Pardon me if this all sounds corny, but when you put on a record, I'd like it to be an escape from everything you do.
Aesop Rock
I believe giving pets 'people food,' while tempting, is generally frowned upon. As a pet owner you want to prioritize your animal's health over the entertainment value in watching your little guy bat around a small piece of chicken.
I would say the best toy for any cat is always some sort of dangling item on a string or fishing-rod-type structure.
I remember when I was younger, I read that Jay-Z was 33 and I was just like, 'Damn! This dudes really still goin for it?' It's just so rare that you see any rapper over 30 doing anything interesting.
I just write notes all day on my phone, and when I write songs it becomes a patchwork of these smaller notes that I had, mixed with stuff in the moment.
You think of, like, Justin Timberlake. He does a three-hour performance every night, and it's like, wow, I don't know how that guy does it.
My brothers each reacted differently to 'Blood Sandwich.' It's a very specific type of odd feeling when there's a song written about you. People react to it differently.
I'm not a celebrity or anything.
Sometimes comfort zones are the best. Sometimes discomfort is just what the doctor ordered.
I think I learned very quickly after I started putting out music... you just learn that people are going to take what they want and make it fit their agenda or make it fit their interpretation. And you make peace with that or you suffer forever.
I had written rap songs in the early '90s and even did a couple homemade rap songs with my brother in like '88 or '89, but it was just like... I don't even know how to say it. Just plain rap. I was just rapping about whatever, there was no real style or direction, it was just semi-braggadocious rhymes that probably imitated 100 other rappers.
Rap lyrics are really the only thing I've ever written.
I think in your 30s you can still pretend you're in your 20s, or at least maintain some semblance of youth. Forty is when you've got to stop denying the inevitable.
I went to college in '94 and started freestyling a lot more and hearing how others did it, hearing styles from other regions, all of it. Met Blockhead there.
When I record in a studio. I know that on Tuesday at 3 o'clock I've got to go be creative.
Artwork, films, TV - it's always informed my work, no matter what I'm working on.
Finding something new that I know I've never done before is the best feeling I know, and when I get there it's all worth it.
My collaborative albums are always way more enjoyable to make.
I am hoping to improve my writing and rapping, as well as get a better grasp on how to make beats and music that complements what I do vocally. It's a learning process that hopefully won't end.
Musicians are all about celebrity first and foremost, and I just can't do it. The second any sort of popularity contest comes into the picture, I have to walk in the other direction. These people are sociopaths.
To be honest, I think Chris Ware is the only person whose books I've actively and consistently purchased for years.
New York can be a tad stressful.
I know a lot of people who make records, and when you meet them, it's not their personality or they're not what you're expecting. But El-P is exactly what you'd expect.
My brother came home from college with a Mountain Goats cassette and I was like, 'What is this?' The lyrics were crazy to me. I'd never heard anything like it.
Honestly, I don't feel pressure to live up to anything I've done because I tend to not listen to my work once a year passes.
The only way I'm comfortable with a new album is if I'm taking a new risk.
I love the playfulness and braggadocio that accompanies a ton of rap music - that's basically what makes up the foundation for most rappers. But there is nothing 'weirder' to me than someone who has never doubted themselves.
I used to do a lot of one-off collabs, features, stuff like that.
Rap music started because they were bored of other music so they created something really new.
Having some decent musicians around you only expands what you can do production-wise, but I make rap - I can't really see myself doing much else.
Most artists - painters or writers - I think create out of stress or negative situations. Look at rock music. It's about getting things off of your chest, and it's a means of venting in many ways. That's what my work is about.
I've performed in Japan before, as well as many other non-English speaking countries. I find you really just have to be a bit more animated than usual. Call-and-response routines work well, if they are simple. Otherwise, I just dance around like a circus monkey and hope the crowd feels it.
I got tired of everybody repeating the same phrases in the hip-hop world.
I like to just hear people talking and TV is a quick way to hear different periods and genres. It's just interesting to me. I'm pretty easily amused with that kind of stuff.
It's really rare in life that a situation is as black and white as we tend to paint it.
I was a Kimya fan for a long time, a Moldy Peaches fan, so I got to work on her 'Thunder Thighs' record a little bit and we became friends and just started writing songs.
I always keep my phone on vibrate. Ringtones give me anxiety.
I've been able to tour because of my music and I've learned a lot about myself while on the road. I think some of the imagery of my writing are snapshots of where I've been and my feelings about the world.
When I do solo material I definitely tend to overthink it. I make a lot of rules for myself that are a little bit arbitrary and... it's just painful.
Really, my biggest risk was just the initial step to quit my day job to do music. I was packaging and shipping for an art gallery in Manhattan; I went to school for painting, so I always wanted to work around artwork, even though I wasn't really contributing anything to the scene.
I had been using a 4-track and a digital 8-track in the '90s, and it was this huge complicated thing. But GarageBand is right there.
I don't see any of my records as any more or less conceptual than the others, and I don't really plan some overall idea in advance. The songs all get written under the umbrella of a certain time in your life, and it's natural to find themes that repeat within these periods.
I have been inspired by countless artists over the years, but there's also times when you just gotta make your own inspiration.
Ultimately, I really like to rap, and seeing what I can do to keep it fresh for myself has lent itself to tailoring over time.
I love a cool cellphone as much as the next guy, but, god, I hate when it rings.
After much inner debate, I can safely proclaim that Mungo Jerry's 'In the Summertime' may, in fact, be the best song ever recorded.
I avoided the computer generation for a very long time.
The neighbors prefer I don't do vocals at night. It gets a little iffy when I'm screaming.
I guess all that I can hope for is that my songs affect the younger versions of me out there.
Inserting my personal brand of humor is something I have at times had trouble doing - but I feel like I've been learning about it a little more, how to do it, and how it helps my songs.
