Chamillionaire
I don't play 'Farmville'... I play 'Mafia Wars.'
Life is too short to be arguing over some little things.
I'm just living life and enjoying it. Alive, kicking, and doing good. That's what a real winner is.
Timing is everything for me, especially.
I used to try to get revenge on the critics, but now I realize I've already won, and it doesn't matter what people say.
I'm willing to role the dice with my career to be different.
I named my first album 'The Sound of Revenge' because I wanted to get revenge on everyone who doubted me. But when I finally got revenge, I didn't enjoy it.
I've watched the dynamics of music completely change to where we've sold tapes, we've sold CDs, then everything started becoming 'music is free' now. In a perfect world, Napster wouldn't have come along. But the world isn't perfect, and when it changes, you have to adapt.
I want to do more to create more awareness so that the people in our communities aren't just thinking that you just got to be a basketball player or a rapper, because that's what I thought.
The reason why we decided to put the focus on minority and women-funded startups is because this demographic of companies and founders is just underrepresented, they're under-invested in.
There are people that are doing things that I would've never even thought possible.
When fans know they are being rewarded, they are more engaged.
Just like so many other people out there, I don't want to sit on the sidelines, I want to do the most that I can to help.
If you don't have respect for immigrants, or you don't have respect for minorities, or you don't have respect for women, it's gonna be very difficult for you to understand why the other side needs to be treated fairly.
Don't let evil agendas turn us against each other.
For those of you familiar with me, you know I'm the last person to chase publicity or attention.
I can't live without my iPhone.
If I was to leave home without my wallet and my iPhone, and I could only go back and get one, I'd grab my iPhone.
Sometimes I'll do something when I'm tired at night, and it'll sound hot. But in the morning, when I'm wide awake, I'll listen again and think it's way off. Nobody else would notice it, but I'm like, I've got to fix that!
Everybody's out there trying to be somebody else. Even the good guy's trying to be the bad guy, you know? Just be yourself, man. I think that works.
You can learn how to code today. You can build this same thing that you're looking at every day, that you're tweeting on, that you're snapping on, and I feel like that conversation needs to be had.
I got kicked out of my father's home because of my feelings towards hip-hop.
When I'm in the studio with other rappers, we talk about social issues.
I know that the fans are also very responsible for an artist's success and feel like they deserve to be recognized.
There are cops who be racially profiling.
I didn't want to be one of these rappers that holds his chain up just faking like he has money. I wanted more.
People always put you in a box as a rapper, especially when I get up on a panel and start speaking, and I start speaking when I got some sense. They're like, 'Oh, well, I didn't expect him to have sense.'
I'm a human before I'm even a rapper.
I just think knowledge makes the world go 'round, man. So, if that makes me a geek, then cool.
Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big.
Snoop Dogg has this larger than life image which is so not true because when you meet him in person he's so humble, loves his kids and enjoys his life.
There are musicians who wait all their lives for this award while for me it came with my first album. People have started acknowledging my work because of the Grammy.
I woud definitely want to collaborate with Indian musicians.
Timbaland uses a lot of Indian music and that has certainly familiarised me about the music of India.
It's an honour to have been invited to perform in India for 'Vh1 Hip Hop Hustle.' This only reconfirms the impact Hip Hop culture and music has made globally.
When I decided to collaborate with people, I wanted to collaborate more with the underdogs, the street people, messing with the people like Jae Millz and Papoose. When I went to New York, they were all over the mixtapes, so I wanted to get down with those guys instead of trying to go safe with all the super-big names.
Artists can be themselves. They don't have to pretend to be somebody they're not.
Slim Thug and Z-Ro can make a record together, and even Flip and T.I. can make a record together, but there's a difference between that and Flip and T.I. holding hands and being friends. When people say they want these records, they mean that they want us all to be friends.
I've got an iPod but I don't even use it. It's just that, you know, you've got to like plug it up to the computer. And then you've got to download songs. And put them in your playlist. I'd rather just get the CD and pop it in. I'm cool with the Discman. The Walkman.
I want people to understand how the tech world changes my world.
I was one of the first rappers to have his own forum. Then 50 Cent made 'Thisis50.com,' and everyone made sites just like it.
Being an entrepreneur isn't easy, but it's even harder for minority and women-led companies.
When people say they can't find African-American startups to invest in, it just sounds a little crazy to me.
I was never really like, 'Oh, I wanna be famous,' you know, 'I wanna be a big rapper.' I mean, I love rap, but it wasn't just fame.
Don't listen to much country music, you know, but I know a little bit though. My sister listens to a little bit of country.
I trust my gut instinct, and go against the grain and it works.
Music's designed to be timeless.
My biggest obstacle is trying to keep the music pure to what I want to release. I don't want any corporate suit telling me what story to tell.
If you look at companies like Twitter, Google, all these companies started with ideas and then everybody used it. In my world, people don't think like that. Rappers chase the next check. They become a slave to labels and eventually that money starts shrinking.
I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel with 'Venom.' I'm not trying to go too far to the left or too far to the right. Sometimes I step outside the box and it might lose people a little bit, so this time I'm going straight up the middle. I'm coming with some hard stuff.