Inspectah Deck
I was never dumb, son.
I'm a street journalist, man.
We live in a world where everything is lies.
I was always one that wanted to expand my mind and learn, 'cause I looked up to a lot of dudes who were like that. Those were the cats around me, I guess.
I was in elementary school, going to school knowing Rick James, Aretha Franklin, way before my time.
RZA had a flood in his apartment. Lost my whole first album.
When I first signed, I signed in 1995 for my 'Uncontrolled Substance' album. And what happened with that album was that Loud Records had went defunct. After I put out 'Uncontrolled Substance'... There was nobody left to run that situation.
Don't get me wrong; Ghost used to have an afro, like the Jackson 5.
My mom used to wake us up with music and keep the music on high so we wouldn't go back to sleep.
My first album wasn't even the album that y'all hear as 'Uncontrolled Substance.' It was a totally different album... I had a whole different album.
I used to pop and lock. Electric Boogie.
We used to battle every day like it was 'Beat Street' the movie.
When we first came out, we had the masks on. Stocking caps and everything on the album cover, so people didn't really know who we were, what we looked like.
I like Kendrick because Kendrick is keeping that spirit alive of trying to educate and teach people, man.
I don't make solo albums for the masses and the millions of radio fans out there, I make music for people that see things the way I see it.
When you question who's one of the greatest of all time lyrically... I don't sell a lot of records, but it's all good, man. My first solo album sold over 500,000 copies. And my second album - which I put out independently - sold over six figures as well.
We learned how to hustle and get money. You stack and plan the future ahead - get your house, your car, your wife and start your family. Pass the jewel on. We grew up under those rules like the mob... the mafia.
When I say, 'Life as a shorty shouldn't be so rough,' I'm talking about me, myself - I grew up poor, but we grew up happy as a family.
I like Curren$y.
When I came up, we had to fight and scrap.
I just like to be great at what I do, and it's just a simple mentality. The hardest part for me is just making it rhyme.
A lot of times when I see people on the street and they ask me, 'How do you think of that? I bomb atomically, Socrates, like oh my God!' I'm like, 'You know what, man? I watch CNN, play PS3, and I do everything that everybody else does. I just stay in tune with it, and I like to reflect that in my rhymes.'
You know what I do? I study '70s music.
Hip-hop got so ravaged, it's snobby now.
For me, Wu-Tang is like the Justice League, the X-Men. And I can play any character I want. It's like I'm more of the Martian Manhunter, I'm like the Vision. I'm on a team with Superman and Iron Man and Batman.
We're always testing our weaponry on each other. It's more of a friendly competition when it's Wu-Tang and you're basically slinging your blade. It's more of a combat, Game of Thrones type thing over there. When it's me and Esoteric, it's more a verbal thing.
We live in a world in which you'll be attentive for like thirty seconds and your attention span moves onto the next. So anything is really not much of long-term significance.
Everybody follows what Twitter says. Everybody follows what Facebook says. Nobody dictates the situation for himself or herself.
Gangster rap ain't gonna last forever, and Wu-Tang ain't gonna last forever. Even though we say it's gonna last forever, it's a mentality. You know?
The Wu-Tang logo is definitely up there with Batman, man, or the actual W-B Warner Brothers.
I got into the art of producing without the samples now. That takes piano lessons and all that.
I'm nothin'; I'm not the flyest dude out there. I'm just one of the many, if anything. I'm not the man, I'm just one of the men.
I'm not the most gangsta or the richest dude out there.
Me personally, I love women.
I'm pro-women.
I only rhymed to certain people. I'd be more likely to just snap on people than do a whole rhyme. But eventually Cappadonna really sat me down and showed me how to put it all down on paper. I owe Cap a lot for that.
Wu-Tang is big - it's bigger than us. We started off as just a bunch of guys from the neighborhood; now it's around the world. It's about our legacy and what we mean to people.
I'm a J-Dilla fan No. 1. That might be my favorite dude.
You know, I get teased for eating quiche when I get around my Wu-Tang brothers. 'You eat quiche?!' Quiche is good, man!
GZA is graphic and very technical. He talks about air jacks, compressing steel.
RZA's a deep thinker.
Ghost is definitely a soulful type brother and has a deep consciousness, but he's more direct to what Wu-Tang is.
Wu-Tang was beats and rhymes. Ghost picks the harder beats.
When you come to our show, you want some food for thought, and we've got our aprons on.
The truth hurts. But I'd rather you tell me the truth than lie to me in my face.
Growing up, I've had fist fights with my brother, but that's still my brother and that happens regardless.
Me personally in life, I have my wife and my children. I couldn't ask for more than that. I can feed my family doing what I love.
If I was a young kid in the game I would be studying Wu-Tang.
You look at other rappers who have been around 10-20 years and even the most diehard fans write you off after that.
I'm like a hidden camera. I always have everything under surveillance all the time.