- All Quotes
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If skills sold truth be told I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense (But I did five Mil) I ain't been rhyming like Common since.
Jay-Z -
Cough up a lung where I'm from marcy son, aint nothin nice
Jay-Z
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Far from a Harvard student, just had the balls to do it
Jay-Z -
The fans get to see you, and you can do great by your record if you have a great performance or a great night there. That's all part of the business. But at their core, awards shows are not really a sincere thing. For a lot of years, the artists had to pay to play their own set.
Jay-Z -
Be fluid. Treat each project differently. Be water, man. The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out. And when you have no style they can't figure you out.
Jay-Z -
I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.
Jay-Z -
Males shouldnt be jealous. Thats a female trait.
Jay-Z -
Everybody look at you strange, say you changed Like you work that hard to stay the same.
Jay-Z
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My thing is related to who I am as a person. The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I'm feeling at the time, whatever direction I'm heading in. And hopefully, everyone follows.
Jay-Z -
Racism is taught in the home. We agree on that? Well, it's very hard to teach racism to a teenager who's listening to rap music and who idolizes, say, Snoop Dogg. It's hard to say, 'That guy is less than you.' The kid is like, 'I like that guy, he's cool. How is he less than me?
Jay-Z -
Don't ever go with the flow. Be the flow.
Jay-Z -
As sure as this Earth is turnin, souls burnin / In search of higher learnin, turnin in every direction seeking direction / My moms cryin cause her insides are dyin / Her son tryin her patience, keep her heart racin / A million beats a minute, I know I push you to your limit / But it's this game, love—I'm caught up all in it / They make it so you can't prevent it, never give it / You gotta take it, can't fake it, I keep it authentic
Jay-Z -
I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air.
Jay-Z -
I'm trying to tell the story in the most clear, concise, and truthful way, taking those everyday words and phrases and capturing them in a way that they become something else.
Jay-Z
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I'm hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter.
Jay-Z -
And now we're lethal, infected with D'Evils
Jay-Z -
Put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth. Motherf--. I, will, not, lose.
Jay-Z -
How could I be out there and not do anything?
Jay-Z -
Ex-D-boy, used to park my Beamer Now look at me, I can park in my own arena
Jay-Z -
People who don't know you, you don't know their motives. They smile at you all day, "Oh, that's great. You've done it again! You're the greatest!" And that's not good for an artist.
Jay-Z
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For me, the challenge is just making great albums, because talent - and writing in general - is not tangible. There's no expiration date on it. At the same time, you might wake up tomorrow and be unable to write music.
Jay-Z -
I don't even like the word politics. It implies something underhanded and I think we need less government.
Jay-Z -
I'm gonna fight, and I'm gonna make something out of nothing. That's pretty much the American dream. So, for me, the realization that I could speak to people like that came first on a small scale. Then it just started happening. I started having this vibration.
Jay-Z -
Used to rock a throwback ballin on the corner, now I rock tailored suit lookin' like a owner.
Jay-Z