and error could never be clearer.
The truth is that you ugly ...
Not on the outside, but in the inside;
On the outside, you frontin' you lovely. ~ Pharoahe Monch

That's why we sing for these kids who don't have a thing, except for a dream and a fuckin rap magazine; Who post pin-up pictures on they walls all day long, idolize they favorite rappers and know all they songs; Or for anyone who's ever been through shit in they lives, so they sit and they cry, at night, wishin they'd die; Til they throw on a rap record and they sit and they vibe; We're nothin to you, but we're the fuckin shit in they eyes; That's why we seize the moment; Try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it, cause we consider these minutes golden; And maybe they'll admit it when we're gone; Just let our spirits live on, through our lyrics that you hear in our songs... [Sing for the Moment] ~ Eminem

I'm actually a huge fan of hip-hop. I like hip-hop music. I love rap. I like cabaret music, as well. I just love live music and bands. ~ Britney Spears

I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl
Turnin' this woman's womb into a tomb
But she and I agree, a seed we don't need
You would've been much more than a mouth to feed
But someone I would've fed this information I read
To someone my life for you I would've had to leave
Instead I led you to death. ~ Common

I won't say I'm the baddest, or portray that role,
But I'm in the top 2, and my father's gettin' old. ~ Big Daddy Kane

You can't live your life on a bus... ~ Donald Glover

Let's be honest, the cards' on the table:
Jealousy's a sin, Cain killed Abel.
Backstabber ... Caesar had Brutus.
It's hard to weed 'em out, even Jesus had Judas. ~ Pusha T

Laugh now, cry later: this is the karma.
Hip-hop never died, it's just sick of the drama. ~ Cormega

I hate rap music, which to me sounds like a bunch of angry men shouting, possibly because the person who was supposed to provide them with a melody never showed up. ~ Dave Barry

Young kids out here see what's on TV and feel like they can start rapping. They think rappers are rich and really have their own jets and Bentleys, but in lot of cases that stuff is rented. ~ Rahki

I listen to music for emotion and I get zero emotion from rap. ~ Sebastian Bach

Rap is not pop. If you call it that, then stop. ~ Q-Tip

You have the rap industry trying to stay above water by giving the people what they want, but then you have the people who are partaking in it and seeing it and they want what they think these artist have. ~ Rahki

My job is to file things! I'm not going to be like, "Mr. Jacobsen from Oakland, California" - just listing his problems, like a rap. ~ Tamaryn

I don't sugarcoat it you'd die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it ~ Kendrick Lamar

I haven't had time to have a real freak-out."
He shakes his head, determined. "I'm not going to give you time. Don't think. Oreos or M&Ms?"
"Oreos!"
"Summer or fall?!"
"Fall!"
"Tator tots or French fries?!"
"Both!"
"Do you want to marry me, yes or no?"
"YES!"
Then I jump across the car and kiss him so hard he falls back and crashes against the window. The kids in the rap car holler at us to get a room. ~ R.S. Grey

Shoot eagles on the Jack Nicklaus course,
Porsche with the triple exhaust,
Seats soft like a midget's cough ... ~ Action Bronson

There's definitely some parallels between me and Joaquin Phoenix, I think. The line gets so blurry. My rap career wasn't a hoax, but it was absolutely intended to be a joke. The problem was that I really was on a quest to somehow be a Caucasian Ol' Dirty Bastard. ~ Steve-O

One out of three black men are in the criminal justice system in some form. Their despair is beginning to resonate through the entire culture; that is why suburban children want rap music. ~ Robert Bly

I'm making good money but I ain't rich. Even if I don't wanna rap I still gotta work. Pride don't feed the babies. I'm going to do whatever it takes. As long as my fingers and toes move Im'ma get money. ~ Sean Price

The crowd response has always been great, we always have fun at the shows and we will definitely be back representing our album to give people entertainment with a stage show, most rap shows are boring. ~ B-Real

When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind of dance stuff. ~ A-Trak

When you're the sane brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your hands
the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper
if you've promised your dying mother
then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the indifference of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin
the guy who beat the biochemical rap. ~ Wally Lamb

My conception of New York City came from rap music. I envisioned it as a place where people shot each other on the street and got away with it; no one walked on the streets, rather people drove in their sports cars looking for nightclubs and for violence. ~ Ishmael Beah

A fast note about Ice-T's autobiography: There's a section where he tells a story about hanging out with Flavor Flav that involves going to Red Lobster in a Ferrari. I suspect the phrase "going to Red Lobster in a Ferrari" is the most accurate description of Flavor Flav anyone will ever come up with. ~ Shea Serrano

The Devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th,
The New World Order was born on September 11. ~ Immortal Technique

One of the things that I'm dying to do is to sing the hook on a big rap song. No one's ever called me to do that. ~ Darius Rucker

And understand: class differences will not save you. ~ H. Rap Brown

Real slow hits from the bong ...
Make me feel like Cheech,
And I'm kickin' it with Chong. ~ B-Real

Violence is a part of America. I don't want to single out rap music. Let's be honest. America's the most violent country in the history of the world, that's just the way it is. We're all affected by it. ~ Spike Lee

The long-simmering anger at racism and economic injustice of alienated black youth in the ghettoes was erupting into violent and destructive urban insurrections. In every case these "riots" were triggered by police brutality or misconduct, most usually the killing or brutalizing of an unarmed black man. ~ H. Rap Brown

I think the idea of crossing over is the ultimate expression of being ... Maybe it's time to play rock and roll on disco ... maybe it's time to play heavy metal on R & B, things like that. Certainly culminating on things like Aerosmith doing the rap thing with Run DMC, which if they hadn't done that, or if Eddie hadn't played with Michael Jackson, or if I hadn't done "Hot Stuff", people would have said "You can't do that" ~ Jeff Baxter

You know it ain't no stoppin'
All the doggs I'm droppin'
It's Friday night, so everything is poppin. ~ Ice Cube

Rap is something you do Hip Hop is something you live ~ KRS-One

I got a smile that'll make the mirror crack,
And I seem to stay under clouds that's pitch black.
So when it rains, it pours, and when it pours, I'm soaked.
I contracted lung cancer from third hand smoke,
And I'm like the frog that's dying to be a prince,
The boy who cried wolf and no one was convinced.
The man who hit lotto and lost his ticket,
In a rainstorm ... and struck by lightning trying to get it. ~ GZA