Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter) Quotes

I got 99 Problems but Mitt ain't one.

Jay-Z

• Problem
• Election

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Quotes to Explore

• I will not lose, for even in defeat/There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me

  

  Jay-Z
  • Up
  • Lessons
  • Defeat

• Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Past
  • Running
  • inspirational

• We were kids without fathers, so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves.

  

  Jay-Z
  • World
  • Kids
  • History

• I jack, I rob, I sin. Aw man, I'm Jackie Robinson 'Cept when I run base, I dodge the pen

  

  Jay-Z
  • Men
  • Running
  • Sin

• Never prayed to God, I prayed to Gotti, that's right it's wicked, that's life I live it. Ain't askin' for forgiveness for my sins. I gotta get my soul right, I gotta get these Devils out my life. Lord forgive him, He got them dark forces in. connected to the high power. 666. I can introduce you to evil.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Life
  • God
  • Live

• Men lie, women lie, numbers dont

  

  Jay-Z
  • Men
  • Women
  • Lying

• I love you so, But why I love you, I'll never know.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Music
  • Why
  • Love You

• I use a lot of double meanings. I hide 'em like Easter eggs.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Use
  • Eggs
  • Easter

• You put the right artist on the right track in the studio and leave the door open to let God in.

  

  Jay-Z
  • God
  • Artist
  • Door

• All these ways we classify things as R&B and hip-hop and rock... It's bullshit. It's all music. If you put yourself in that box, then you won't be able to hear that it's all music at its soul.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Music
  • Soul
  • Rock

• I'm a hustler, baby; I sell water to a well!

  

  Jay-Z
  • Water
  • Baby
  • Rap

• I'm a mirror. If you're cool with me, I'm cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don't like what you see, then you've done something. If I'm standoffish, that's because you are.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Done
  • Cool
  • Mirror

• Life is a gift, love opens it up.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Life
  • Up
  • Life is

• I collect art, and I drink wine... things that I like that I had never been exposed to. But I never said, 'I'm going to buy art to impress this crowd.' That's just ridiculous to me. I don't live my life like that, because how could you be happy with yourself?

  

  Jay-Z
  • Life
  • Live
  • Art

• You know the type: loud as a motorbike but wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Fighting
  • Fruit
  • Grapes

• When I listen to great music, the first thing I wonder is what people were saying when this came out of the speakers in the studio. I want to know what happened when they played it and said, "This is the one!"

  

  Jay-Z
  • People
  • Great
  • Music

• I seen the worst of the worst. I deserve every blessing I receive I'm from the dirt.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Worst
  • Blessing
  • Deserve

• You learn more in failure than you ever do in success

  

  Jay-Z
  • Success
  • Failure
  • Learn

• There's the gift, there's the spirit, and there's the work-all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Work
  • Together
  • Stop

• Remind your self. Nobody constructed like you, you style your self. Jay-Z

  

  Jay-Z
  • Style
  • Self
  • Like You

• This is why we shouldn't be afraid. There are two possibilities: One is that there's more to life than the physical life, that our souls "will find an even higher place to dwell" when this life is over. If that's true, there's no reason to fear failure or death. The other possibility is that this life is all there is. And if that's true, then we have to really live it - we have to take it for everything it has and "die enormous" instead of "living dormant," as I said way back on "Can I Live." Either way, fear is a waste of time.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Life
  • Time
  • Live

• I had success. I had a number one record. I had a number one album. I have to make this kind of record again or else I'm going to lose it all. That's how you end up making the same song over and over.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Up
  • Success
  • Song

• I look in the mirror, my only opponent

  

  Jay-Z
  • Looks
  • Mirror
  • Mirrors

• Leave a mark they can't erase, neither space nor time.

  

  Jay-Z
  • Time
  • Space
  • Mark