Big Daddy Kane
I think that all lives matter, but I think that the reason we say Black Lives Matter is because, for some reason, it seems like there's a lot of people in America that don't realize that we want to be treated as equal as police treat a white person that gets pulled over.
I totally understand, believe in, and support Black Lives Matter.
White people moving into Brooklyn, I don't see anything wrong with that. I think that's fine and I think that's beautiful, but to hear about certain black people whose rent is getting hiked up so high and they're not able to get leases renewed. Now that I think is wrong.
My view is that I would love to see people united and loving one another, working with one another, supporting one another. I think that's a beautiful vision, so anybody trying to bring that about, I'm all for it. However, I would hate to see people pretending to unite people just for the sake of relocating them.
I'm just glad that people look at me as a legend.
To me hip-hop is a culture and I became an MC to be recognized as a dope lyricist. That's what I wanted to be recognized as. So when I'm writing rhymes I always take it very seriously.
I just wanted to be the best MC. I wasn't about owning a Bentley. I wanted to be recognized as the illest MC.
I wasn't one of those artists where people throw my song and just dance to it. People actually listened to the lyrics.
R&B stations don't say 'We have old school artist Ronald Isley in the house.' They say 'We have the legendary Ronald Isley.' But if I come do an interview, they're gonna say 'We have old school rapper Big Daddy Kane in the house.' We belittle ourselves, our music and our culture. It's hard for a lot of legendary artists in hip-hop to overcome.
I wanted to be different. I wanted to address everyone. I wanted to address the hood, but also the people that was getting money. I wanted to address the men and women, the kids and the adults.
I have a lot of love for Long Island.
When I started working on my sophomore album, I'd seen more.
After 'Long Live the Kane,' I toured the world as an entertainer seeing so much more. My mindstate was so much broader.
I knew how to be a voice for L.A., I knew how to be a voice for Detroit, I knew how to be a voice for London, I knew how to be a voice for Amsterdam.
A kid will be like, 'Yo, you're Big Daddy Kane. My father listens to you!' It kind of makes you feel like one of the Platters or Temptations or something. You feel like you're super-old. But then again on the flipside it's cool to see like someone that's two or three generations after you excited.
I feel that in the music industry there are so many artists it's easy to be forgotten because it's so cluttered.
If you come on stage rocking the same LRG shirt and Ed Hardy jeans that two people in the crowd have on, then what makes you different than them?
With New Edition it would get to the point where kids would have their New Edition posters; say like it was in a household of sisters. Each sister would have also have an individual poster of the member of New Edition that they liked. Now that's star power.
I mean it's always good to document your history. 'Cos for some strange reason black history has a tendency of getting lost. So I think it's beautiful to have the ability to document it.
I've always called Puff like the greatest promotion person in this world - for himself and for his artists - better than anybody I've ever seen in my life.
I love old school music, that's just always been my thing.
The Lifted Crew, I think that they're a great band that plays great soul music. They may have studied a lot of soul, but really, their heart and soul is in hip-hop.
It's all about the family tree, there's a family tree. You know Melly Mel birthed KRS-One, KRS-One I think birthed Tupac.
He's definitely someone who helped mold and shape hip-hop with his music. I would put him in the category of James Brown, the Honeydrippers and Chic. He gave the B-boys and B-girls a track to dance to, but it would only be a DJ or an MC who knows who Billy Squier is.
If you call 'Rapper's Delight' an old-school record, I agree with you. If you call Sugar Hill Gang old school, I agree with you. Not because they came out in '79 or '80, but because in 2002, that's still the way Hank and Mike rhyme.
I had fun working on films.
Life ain't a piece of cake for me.
I don't want people to think that I'm bigger or better than anyone out there.
I was a big fan of Marvin Gaye, and when my parents were at work, I would get in front of the mirror, put my father's clothes on and pretend I was singing Marvin Gaye songs.
I always thought that was very important, to be able to deliver great lyrics and also put on a great performance, to have that type of visual where people would take to it, where they'd want to dress like you or have pictures of you hanging up on the wall.
I got to meet and work with Barry White, Quincy Jones, Patti LaBelle, even.
I made songs in the late '90s and the early new millennium that didn't succeed very well, but songs that I made in the late '80s, early '90s, they stood the test of time. I respect those songs for keeping me relevant.
It's the type of thing where, if you gonna battle somebody to prove your greatness, you wanna go to somebody that shares that same seat with you.
My best album is probably my second one, It's a 'Big Daddy Thing.' I like a lot of the songs on there. It was put together... just the structure of the album was tight.
Rap is good for politics because when you make a rap record, you put good music on a track and people listen to you. It's easier than trying to preach.
Good rap records don't get too far, but rap records that are made for crossing over to white audiences do go a long way.
In a certain way, rap music is alternative.
I always loved slow jams and wanted to make them, but didn't know how I could because I couldn't sing. Then Barry White made 'Love Serenade' in which all he did was talk the entire jam. I said, 'I can do that.'
I have ultra-strong respect for women that respect themselves.
I don't get too political in my music, because some people tend to get bored with the message: I say what's necessary and leave it at that. The books of Malcolm X go deeper than any song. But entertainers can be educators. Music touches the soul. Knowledge touches the mind. When you combine the two, you capture the whole.
What earns my respect is... I love great lyricists, artists that can create incredible rhymes or incredible songs. The same thing goes if you're a singer. I definitely respect that.
My song 'Smooth Operator,' I think that's a real simple, easy, sing-a-long kind of song. It's not too complicated.
I have my views, and I'm always willing to share them.
I respect artists that know how to be artists, that know how to create their own lane and make people respect them for who they are and what they represent.
I just think it was because I was known as a lyricist that's what people only wanted to hear that from me. If you're an artist you have to expand, you have to grow.
I like Ludacris; I think that he's a complete artist. I think that he makes great records; I think that he is a great lyricist and at the same time I think he knows how to have fun.
To me, fresh means you're in something new, something that looks real nice... and something put together creatively.
Rakim is a great rapper, but, you know, he's not a battle rapper.
Rap songs don't always have to have a message. They can be done for pure entertainment or just to get a laugh.