I believe in karma; what you do will come back.
DJ Premier
I'm a very humble guy, but of course I think I'm dope.
I know what a Gang Starr album that's done is supposed to sound like.
The passing of my accountant, Mary Coleman, who was the first person I shouted out on 'In Memory of...' was particularly devastating for me. She was beyond my accountant. She was my mother away from home.
I'm a bass player and I'm a drummer - I'm a big fan of bass players.
When you have a deep focus, you can't go wrong at all. Not when you're an expert at what you do.
Guru had such a different voice from most people. Plus he had a Boston accent! So, I always made sure the beats were tailored to him.
My musical knowledge goes beyond hip-hop.
All the Public Enemy albums, I knew what records they were sampling but was like, 'How'd they construct it like this?!'
I'm passionate about music in general, not just hip-hop. But when it comes to hip-hop, I don't wanna see it die culturally.
I'm real particular about delivery. You can write the illest rhymes in the world, but can you deliver it right?
I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity.
The ghetto music of my era is hip-hop. And Parliament, and Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye, that was all the ghetto stuff when I was a baby, and then when I was a teenager it was hip-hop and we were taking all those old '70s sounds and recreating them and putting them into a hip-hop format.
I've been listening to Herbie Hancock forever. He's gone through so many transitions, even before bringing hip-hop to the forefront with 'Rockit' and everything.
I'm all about competition; still am to this day. That's how you should be, but not with any malice. From Mike Will Made It to Boi-1da to Mike Zombie, I'm out to get 'em all and it's that friendly competition that keeps us all on our toes.
I think the fact that Gang Starr kept getting more and more successful was the reason we never thought about our age.
Dre is someone I've looked up to since 1985 when he came to my college and performed with The Wrecking Crew.
I'm super cool with Kanye.
Anyone from our era knows that Guru was in every club and every bar and every spot. He could go all night, all day. And he would never be tired!
You have to know who you're making music for.
Jazzmatazz' was Guru's thing, but Gang Starr was his baby. I don't care what anybody says. That dude loved Gang Starr.
The radio stations strayed away from the raw hip-hop that they were playing in the early 1990s. We were like, 'All this watered down stuff is dominating the airwaves. We should make a record to make fun of that' and Guru's like, 'Let's call it 'Mass Appeal.''
Guru always titled the Gang Starr albums. But once it came to 'Hard to Earn,' he wanted me to title it.
When I got my knee replacement and I opened my eyes straight outta surgery, the first person standing there was Guru's son.
I love heavy metal, Metallica. I'm into Jefferson Starship and acid rock.
Guru died tragically and there were so many rumors about how he went out. I got to see him in the hospital right before he passed, and one of the last things I said to him before I walked out of the room was that I was going to make sure that his family was straight.
I remember Bumpy Knuckles came in wearing all mink everything and said, 'Yo, when I spit my verse, I gotta pull my guns out and aim them.' He was serious! I told him that I was going to duck in the event that those guns accidentally went off. He pulled out the twin glocks, spit his verse in one take and said, 'I've got a meeting to go to' and left!
I say if you don't write your lyrics, then you can't be the best rapper alive. Not at all. You can be one of the best artists, especially in rap, you gotta write everything yourself.
I came out with sounds that didn't sound like the usual hip-hop beat. I took that chance because no one would identify with me if I sound like somebody who's already out.
Guru and I had a house in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for a while and we used to have wild parties there when we weren't in the studio. It was like a fraternity house.
I don't have session players come in and guitars, I'm doing the drums, I'm doing the scratching, I'm doing every sound you hear and that's always been my way. And not only that, I'm very meticulous about it just sounding right.
I'm a very spiritual guy.
Every now and then there might be a beat someone turned down that I have as an unused beat. But everything that predominantly matches the artist in my 30 years of doing this, it was me walking in and sitting there with no drums, no samples, no nothing, and making a beat on the spot.
I grew up in a town called Prairie View. It's like 45 minutes outside of Houston.
Guru's family gave me a piece of his ashes. I saw the gold box of ashes that his father had when we had the memorial service. He had a nice giant gold box that had his name on it. It was really nice. I know all the family members had ashes that they all spread and took on their own. So I said lemme ask is it cool if I have some.
Me and Tupac were long-time friends.
The Nike joint 'Classic' with Kanye, Nas, KRS-One, that was a remix - Rick Rubin did the original, and his was a double-time tempo; mine was a regular boom-bap tempo, and they liked it so much that we ended up doing the video to it.
My crew used to listen to 'Taking It to the Top' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.
I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about.
From Jay-Z to Nas to Kanye to whoever, I'm just not the type to say, 'Hey, let me get on your album.' If they want me, they're going to reach out and say, 'I need a joint from you.'
DWYCK' was only intended to be a B-side of 'Take It Personal,' because we had done a record with Nice & Smooth for their album, Ain't a Damn Thing Changed, called 'Down The Line.' They were returning the favor with 'DWYCK,' being that we let them borrow the 'Manifest' instrumental.
If I feel like something needs to be updated, I'll break my neck to outdo the original.
You can't do seven successful albums and just hate each other. Our yin and yang, and night and day, is what made us great when we went into the studio.
Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.
I like soul, I like rock, I like new wave, I like punk music, I like blues, I like jazz, and I was brought up on all of them from a young boy all the way to my teenage years, when I was wild and crazy, in college.
When I miss Guru, I bump one of our records. Then I shed a tear and get back to work.
All my idols have been in the studio with me, because they wanted to be there.
I listen to my early Gang Starr interviews, I'm like, damn I was really trying to sound like a New Yorker then.
Everything I do is in a New York state of mind. I'm indebted to preserving the sound of the city.
I would always have turntable elements in my records even if it was just one scratch.
