Everything I do is going to be gangsta rap, street based, street oriented... I'm from Gary, Indiana, and everybody's damn near at the poverty level.

Maybe you's a stank ho, maybe that's a bit mean Maybe you grew up and I'm still living like I'm sixteen.

Back when I was younger, Very ambitious, but often blinded by my hunger. Some say I dream too big, And my dream gon' take me under.

I study my competition for at least an hour a day. I get on the internet, look at what they doing, then I look at ways to defeat them.

Most of my show is just improvisation. It goes with the energy of the crowd.

You have to evolve and change but you're always gonna get that street edge out of my music regardless. That's who I am. That's in me and that ain't gon' never go away.

I don't have no... I love Lil Wayne. I grew up on the Hot Boys.

I don't think you can be a good musician if you just listen to rap, or just the [type of music] you do. You gotta be open to other ideas.

I'm a real gangster rapper and I'm a rapper. I just think my music takes different directions. I don't think you can pigeon hole me in one genre. I'm probably the most versatile in the game, period.

I don't like people being something that they ain't, and we got a lot of that in rap right now.

I don't have to rap in a stadium. As long as I can provide for my family and my art, and live comfortably and live well, then I'm good. And with my talent level and my skill level, I'll get there.

Be the reason someone smiles today. Or the reason they drown in a book. Whatever works.

It's one thing to admire a man's work. It's another to get your picture in the paper doing it." General Clayton

After September 11, when the United States took action to overthrow the Taliban, our interests and Iran's aligned, and we were able to coordinate quietly but effectively.

A maggot must be born i' the rotten cheese to like it.

Have respect for every person and every issue directed at you. Do not dismiss any encounter as insignificant.

Anything that's for free, people will take. They don't discriminate.

Like many modern poets, I tend to conceal rhymes by placing them in the middle of lines, and to avoid immediate alliteration and assonance in favor of echoes placed later in the poems.

There's no question that there is more anti-religion noise in Britain.

Interviewing friends is a tough one. Your duty to the interview must transcend your friendship. Occasionally you'll lose a friend.

In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. It is as final as the mountains: a fact. There it is. When you realize it you cannot complain.