Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I have to be able to rap. I don't have the look. I don't have the typical slim-dude, fancy-clothes look. That's not me. I have to be able to rap - there is no other choice, or else I get eaten alive.
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Outside of hip-hop, it was in comics that I most often found the aesthetics and wisdom of my world reflected.
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There's so much bigotry that needs to be overcome.
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Back in the day, when the D.J. would be playing a record, I'd be on the mic trying to hype up the crowd. So once Public Enemy became a rap group, I decided that that's the role that I wanted to take on. I wanted to be the one that was hyping, because I've always been good at it. I can hype up any crowd.
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I'm a total hip-hop geek. That's my favorite kind of music to listen to while getting ready.
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I've never really felt like a veteran. I've never felt like the guy who's like, 'OK, everyone needs to look up to me and respect me.' I've always just been one of the guys that people are excited to get in the ring with. That's all I want.
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The problem is that rap is so often a caricature of its own image. Nobody comes to the table with the seriousness of the effect that it can have; nobody is prepared for that.
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When I see things that are inspiring, I must write a song about it. Some people make a t-shirt or slap something on a wall with paint, but I must make music and freestyle rap.
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When I first got into the rap game, I had an early dream of unifying rappers.
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I'd like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration. I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun!
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Hungary needs Russia.
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I don't know if I'll ever make rap music, but I just like people who are like, 'I am going to just find the medium that's best for this idea and master it and do that.'
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Jay-Z is like a rap-savant, he doesn't have to write the rhymes down, he can create complex raps in his head. I mean he does memorize it, he just doesn't write it down on paper. He doesn't freestyle onto the track, it's all thought out.
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I really appreciate the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever.
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I never liked socially conscious rap. I like rap that's physical, that's about a beat and bass and repetition.
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Rap is from the streets and I'm from the streets. That's why a lot of people accept me.
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If, after obtaining Buddhahood, anyone in my land gets tossed in jail on a vagrancy rap, may I not attain highest perfect enlightenment.
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When you talk about rap you have to understand that rap is part of the Hip-Hop culture.
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Life is something you can't borrow and give back;
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Like anything, you just need to stay true to who you are and hope that social constructs don't get in the way of accomplishing your goals.
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I didn't necessarily have a total idea when I was writing the movie of where everything was going. I just wanted to have really realistic dialogue and write like people I knew talked. I tried to keep it very real.
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The unexpectedness of life, waiting round every corner, catches even wise women unawares (...) To avoid corners altogether is, after all, to refuse to live.
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Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles... We are beggars: this is true.
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Why do I need I.D. to get I.D.? If I had I.D. I wouldn't need I.D.
