Don't ever give up on yourself. Keep pushing because the change of guards is what life's all about. [...] You've always got to stick with whatever you're into because you're day is going to come. You're day is destined. If you walk away from that, whether it be from fear or whether you're just giving up. [...] The greatest sin is fear and giving up.

You ni**az get me sick, wannabe soundin like you know my arithmetic... but we don't sound alike

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

Unfortunately, man, a lot of places in America have to deal with unnecessary violence. Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate... I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it.

New York city is full of great spaces. The best spaces of the world are here. This is the new Europe, where the settlers came and busted out their ideas and put it down so there's nothing but great space in this great city.

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.

Hip-hop is such an amazing thing that kids still want to do it. They're not saying, "Ugh, that's the old people's music." No, they're younger than they've ever been that want to get into hip-hop music.