When you a young kid at that age at that time, and you know that you got talent as far as hip hop, you wanna be on the radio, that's the first thing. So we was more or less infatuated with just havin' a song on the radio, you know? Before our careers even launched it was more or less about lettin' everybody know, 'Staten Island? You got good emcees there.'
RaekwonThe main thing I look at is: Is it from the heart? If I know that you down with me, then we always gonna be down through whatever the thick and thin.
RaekwonWhen I'm making the music, I feel like everything I throw out has to work. It counts. Because if you don't have people turning they neck all the way around to see what it is, it ain't stick on the wall.
RaekwonWell Ice H20 is my company that I plan to take to the next level with new artists, books, movies and so forth. It's more like a multimedia brand that I want to take to the next level and put some talented people on.
RaekwonYou know, I'm a product of my environment, gettin' into everything you know a kid my age would get into, a lot of negativity was surroundin' me. And we came, sat up and had a discussion about makin' a record, I think I was more or less overwhelmed with just that fact.
RaekwonThe better you get, the more your legacy shines. I always just try to go hard. If you don't want do it for real, don't do it at all.
RaekwonI think that, right now, I am travelling in many different directions in my mind, on where I wanted to be. So much is wantin' to go back, but I still gotta move forward. But I think it's just that I'm my worst critic at all times, you know? And when I make somethin', it may be five or ten cuts later before I actually call it what it is. I've always been that kind of artist. I'm gonna put myself through the sweat for it, because I think, as an artist, that's what made me iller, is the fact that I didn't wanna just put out anything and everything. It's just a process, you know what I mean?
Raekwon