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I think doing a record with B.B. King allowed me the opportunity to blend two different generations across the board and make a song that I hope is extremely impactful.
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I would say when you're dealing with live musicians and musicality, the warmth of a live instrument brings a certain feel to a song that is really hard, sometimes, to get from synthesized instruments.
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With music, it's a therapy for me. So whatever I'm dealing with at the time, I talk about it when I rap.
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Sample clearances and roll-out plans is what separates mix-tapes & albums.
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People know, lyrically, I go in, and you should never take me lightly on any record.
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I'm used to producing all of my projects, doing all the beats, and writing all the hooks.
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I think us, especially as black people, we don't necessarily talk about our feelings enough or talk to someone about our feelings.
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With some of the samples that I chose to use, tracking down the person that owns the publishing has become a task.
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Where I'm from is humble, and people are mad appreciative of what they have.
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It's a lot of people that died for me to have the opportunity that I have now, just the freedom. It shouldn't be forgotten as far as the past is concerned.
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I think if I wanted to get to a point where I could actually grow in my music, I had to almost step away from sampling so much and start making the kind of music that people wanted to sample.
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We all wish we could stay with one franchise and it work out the way it work out but it doesn't necessarily work that way, but you've got to keep balling.
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You've got to keep being 100 percent, keep doing what's best for you and your legacy, and then build and help other people around you, too.
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Musically, I'm always gonna take it a little farther, and Lord willing, people are gonna get that and understand that: that there's not really one genre I'm trying to be in, but just as a producer, as a writer, as an artist, that I'm planning on going farther.
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My music's gonna evolve as I get older.
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I learned a lot while working on 'Live From the Underground.'
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I always revisit duality because I think it's a conflict we all have. I think we all leave our house and go to work, and we put on the cape and become superheroes. That's what we do. It's how we move through life and handle negativity: you do everything you can to stay away from it.
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Success happened for me when I dropped my first major label album for Def Jam, 'Live From The Underground.'
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Adele was introduced to me by a guitarist named Mike Hartnett that plays for a band called Rehab. We was just riding around, and he was like, 'Man have you heard this soul singer Adele?' and I was like 'Nah!' and we just rode to the whole CD, and it got to 'Hometown Glory,' and I was like, 'Man I have to sample that!'
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I'm thankful for all the support I've received over the years.
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Twenty-fourteen is all about growth musically and new agendas.
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I have to feel like my grandmother was my first mix engineer.
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When you say, 'Man, what kind of music does Outkast make?' You be like, 'They make Outkast music.' What kind of music does N.E.R.D. make? They make N.E.R.D. music. I want to be one of those people, because there's so many layers to the music I create that I don't want people to expect me to do one thing.
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I worked on 'Cadillactica' with the mind to not sample as much and focus on creativity.