J. Cole
My goal is to have that be a haven for families.Collection: Goal
There's still value in a CD, even if it's just nostalgic. People are still willing to pay. But it can't compare to a digital-only release where you can control the exact time that it'll come out, you know what I mean? So whoever finds how to bridge that gap is gonna make a lot of money.Collection: Mean
I want people to follow their dreams, yes but I'm not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers I want to show them that there's so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.Collection: Basketball
It's no coincidence that all the greatest rappers - whoever you put in your top five - I guarantee you they a great storyteller.Collection: Rapper
College had a great deal to do with my development as a person. I don't know if I'd be the artist I was if it wasn't for goin' to school like that. School is a good place - it ain't for everybody, but I think it's for most people.Collection: School
I think all you can really do is use the tour to kinda fill up with experiences and thoughts, and then, when you get back to the studio, or in some type of creative environment, that's when you release everything that you've encountered on tour.Collection: Thinking
Tupac was just so passionate about what he believes in and not afraid to say anything.Collection: Believe
Far from the richest rapper, but my biggest personal achievement thus far in my life has been retiring my mom early from her job at the Post Office. It's a tiny payback for the sacrifices she made that allowed me to chase a far-fetched dream of becoming a successful artist. I'm forever grateful.Collection: Mom
Yeah school girl, cool girl. Your dress is sexy and your momma is a cougar.Collection: Girl
In my mind, New York was the place where they had the underground rap shows and I could get in on some ciphers and just rap. This whole fantasy world I had created in my head about New York just from listening to the music my whole life, like, I'ma go up there and do that. But when I came up here, there was none of that, that scene was dead.Collection: New York
My parents were divorced by the time I was even conscious - like I don't remember them ever being together.Collection: Parent
Even my momma asked what I'mma do. Decisions, decisions/ In case this is war, then I load up on all ammunition/ If a n----a want problems, my trigger's on auto.Collection: War
How big can you be if just the underground niggas know you? You can't buy your mom a house when you just an underground celebrity.Collection: Mom
You go to any town, any city, any state in America and there's always a McDonald's. In a lot of places around the world, it's almost the same thing. And Nikki Giovanni was like, "Damn, where are we keeping all these cows?" And it made me think to myself, like, "Damn, where are we keeping all these cows?!" It makes me think that the beef we're eating isn't even close to being real. There can't even be enough cows in the whole world just to sustain the appetites of just Americans! I'll always remember that.Collection: Real
The music becomes more pure and soulful when it's true, and it has to be true these days with the way the internet works, and the way the game works, everyone wants authentic raps.Collection: Rap
I begged my mom for a beat machine, she spent a crazy amount of money - so there were no more Christmases, no more basketball camps, no more birthday gifts. I always knew that's what I wanted to do.Collection: Basketball
It's not necessarily a church theme and it's not really about church. I like my album themes to be metaphors because it gives me the freedom to speak about something else that's going on in my life, so the Born Sinner thing is not about church, it's not even about religion. It's using that as canvas to get other messages across and that's what the album will be.Collection: Giving
I wanna show you I can out-rap your favorite rappers. I wanna show you I can out-produce your favorite producers. So I'm constantly getting better and I understand that there's always room for growth, especially in quality, sonic quality.Collection: Rap
My Mother's an actress, and she's always told me, "Boy, you're an actor." I would look forward to seeing if I'm any good. I want to be good at it, that's the only thing.Collection: Mother
I'm not a conscious rapper, all those things we talk about, the struggle, the pain, the outlook to the future, keep your head up. I try to put all those positive things into a regular human character, which is myself.Collection: Pain
When you're a rapper, just a rapper, you have to kind of settle for whatever comes your way - if a beat is hot, you wanna rap on it, period.Collection: Rap
When you're a producer on top of that, just havin' a beat that's hot is not enough. Now you know your sound, 'cause you've been workin' on your sound for so long, and now you're extra picky. You might do a beat that's ill, that the average rapper would pay big money to get on, but you don't wanna do it because you're like, "Ehhh... it's not what I'm looking for, it's not what I'm goin' for." So you're extra picky.Collection: Rapper
I don't like to think of it as being fired. Instead, I prefer to think of it as being on indefinite leave with a sabbatical flair.Collection: Thinking
I don't wanna forget the fact that I wanna be one of the best rappers. I feel like some of the best rappers ever - 2Pac, namely, one of them - could take sub-par beats or average beats and turn them into incredible songs.Collection: Song
When composing music, I just start spilling things out and then wait until they take form, you know what I mean, until I see like a common thread or something.Collection: Mean
You can't take yourself too seriously. Like, yeah, I'm doin' all that, but still I don't feel like I've done anything, really. I feel blessed 'cause I'm doin' all these things, but I'm not satisfied. I still have that feeling like, "Who am I? Who am I to have an ego? Who am I to change up and act like some Hollywood character?" Technically, in the grand scheme of things, I haven't done anything.Collection: Blessed
It's the way I enjoy making art - I like sitting down and making five beats; I enjoy that process. I can go two weeks without making a song and just making beats and I'll be OK.Collection: Song
I didn't even have to be a big fan of someone to enjoy hearing them speak. I remember when Nikki Giovanni came - I wasn't really familiar with her. But she said some things I'll never forget. Like, okay, for example, she was talking about the amount of beef that's in the world. There are so many McDonald's, Burger Kings, Wendy's.Collection: World
I never really told anybody that I'm a rapper. I wasn't walking around being like, "Yo, check out my mixtape!" It was more of a secret grind.Collection: Rapper
A lot of my music is just self-observation. Like telling you, "Oh man. What did I just do? How much did I just pay for this chain? Why did I do that? Wait a minute." Let me talk about that. Or like, the temptation. Let me talk about that. Let me observe myself.Collection: Men