Hip Hop Music

"[Better Days]We pave the streets/ To walk between us, we pay for these/ Lock the doors and teach our kids to be neighbourly"

"You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather"

"Daddy Fat Sacks B-I-G B-O-I, its that same motherfucker that put them knuckles to your eye."

""Forever" never seems that long until you're grown"

"It took you momma nine months to make it, but it only took that nigga thirty minutes to take it."

"I bust raps like the boys bust gat shit."

"Ya white tee, well to me, look like a night gown, make ya mama proud, take that thang two sizes down."

"Nobody wanted to dance, when i had a lot of time on my hands, now i have a lot of hands on my time, and everybody wants to be a friend of mine, wo wo."

"She was, fine as fuck I wanted to sex the ho up. She said "let's hit the parking lot so I can sick your duck.""

"Don't want to meet your daddy, just want you in my caddy."

"My new home is a studio on Cybertron, my peeps are the Autobeat poets, fuck the Wackacons!""

"I got mad hoes and I got mad bitches, I'm coding in C and I branch with switches."

"'What the fuck is entropy?' I hear the people still exclaiming. It seems I gotta start the explaining."

"I got five hard drives with eighty-nine gigabytes, I eat databases, networks, and web sites."

"I got brains, fuck Bs and Cs, I got a grade point average higher than Hendrix on New Year's Eve!"

"My backpack's got jets, well I'm Boba the Fett. Well I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt, to finance my 'Vette. wicky-wicky-woo! Well I chill in deep space. A mask is over my face. Well I deliver the prize, but I still narrow my eyes, 'Cause my time, I don't like to waste. get down!"

"Look, I ain't Thomas Dolby; science doesn't blind me. You think you're smart? Form a line behind me."

"Nerdcore could rise up, it could get elevated; we consider the possibleness of this not overstated."

"Sitting in her room upstairs, watching her wind up the buns in her hair, I declare that I'd like to be Luke - unless that's a little bit too perverted for you."

"For punk MCs who playa-hate, we got one word: EXTERMINATE!"

"I shalt not front a little cause I'm Frontalot, I climbed Mount Sinai, got high at the top, blew a cloud straight up and the voice I heard said, 'you were born to front,' I said 'word!'"

"Nerdcore hip hop, other rappers run in fear..."

"This song goes out to those with coke bottle glasses, to all you lonely kids who were the last picked in gym classes. We got your back, detract your malefactors - all you up in the back, unite like Thundercats!"

"And I can see clearly now like Hubble; shoved off the shuttle, here's my rebuttal: it's a planet!"

"My flow is so intense that I'll overflow your buffer, corrupt your stack pointer, makin' all your data suffer.""

"I'm the sativa cyborg, I smell that shit like a wine cork. I hope they never legalize, then High Times won't have anything to fight for."

"I know I seem like a geek, but I'm deeper, dude; never got picked in gym, I was a weaker dude, so I built myself a bong out of beaker tubes, then I smoked all them bitches like I'm Pikachu."

"Chilling like Hoth, they can't touch us with they blasters, we learned at the feet of the masters - it's an old Jedi mind trick!"

"And all you sucker MCs just can't compare to a Shire b-boy with the shaggy hair, we're two hobbit rappers with the savoire-faire, Rohan Riders put your fist in the air!"

"I got a buzz bigger than a beehive, cough up my cookies let loose what's on the inside - the Tussin, the Tussin! put it down like it was nothin', Robocop couldn't stop me from pukin' and flushin', no balls to be bustin', no fightin', no cussin', just love for a drug called Robitussin!"

"Peter Rosenberg: How do you rank Dilla [out of the] all time producers?"

"I knew him for a good three or four years before I knew he was sick! I was blown back by that, man. I never knew he was sick – he always kinda hid it from me. His music will always be alive and well, and I will make sure to that. He was one of the greatest, man. He was the greatest to ever do it, for the new cats. And for his mother to tell me that I was his favorite producer – I was like ‘Wow, that’s dope, man’. He really took it there. He kinda broadened me and opened my eyes again, and got me standing up straight on my toes, ‘cos that dude was really serious with it. ~ Pete Rock"

"Dilla was a good cat. He looked out for me, showing me how to work the SP1200, the (MPC) 3000, he used to set me up in his basement, and leave me there all night, while he went out the bar or to mess with some chicks. He was real open-hearted, but he could get on some wild shit. We fell out for a minute, but we mended it and it was all good. He just wanted people to hear the music, but I seen him snap off on cats, he was good people though. He just wanted to make music and do his thing. ~ DJ House Shoes"

"When I found out Dilla passed, I was in Australia. I did not want to do the show anymore, my mind was heavy. Dilla existed in all of us and I felt a piece of myself was missing. How could I give them my all? But then I thought about Jay on stage in a wheelchair. I HAD to perform. The musicians and the true listeners already knew. I have to spread his legacy to the world, forever. The sounds from The Roots, myself, Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, and of course the slum [Ed. note, Slum Village.] owe to his legacy. Now we are Jay Dee. Rest in peace, Dilla, we love you. ~ Talib Kweli, in one of his blog entries on http://www.talibkweliblog.com"

