Lil Wayne makes good music. He's one of the best rappers.
Freddie Gibbs
He's been my number one influence. If you say Tupac didn't influence you, then you don't really need to be rapping because nobody evokes that kind of emotion on a track like Tupac does.
Scarface is my favorite rapper.
There's some dudes that did Gangsta Grillz tapes who probably weren't worthy of it - their label just put up the bread, or they did a favor.
I played wide receiver in high school; then I went to college at Ball State and played safety.
I'm from Gary, Indiana, and everybody's damn near at the poverty level. It's a rough city to grow up in, and it's a modern-day ghost town.
I don't like rap that doesn't have a story behind it.
The Bears need to let me be GM.
I'm not trying to act like I'm Superman or better than anybody else in the game. I'm just telling my story, showing my strengths and weaknesses - as a human, as a person, as a man.
This is the land of getting over. The land of second or even third chances; the land of doing whatever you have to do by any means necessary in order to fulfill the American Dream.
I tried to watch 'Inception,' but I fell asleep.
I'm trying to bring gangster rap back to the forefront, like in the early '90s.
I remember I used to go school with guys who couldn't afford notebooks, pens, paper: the necessary tools needed in order to survive in school. It's a lot of kids in Gary who are at a disadvantage without that.
Nobody else was saying what he said on air, and sometimes he pushed the envelope when he said the newest Jay Z line with a Michael Jordan highlight. But Stuart Scott was an artist.
I think that 'Pinata' album is going to stand the test of time. It's going to be a moment in hip-hop, whether people know it or not. It's nothing else like that in rap. It's going to forever hold its place.
Different rappers got different talents. It's like X-Men.
I always feel like the underdog.
My mom had me at a young age, like 20, and she was the oldest child. All her brothers were seven and 10, so I was like a younger brother more so than the oldest child. I was the younger brother to all my uncles, so they were going through their childhood and their teenage years, and I was right there.
I'm a loyal dude.
I have a respect for Young Jeezy. But the reason things didn't work out for me and Young Jeezy was because our approach to the industry... My approach to the industry was a tad bit different than his. I wanted to approach my career a different way; he wanted to go a different way.
Eminem heard my music, and he didn't wanna take a meeting with me.
Gary is a really impoverished town; it's in industrial decay. There's low employment and things of that nature.
I can do a whole project with Madlib and turn around and do a record with Gucci Mane. Gucci Mane, E-40, and Black Thought on the same record. I like all those rappers, so why can't I work with them in some type of capacity? It just speaks to my versatility. I don't just listen to one type of rap. I listen to all of it so I can make all of it.
I've always played that role in my family: the breadwinner.
I'm not really comfortable with being on songs with cats I don't really know.
I've been known not to bite my tongue.
I started hustling in early adolescence.
The neck is not something you should have surgery on that much.
Just give me a mic, and I'll rock it.
My core thing is gangster rap, but a lot of my music is melodic and carries a message of survival.
I don't really know what a debut album is no more. As long as you got music on the streets, you've debuted.
I had a nightmare that I was mopping floors and that this Freddie Gibbs thing was all a dream.
Sports is one of the keys to my life. It definitely kept me out of a lot of trouble and gave me a lot of discipline.
I just have to go against the grain. I mean, I can be objective and do what I need to do, handle my everyday living, follow directions, etc. But there's something that's always been attracted to that taboo. It's been like that since I was a child.
I'd be a liar if I didn't say I learned things from Jeezy. Hell yeah, I took some things, some pluses and some minuses, do's and don'ts.
My TV stays locked at 'SportsCenter.' That and 'Pardon the Interruption.'
I like good music, whichever lane it comes out of. As long as it's dope, that is all that matters with me.
I feel like I influence more than just rap.
I don't ever really plan my sets. I just get out there and feel the energy of the crowd.
Gary is a old factory town right outside Chicago. From my standpoint, my family migrated there in the '50s and '60s from Mississippi - Sardis, Mississippi - shout out to Sardis, Mississippi. My family migrated there just like a lot of black families in that area: they migrated there to get jobs, to get those factory jobs, that steel mill job.
I went to a Bulls game when it was still in Chicago Stadium before they built the United Center.
I love Lil Wayne. I grew up on the Hot Boyz.
I think that with me and Madlib, I was never afraid to really experiment with his tracks and things.
I'm not a big video game dude though, but I like 'Madden.'
'Kind of Blue' is one of the best records of all time. Miles' use of space is something rap fans can definitely appreciate. Sometimes you have to let the track breathe and throw a melody in here and there. He never did too much on 'Kind of Blue.' It's the perfect vibe.
'Pinata' is a great rap record for jazz fans.
Madlib isn't a beatmaker, he's a producer.
A lot of improvisation and freedom went into 'Pinata.'
Ninety percent of the general public aren't gangstas, so all of the rappers aren't going to be gangstas.
I study my competition for at least an hour a day. I get on the Internet, I look at what they doing, and then I look at ways to defeat them. I know their mixtapes track-by-track. I know some of their lyrics.
