Dave East

“Where I'm from in Harlem, everybody look like a rapper.”

“I watch movies all day. I am a heavy movie head.”

“I stand out. I don't really think I fit in with the 'what rap is' today. I feel like I stand out because I'm talking about me and my homies and stories from my life. I ain't really trying to have you turnt up all day.”

“I feel like I've mastered Dave East. For a long time I was trying to figure out who I was and what sound I wanted to come with.”

“I am not going to lie - my looks helped me.”

“A lot of people change for good. Some people just fall off. Just trying to progress in anything, no matter what you're doing, I feel like any progression you make... some people aren't gonna be around you that were around you.”

“I'm still an athlete at heart, so I always want that comfort and something that feels like an athletic shoe.”

“You always hear rappers say they don't write, but they're not really talking about anything.”

“I'm not feeling R. Kelly. And I got a daughter, so I'm super not jacking R. Kelly at all.”

“After the first three or four years of me taking rap seriously, it started to look more promising. I started booking shows and more people were playing my music, so I starting believing this could actually work for me.”

“I want to eventually get to a point where I can make all types of music for every type of crowd.”

“I'm never really trying to focus on one aim.”

“I was with Mass Appeal solely for almost two years.”

“Deep down in my heart and what I've seen and what I've been around, there is nothing better than Islam.”

“My father brought a basketball to the hospital when I was born, and he already had it embedded in his head that I would be a ball player.”

“With me, I record so much that I just get in the zone.”

“You're born a certain way, but you don't gotta die like that.”

“I never felt like 'I'm an underground dude' or 'I can only be hot in New York.'”

“It took mad failures for me to start to win.”

“A big part of what kept me focused on the music was already failing with basketball. I played basketball all of my life. When basketball didn't work, I knew that I had to make it in whatever I decided to do next.”