Adrian Younge

“Like with me, like around '97, for Christmas my parents bought me an MPC 2000 sampler and a little eight-track cassette recorder. And I started sampling records and, you know, producing hip-hop beats. And it got to the point where I realized - I innately realized that the music I liked the most was made by people that played instruments.”

“I love sampling, and RZA loves sampling, too.”

“My music sounds different because the techniques are archaic, seeing as most people only record digitally.”

“I grew up, and I'm getting the chance to make music with the people I idolized.”

“People like RZA and DJ Premier are really on the balcony to scope my musical theories. They also help me focus on making sure I make money, making sure I get the notoriety I should, just regular stuff that friends do when you're in the business. And to call them friends is amazing.”

“I was really raised on hip-hop, and hip-hop introduced me basically to all the music I listen to now.”

“I like golden-era hip-hop because they were recording on a 2-inch tape. There was dirty, raw sampling. It's nasty. It has a vibe to it.”

“I can't do too much musical movement with a lot of MC's, because they don't know how to follow me. But with Souls of Mischief, I could go anywhere because they are musicians - they rap as musicians, and they play instruments and produce, so they get that.”

“I try to find a vocalist that I don't have to make better. I try to find a vocalist that can make me better, and in turn, I can make them better so that we are, as a team, making ourselves better. I like the vocalist to challenge me. I love to challenge a vocalist.”

“I'd never record digitally. It's not because its' a horrible way to record, it's just not the best way to record my music, because my music is rawer, darker and a little more nostalgic.”

“I love how music can create an audiovisual experience. To me, some of the best music is the music that does that.”

“Sometimes, a concept is needed to spark myself and the vocalist; sometimes a concept isn't necessary for that spark. It all depends on the moment, because I don't want to be that dude that every album has to be this story or that story.”

“I'm a film composer, but I'm a hip-hop guy.”

“I tell people, 'I don't make music, I make worlds.'”

“I have a J.D., but I'm not a practicing attorney as far as entertainment law goes.”

“'Luke Cage' is a gift. There's so many different ways you can look at it.”

“I'm a hip hop dude who loves scoring for film.”

“I basically wake up at five in the morning and grab coffee and just get to the studio. And I have a list of things I need to get done every day. Sometimes it's just mixing, sometimes it's actually writing, sometimes it's writing, recording, and mixing. It all depends on what is necessary that day.”

“'Luke Cage' came out in 1972 at the height of the blaxploitation era. It was a literary response to this notion of blaxploitation movies. It was the first time in American culture that Hollywood was embracing black movies.”

“Generally, as a composer, it's perceived as an employer-employee relationship.”