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I feel like people, when it comes to music, whatever genre, they relate to the story more than just the song.
Hakeem Seriki -
I just try to do me, and I feel like it works.
Hakeem Seriki
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If I asked you something about basketball and you don't really know about basketball and you try to talk it and fake it, I'm going to be able to tell. It's the same way about music; you have to be real.
Hakeem Seriki -
There are certain fans who want me to rap about the same exact thing, but it's time to grow up.
Hakeem Seriki -
I'm one of these people that just like to brainstorm.
Hakeem Seriki -
A moment will pass, but a movement will last.
Hakeem Seriki -
I try to keep the music fresh in my head. And I don't always listen to rap; I listen to a little bit of everything: R&B, rock.
Hakeem Seriki -
The streets and the industry are two different things. You could be one super-hot artist in the streets, and you could walk into a corporate building, and people would be like, "Who are you?"
Hakeem Seriki
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If you go down to Texas, people are real proud about and they rep Texas.
Hakeem Seriki -
I don't think people are going to come down to Texas and see every person riding in a candy car or every person sipping syrup. But, for the most part, people got a lot of the stuff right, talking about the screwed music scene.
Hakeem Seriki -
All the carbon copies, the stuff that the industry puts together, it's not selling if you pay attention and look at the charts. The stuff that they put together, these hits that just go out, it doesn't sell. It doesn't have a core fan base of fans that dedicatedly watch their life. It's just a song, another song, another hit song, a one-hit wonder. It doesn't sell. It doesn't last.
Hakeem Seriki -
Every underground artist has that little chip on his shoulder, like "I'm stuck here, and I'm trying to get out of this little hole that I'm in." You've got this core fan base, but it's limited.
Hakeem Seriki -
Most people hear me do all these freestyles and never hear me tell a story.
Hakeem Seriki -
I'm in a wonderful position now because the rise of the whole Houston scene, the scene that we've been doing for years that people really didn't embrace a long time ago and now they're embracing it. It's good to be in the middle of that during the uprising.
Hakeem Seriki
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I'll step in an airport just now, and people will recognize me. I'm in Harlem on 144th and whatever, and people are coming up to me like, "What's up, Chamillionaire?" And seeing it grow is, nothing turning into something, that feeling is a really good feeling.
Hakeem Seriki -
I'm trying to go to places where people wouldn't normally, to try to get some new fans.
Hakeem Seriki -
You have to stay focused because a lot of things will break your confidence. But if you stay focused and want it bad enough you can achieve. I know that sounds like a PBS special, but it's true, straight up.
Hakeem Seriki -
I might tell a story about somebody else, but I don't sit there and do a story about somebody snitching on me selling coke because people know I didn't sell coke. So I just try to keep it real but still try to do it in a creative way.
Hakeem Seriki -
Musically, I want to graduate and become one of the greatest. You can't do that just spitting punchlines. I respect those people who say they love that old style, but it would be greedy of them to want me to stay that same person.
Hakeem Seriki -
I couldn't make every song about Texas because it wouldn't be new; it wouldn't be a breath of fresh air.
Hakeem Seriki
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It just gets old when you hear a million raps about how many ways I could shoot you.
Hakeem Seriki -
It would be crazy for me to come out now talking about selling drugs and doing all this stuff I never did for the sake of A&R or records or trying to keep the street buzz or whatever.
Hakeem Seriki -
When I'm riding in a car, I don't really listen to music. I turn the radio off and just be thinking, brainstorming. I'm one of these people that just like to brainstorm.
Hakeem Seriki -
I didn't have nothing handed to me. It's a hard, long road getting to where I'm at. And I think the fans that have been down with me for a long time, they see that. They've been seeing me clawing my way to try to get to the top.
Hakeem Seriki