- All Quotes
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I grew up in Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and my mom and pop had an extensive record collection, so Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and all of those sounds and souls of Motown filled the house.
Jay-Z -
New York has a thousand universes in it that don't always connect but we do all walk the same streets, hear the same sirens, ride the same subways, see the same headlines in the Post, read the same writings on the walls. That shared landscape gets inside of all of us and, in some small way, unites us, makes us think we know each other even when we don't.
Jay-Z
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One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That's the American ideal. Poor people don't like talking about poverty because even though they might live in the projects surrounded by other poor people and have, like, ten dollars in the bank, they don't like to think of themselves as poor.
Jay-Z -
You not feeling me, fine. It costs you nothing, pay me no mind.
Jay-Z -
Without the work, the magic won’t come.
Jay-Z -
I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.
Jay-Z -
Jay Hov about to change my name to Jay Pesobut in a meantime called me William H thoughon a platinum Yamaha got the engine gunningthrowing it up like liquor on an empty stomach.
Jay-Z -
And through our travels we get separated, never forget: In order to survive, got to learn to live with regrets.
Jay-Z
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The Nets' a stone throw from where I used to throw bricks ...So it's only right I'm still tossing 'round Knicks.
Jay-Z -
Kurt Cobain OD'd on heroin before committing suicide, but he also OD'd on fame. Cobain was like Basquiat: They both wanted to be famous, and were brilliant enough to make it happen. But then what? Drug addicts kill themselves trying to get that feeling they got from their first high, looking for an experience they'll never get again. In his suicide note, Cobain asked himself, "Why don't you just enjoy it?" and then answered, "I don't know!" It's amazing how much of a mindfuck success can be.
Jay-Z -
I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. Reid and Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community.
Jay-Z -
Wherever I go, I bring the culture with me, so that they can understand that it's attainable. I didn't do it any other way than through hip-hop.
Jay-Z -
[T]he truth is you don't need some external demon to take control of you to turn you into a raging, money-obsessed sociopath, you only need to let loose the demons you already have inside of you.
Jay-Z -
Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I'm a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best?
Jay-Z
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Can I hit it in the morning with out giving you have of my dough?
Jay-Z -
Hip-hop gave a generation a common ground that didn't require either race to lose anything; everyone gained.
Jay-Z -
Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can't.
Jay-Z -
If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it. The beat is everywhere, but every life has to find its own flow.
Jay-Z -
Your future is ahead of you. Imagine the notion of the past fifteen years of your life being a blip in your story.
Jay-Z -
As fate would have it, Jay's status appears To be at an all-time high, perfect time to say goodbye When I come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5.
Jay-Z
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When people say stuff like, "Oh, that's soft rock. I don't listen to that," I find that elitist. It's music-racist.
Jay-Z -
The average rap life is two or three albums. You're lucky to get to your second album in rap!
Jay-Z -
May the best of your today's be the worst of your tomorrow's
Jay-Z -
The genius thing that we did was, we didn't give up.
Jay-Z