Ali Shaheed Muhammad Quotes
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Corporations always are controlling things, and we have the ability every day to do something about that. Every day.
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There's the shared imagery between hip-hop and comics, with some producers and emcees taking on super hero personas.
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In 2016, the conversation of the black experience is so broad, and it's very raw. I mean, c'mon, we have a black president. That's a major thing, and there are so many other significant occurrences that have come from the '60s and '70s up to now.
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I grew up around electronic instruments. To me, the turntable is an electronic device. At the same time, I had access to drum machines and keyboards through my uncle; then track recorders into computers. At an early age, I was messing with computers more than most hip-hop musicians.
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I really care about what I put out, and probably more than the fans care. At times, I think I over-care. But I just know that the body of work has such a high standard that it's kind of like, in my own head, I need to at least match it if not get over that, so that's the challenge.
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When you are creating something artistically and are speaking to or representing a culture that you know truthfully, you are doing a good job.
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Take emceeing, one of the foundations of hip-hop culture. A guy grabs a mic, steps up on stage and becomes a spokesman; the voice of the people. If anything, that might be the strongest similarity between hip-hop and comic books, with super heroes, like many rappers, fighting to make a change.
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For the future, be true to yourself. If you're gonna be influenced by someone be influenced by them. Don't cop them so much that you're a clone. No one wants to deal with a clone. There's not that much more substance in being a clone, but definitely be influenced by people...take what you can from that and sculpt it into your own situation. In doing so, you'll be happy and I think your people will be happy listening to what you do.
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I believe in a 'give us this day our daily bread' sort of thing. And what I draw from that is, I try not to stock my refrigerator for groceries for the week, cause I might not live to see the full week.
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Hip-hop was the culture that I grew up with; I am part of this culture.
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Raphael Saadiq said to me, quite often, that Chuck D was his history teacher. And so he got a lot from the music, things that he wasn't getting maybe in school. And I feel the same way with regards to Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder.
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The basic idea of a hero rising up to represent an oppressed or disenfranchised group of people is as true to hip-hop as it is comic book lore.
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If you allow yourself to be closed, especially to a younger generation, then that's death. That's instant death.
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Much of hip-hop, like comic books, is fantastical by nature, too.
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Kanye West, I love you. You might not have known, but I have said in other interviews that you're my hero.
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There have been a lot of hip-hop artists who have made a difference to people's lives, spreading the message of the struggle and representing for those who have overcome adversity.
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I do think that hip-hop has a relationship with comic book culture, and Kung Fu movies too, for that matter.