American Quotes

I have lost everything, and I am so poor now that I really cannot afford to let anything worry me.

The love of freedom has been the quality of Western man.

Pleasure is the carrot dangled to lead the ass to market; or the precipice.

He is strong and pain is worse to the strong, incapacity is worse.

Imagination, the traitor of the mind, has taken my solitude and slain it.

Cruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us.

You have to make your wedding day all about you.

So many people equate money and success with happiness, especially in the music industry.

My heart and soul is still music.

I'm not saying that what the radio plays isn't good. My issue is with what they don't play. You can play Jay-Z, but why don't you play Jurassic 5? You can play Nas and Nelly, but why don't you play J-Live? I want to open up the door to how it was back in the day.

I got married because it was the right time and the right thing to do.

As much as I am hip-hop, I'm soul. As much as I am soul, I'm a turntablist. As much as I'm a DJ, I love jazz and rock.

As a producer, you're pretty much creating a body of work that an artist has to stand behind.

As a DJ I am never 100 percent in charge of the sound. The sound levels are controlled by someone at the sound board of the venue.

And more than anything, I like the improvisation of jazz. That's the same thing with DJ-ing. There's so much improvisation you can do with cuttin' and scratchin' that's reminiscent of jazz music, because it's all about how you feel. You're capturing a vibe and just going with it.

You get quick money, it's beautiful, there's sunshine, but at the end of the day, you find out it's all a masquerade, baby. It's not what it seems.

When the Fugees were big, we made a whole lot of money, and what happened was that I saved my money and never spent it.

What I'm trying to do is break the genre from what is rap and what is music.

There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible.

That's the best way to feed the human mind. That's how Bob Marley did it. He never put it in your face. After you got the groove, you were just singing the hooks, because you thought it was cool.

Rap records don't make you feel good no more. Six months after release, it can't come back as a classic.

My songs are really never titled. Sometimes I call it one thing. then I change it.

My parents were Christian.

It was important that I became successful. People say they do it for the love, and yes, you do it for the love, but you want to be successful.

I'm the hip-hop Quincy Jones of today.

I'm like Cab Calloway: I love the entertainment, and I've loved entertaining people ever since I was little.

I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences.

I know that the nice shines I have on is going to pass. The nice cars will pass. All that will stay is the music and the work. That's where I get the inspiration to help people out and work.

I do music for the love of it, and I've been doing it from a very young age: about 11.

I always want to know what's wrong with you, why you ain't smiling. That's just my character; I just love people and want to see people having a good time.