Rap is something you do Hip Hop is something you live

Educate yourself make your world view bigger, visualize wealth, and put yourself in the picture

You know, you don't see with your eyes You see with your brain And the more words your brain has The more things you can see

I am the manifestation of study, NOT the manifestation of money. Therefore, I advance through thought, NOT what's manufactured and bought.

If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt young minds, it also has the ability to Uplift them.

Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal, MC's spit rhymes to uplift their people.

I grew up in them streets, like everyone else but instead of pushin' drugs, I pushed knowledge of self

Kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent

Trust in God, that's where the crown is at. It's not in what you get, it's what happens after that.

The courage to be yourself is the essence of hip hop

I'd rather make one righteous dollar on my level Than make a million dollars spittin' rhymes for the devil.

Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy

The cream rises to the top, even if sour.

It was really wonderful playing with Aretha [ Franklin]. I knew that she knew what she was doing, so all I had to do was sit in the background and vamp a little bit.

In a machine, every part has a function. In a poem, every word needs to be there.

When the penalty for a policeman's mistake is to put a criminal back out on the street, then we are hurting America; we are hurting our law-abiding citizens.

Stuck in speed bump city/Where the only thing that's pretty/Is the thought of getting out.

By the end of the writing process, which is about 80 songs per album, I look at the material and think, what's going to make a difference in someone's life.

Never give up! And remember, determination is as important as talent.

Having the balance of a work life and a family life has been so good for me.

America is a mistake, admittedly a gigantic mistake, but a mistake nevertheless.