"I can't begin to explain the influence his mind and ear has had on my band, myself, and the careers of so many other artists. The most humble, modest, worthy and gifted beatmaker I've known...and definitely the best producer on a mic. ~ Black Thought, MC from The Roots"

"Q-Tip comes in the room and says, "I want you to hear something". I'm hella excited 'cause either it's a new Tribe song or it's a beat for me. He tells the kid to put the tape in. He does and I hear a ghostly piano loop that has some shakers in it. Too Salsa for me. That was "Runnin'"! He plays another joint and I go crazy over it. That was "The Jam". He explains to me that the noise I keep flippin' over [is] someone holding the repeat button on the SP when its in 1/32! He played another joint, wasn't my speed. I didn't like the Beastie Boy sample at the top. That was "Drop!" The next joint played and only played for 15 seconds. I wanted that one. He explained that it was just an interlude though. I still wanted it. The next joint was hard, organ sounding joint. Sounds like something a west coast artist would take... w:Ice Cube maybe. That was "Gotta Kick Something That Means Something"! I took three tracks and told Tip that I wanted to add more tracks to the album. He said cool! Yes!!! I got three tracks from Tip!!! Tip looks at me and says, "I didn't make em...he did." I look at the kid and speak to him and he says "What Up Doe?" "What up, kid? What's your name?" "Jay Dee.""

"One time we were in the studio and didn't have a drum machine, and he went inside the booth and played the drums on his body. He knew how to EQ it right and everything, like, "Okay, he just made a song using his body." [laughs] It was serious. ~ James Poyser (from the Ruff Draft re-issue liner notes)."

"If you were to secretly ask the most praised hip-hop producers, if given a top three, who they fear the most, Dilla’s name would chart on everyone’s list, hands down. ~ ?uestlove, drummer from The Roots"

""That’s how me and Dilla always worked, we had a crazy chemistry. We would just sit there cracking jokes, you know, smoking, he got the headphones on. He’d come up with a beat in like 10 minutes, take the headphones off, the beat’s banging through the speakers. Load it up, make sure the mic’s on, show me where to press play, where to stop at, he’d press record and go upstairs, I’d lay the verse, he’d come back down like done and done. Load the next one up, he’d talk on the phone, I’d lay another song. That’s just how we worked." ~ Phat Kat (on recording the Dedication to the Suckers EP in one night)"

"All the greats respected him the most. ... Common actually stayed with him in his last days -- they both stayed in L.A. together -- and we would go over there when we were working on the album. And I remember him giving me drums. It was such an honor for him to actually give me drums because I'd actually stolen so many drums off of his beat CDs. (laughs) ... Let's also talk about how many rappers bit his style. He even inspired a lot of rappers. The way he would space his words on the beat. The patterns he would get... All that. Whenever people do that, that's Jay Dee all day long. ~ Kanye West, Rapper and Producer, from an interview with Semtex on BBC Radio, February 18th, 2006"

"Recently, John and I got to go to Selma and perform “Glory” on the same bridge that Dr. King and the people of the civil rights movement marched on 50 years ago. This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation, but now is a symbol for change. The spirit of this bridge transcends race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and social status. The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the South Side of Chicago, dreaming of a better life, to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression, to the people in Hong Kong protesting for democracy. This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion, and elevated by love for all human beings."

"I went to the movies — it was Kanye, myself and John Mayer, and we went to see "Ray." We were watching it, and I was just inspired by the movie, just as a musician and as an artist, I felt inspired. We left there and went straight to the studio. Kanye started cooking up this beat and started doing this chant, like, "Go, go, go," and while we were sitting there thinking what to write, John Mayer said, "You could write about your fantasy." And I was like, "Am I going to let John Mayer come up with the concept for this joint? This is hip-hop." But John Mayer is a very talented brother and you don't know where your blessings are going to come from. He was singing, and we made him a sample on it, going 'Go.' So it all came together and now we have the song 'Go!,' which is about going to my fantasy."

"This is street rad-i-o, For unsung hero, Driving in the regal, trying to stay legal, My daughter found Nemo, I found the new primo, Yeah, you know how we do, we do it for the people.""

"I think and speak clearer since I cut the dairy out. I can breathe better and perform at a better rate, and my voice is clearer. I can explore different things with my voice that I couldn’t do because of my meat and dairy ingestion. I am proud and blessed to be a vegetarian, everything became clear."

"Took a picture of the truth and tried to develop it Had proof, but it was only recognized by the intelligent Took the negative and positive, cause niggas got to live Said I got to get more than I'm given Cause truth'll never be heard in religion After searching the world, on the inside what was hidden?It was the truth"

"I look into my daughter's eyes. And realize that I'ma learn through her. The Messiah, might even return through her. If I'ma do it, I gotta change the world through her"

"Yo...on the amen, corner I stood lookin' at my former hood Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered I choreographed seven steps to heaven and hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened Veteran of a cold war its Chica-i-go for What I know or, whats known"

"We write songs about wrong cause its hard to see right"

"Tried to call, or at least beep the lord, but didn't have a touch-tone"

"Never looking back, or too far in front of me. The present is a gift, and I just wanna be."