Rap Quotes
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In the early '80s, it was hard to find celebrities you can identify with if you lived in the hood. There weren't any rap videos at the time.
Mekhi Phifer
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When I rap, I get to express myself in a way where putting words together is like poetry, and sometimes it's better to talk in certain expressions than sing, you know? So I love, I love to rhyme when I want to express certain things.
Wyclef Jean
Fugees
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I went to jail at 17. While I was there, I discovered that I could write. Once I started making some songs, other inmates wanted to know a little bit more about what I was doing, and they asked me to rap for them. They really liked it, and I made it a goal to come out and try to make something out of the music.
Jay IDK
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I think self-destructiveness is given a really bad rap. I think it can also mean self-reflection and poetic sensiblity. It can mean empathy, hedonism, a libertarianism.
Courtney Love
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Rap music was a savior to me.
Jason Reynolds
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You don't get another chance, life is no Nintendo game.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III
Bad Meets Evil'
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It seems like music gets put in this hub where you have to rap about this, and the minute you do something else, it's like you changing. Nah, I'm being creative.
Justin Scott
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When I'm writing, I'm thinking about how the songs are going to play live. Fifty bars of rap don't translate onstage. No matter how potent the music, you lose the crowd. They want a hook; they want to sing your stuff back to you.
Drake
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I really didn't want to rap; I was just a regular kid. My friend - his name is William Aston - we went to the same high school together, and he was rapping. He put out a freestyle over Chris Brown's 'Look at Me Now,' and it was fire, and the whole school went crazy.
Lil Uzi Vert
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There has been an effect of business rap on the output of today's rap music. But I don't think that's the modern day rapper's fault.
M.I.A.
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I grew up with park jams. That's how I knew about rap... The local MCs would grab the mic and start rapping. I just used to be so in awe and fascinated and like, 'Wow, this is amazing!' But I would never, ever touch the mic. Heck no.
Pepa
DJ Spinderella
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I think that hip-hop should be spelled with a capital "H," and as one word. It's the name of the culture, and it's the name of the identity and consciousness. I think hip-hop is not a product, but a culture. I think rap is a product, but when hip-hop becomes a product, that's slavery, because you're talking about people's souls.
Lawrence "Kris" Parker
Boogie Down Productions
