I am the evil seed.
I never took a dollar from Young Jeezy. No advance, nothing.
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.
I feel like with a lot of Madlib's beats, they are made for storytelling. I feel like when I'm working on stuff with him, I can really get into the storytelling aspect mode of my flow.
I'm a common dude.
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.
I don't like pre-written raps; I think it makes the song better if you listen to the beat first. In a sense, you have to make a marriage with the beat. I ride the beat, hear the flow of the drums, get the melody of my flow, and then from that point, it's a process of what I want to say.
I look at some of my fans at my show, and a lot of them look like they're straight out of a punk rock show. They like what I'm coming across with. I had seen them same thing when I went to this Scarface show, so it lets me know that I'm on the right track.
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.
It's in the American spirit to take advantage of an opportunity.
I'm not trying to obey the rules of radio.
Jeezy just recognized my grind, and I jumped on board with him to enhance it. Artistically, we're in the same mind frame. We come from very similar backgrounds - poverty. That's something that we can both relate to, something that we can convey in our music.
After I got dropped by Interscope, I knew in my heart that I had to fight back some way or not rap at all. I just took it upon myself to get myself where I needed to be.
I've been engulfed in sports since I was a 2-year-old; I picked up any kind of ball - a basketball, baseball, football - I just loved to play something. I loved the energy of being in arenas and watching the game on TV.
Stuart Scott was a hero.
I just want to put my stamp on all kinds of music. Everything I do is going to be gangsta rap, street-based, street-oriented.
I'm cool with doing shows with 2,000 people. I don't have to rap in a stadium. As long as I can provide for my family and my art and live comfortably and live well, then I'm good.
I'm like LeBron, man. I'm like a smaller LeBron. That's why I'm not in the NBA. If I had about five, six more inches, I'd be in the league.
I've been interested in basketball since I was a little kid - like, 3. The Bulls were my team. If you grew up in Gary, the Bulls were everybody's team.
I'm just glad we get to see old records being broken. That's what sports is all about.
