Nas Quotes

I live in L.A. because my kids do. Home is where my kids are for me.

The whole thing is, do as much as you can, when you possibly can, and don't stress.

To me, creatively challenging myself is my version of owning the Nets.

Me and hip-hop have a relationship that has nothing to do with no other rapper, no matter where you from or nothing. Every n*gga got his own personal relationship with hip-hop and this is mine.

Used to ride with him to Brooklyn, Lewis and Halsey, co chocolate thai, vernon style and burn it down

I'm capable of anything, my imagination can give me wings

Don't ever give up on yourself. Keep pushing because the change of guards is what life's all about.

I don't kill soloists only kill squads

"Never stop. Never settle." I believe in this message.

The reason I want to be alone, is I'm tired of all the things that went wrong that would've went right if I had did 'em on my own

Turnin' nothin' into somethin' is God work, and you get nothin' without struggle and hard work

If the truth is told, the youth can grow.

I think hip hop allows us to talk about everything, and Africa is what I choose to talk about now. If people are not talking about Africa, that's them, that's cool, there's nothing wrong with that. But this is who I am, this is what I have to say, this is what I have to offer.

I don't have time for the news clippings. I got my own mission.

I'm just flowing through, when I see things, I talk about 'em. And it's cool. I don't want any title. I just say what I say, and hopefully somebody gets it. I'm not perfect, and I'm just here and trying to make a dollar, and being real at the same time.

You only have one first chance to make one first impression that lasts a lifetime.

Love the skinny model chicks but I prefer the thickness.

And the stuff that I write, is even tougher than dykes.

Jamaican music can be aggressive, soulful, smooth and exciting all at once - just like hip-hop. At the same time, there's nothing like Jamaica in the United States. Jamaica is its own thing.

Always observe, watch, and talk to older people.

I didn't really do many business ventures throughout my career because I would have an idea and then before I'd have a chance to make something of it, I'd see someone else do it. I just liked to watch my fellow artists become entrepreneurs and be people who can inspire the next generation. I did that more with my songs.

I talk about life, and I make universal music with an American style - and that's what I do.

I broke into shakespeare's tomb and stole his remains, grinded the bones, smoked it, then got in the game

It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.

All I need is one mic . All I need is one life, one try, one breath, I'm one man.

In the past I had to deal with issues that hit me as a younger man. As a man who wasn't married who didn't really have the experience that I have now. Today I'm a different guy.

The flaws, the mistakes I make - that's the real me.

If I made an album just to sell you a story about how I'm the man, it really doesn't show any human side to me. It's good to talk about what's real and what's relevant.

I don't meditate. Silence is golden though.

There needs to be structures in place to do something about misrepresentation about hip hop. When awards are given out and the media talk about hip hop, they're confused because they haven't done their homework on it so you have a case where there's an award for the most pop song in the world and it's called 'hip hop'.

The further I get, the further I want to go

Hip-hop is making a lot of noise. It should get some more spotlight.

All fatherhood is very important because single mothers shouldn't have to raise sons or daughters; they need that help.

I guess entertainment means blatantly lyin'

The big stars in rap, they were too big, so when my rap generation started, it was about bringing you inside my apartment. It wasn't about being a rap star; it was about anything other than.

I think you gotta always do things that keep you excited in an [rap music] industry that's so bullshit. When you know that you have so much energy and so much to give, it would be a shame if the facilitators of that aren't enthusiastic about you doing it, because you've been doing it for so long. So you just gotta figure out ways in this insane business to keep it fresh.

Big up to Flex. Stop taking so much cizock in his mizouth.

People have stopped battling in hip hop, in the primitive sense, and the focus of the competitive element has shifted to the music. It's less about bragging and more about being the best lyrically and poetically.

I push my own limits every day, every moment - in the studio, on the stage and beyond so it's truly a genuine fit.

I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times, Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind

So many affluent men are faced with finding love problems. I'm sure beautiful, affluent women are faced with the same things sometimes.

Freedom or jail clips inserted, a baby's being born/ Same time a man is murdered, the beginning and end.

I think hip-hop could help rebuild America, once hip-hoppers own hip-hop... We are our own politicians, our own government, we have something to say. We're warriors. Soldiers.

Somehow the rap game remind me of the crack game

I've met a lot of people and happened to inspire a lot of people who I'm in conversation with about business. It's just how things are going for me and it's great, but music is always going to be number one for me.

My first record - it was 1991. I was 16 years old. My first album came out when I was 20. So, I've been here that long and I still have the passion to do it.

No idea is original, there's nothing new under the sun, it's never what you do, but how it's done

Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.