I'm naturally a nice person. I'm not trying to have any problems with people. I'm done with the drama and trouble. I want a stress-free life.
Action Bronson
I live in the moment, and I reflect later.
I pick and choose my battles, but I overthink everything because I have to think about everything.
My childhood was great, honestly. I have all these incredible memories of my childhood. I was an only child. I always had all my cousins around. I had my grandparents around. I had my parents around. I had my uncles around - whatever.
I'm a born athlete. Weight-lifting is in my blood. I used to do the powerlifting thing. I gained a little weight, but I still got it; I'm mad built.
I'm the Bjorn Boerg of table tennis.
I love to cook a meal for the so-called holidays. You always need the turkey. I like making a good BBQ brisket as well.
Everything is creative. It's all relative to me. No matter what, you've gotta use your imagination, use your senses.
You can make a hit song in 15 minutes. I don't know about someone else's song, but songs that people like of mine, I've created in 15 minutes or less.
No one raps about food like I do. I rap about fine dishes - like, all kinds of things that only real chefs and real foodies are going to know about.
My main influence is Kool G Rap and Cam'ron, pretty much. If you were to mix those two people up, I wish that would be me... This is my voice. I sound like nobody; I sound like me.
I get angry real quick, but I also cool down just as fast. Albanians don't want to deal with anything in the moment.
The restaurant business is something that you have to treat like a baby. You have to constantly be there. You can't trust it to anybody else, because no one's going to love it like you do.
I'm into heavy duty, psychedelic, foreign music. That's what I like listening to.
I grew up in such a melting pot. There's more ethnicities in Queens than there is in any place on the planet. So you grow up knowing things about other cultures.
I worked on the line, I've been an executive chef, I've worked for the Mets, I've worked for various steakhouses, vegetarian restaurants, a lot of Middle Eastern stuff. I've worked my fair share of a lot of different things. I've worked at festivals and street fairs, you know? I've been through it all.
Everyone is trying to make these huge songs; I just make things that I want to listen to. Music that I will be comfortable listening to 10 years from now, that's my only thing.
I'll always be into sports. Sports is part of my life forever. My TV stays on ESPN all day long, I'm one of those. I don't even listen to music in the car; all I listen to is sports talk.
Penmanship means a lot to me. I don't have cursive penmanship, though. I've created my own penmanship. It's very clear. Everyone can read it. I write things down all day long.
I'm an honorable human being. I know what to do and what not to do, and if I'm wrong, I always apologize. I'm a big enough man to do that.
I could never change the overall feel of my music. That's why people like me - I don't follow trends, and I don't follow crowds.
I'm still a huge Yankees fan. Growing up, Jeter was my guy, but Bernie Williams was my favorite player.
I just do whatever I do, and put it out there without tryin' to cater to anybody. If you like it, you like it.
This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet.
I got a lot of influence from my father, honestly. He'd take me in his car. I'd hear Carlos Santana. I'd hear Queen. I'd hear all these Turkish people, like, bands that he grew up listening to. He was in a band as well.
'Molto Mario' was the show that sparked my entire interest in cooking.
All I can do is put out the good stuff, and people will make the decision on whether they like it. My fans are very intelligent people. They're not stupid. They know what's good.
I get inspired in certain places. You have to write in places like Amsterdam or Paris or New Zealand, when you're standing on a yacht, looking out at the middle of the ocean.
I don't put people down. I build people up. That's how I always wanna be looked at.
Whenever I cook, I think of Spanish music, so I always have to listen to some sort of salsa. It gets your body going.
I don't ever have the pressure of making a hit, because I've never had a hit song, per se. The closest thing to a hit song was 'Shiraz,' and it's not your prototypical hit song, with a catchy hook and all this other stuff.
I have to be able to rap. I don't have the look. I don't have the typical slim-dude, fancy-clothes look. That's not me. I have to be able to rap - there is no other choice, or else I get eaten alive.
My mother pretty much raised me to be a free spirit. Anything my father would say, she would tell me, 'No, it's like this.'
The best rappers I know are, like, air-conditioner men.
I hope I have a long career, but I really don't think about the future like that. I live, like, for right now, honestly. I take it however it comes.
New York was at the forefront of rap, so because of all the great people who have gone before me, being a rapper from Queens, I have to live up to those standards. I'm basically just a regular guy who says what he feels and likes to joke. I like long walks on the beach... and I love rap.
As far as rap, I was more of a Mobb Deep guy rather than a Tribe guy.
I still wake up every day and take my kids to school. It's supposed to be this way.
I would say I started rapping because my friends were doin' it.
Billy Joel is an incredible musician. He just feels like one of the guys, you know. I grew up listening to his music.
Anything that catches my ear, I'm into. Things that are different, that change what you're listening to.
I'm rap's vigilante. I'm out for justice.
I'm not the type of guy to go so deep with the concept songs, but there's deep thought in everything. Maybe it's not just a repetitive hook telling you what the song is about - you have to use your brain a little bit.
Did I collect baseball cards? I've got 10 books full of plastic in my mother's house. All the Upper Decks, the Fleers, the Fleer Ultras. My grandfather brought me to the trade shows. I collected Marvel cards, too.
The first rappers I ever got into were Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, and Nas. Those are the guys. Those are the dudes that flipped my wig.
I don't really do playlists. I don't know how to make a playlist, honestly.
I like every girl. Every kind of girl that there is, I like.
I want to do an album with Steven Seagal.
I'm not just a normal guy. I'm a gymnast.
Albanians, we tan well! I don't burn; I bake.