A biography for Ezra Koenighasn’t been written yet.
“Rapping and singing are not two polar opposites. There's so much middle ground. And I think there's a lot of people who find that middle ground.”
“Musicals don't get enough credit for being so surreal. It's like an alternate universe.”
“Well, growing up in the '90s, my first true love was ska music.”
“I still think that if you're excited about something, you have to work at it.”
“My dad grew up in a working-class Jewish neighbourhood, and I got a scholarship from my dad's union to go to college. I went there to get an education, not as an extension of privilege.”
“As an artist you have the luxury of maybe presenting an issue in a certain way, as opposed to actually solving it.”
“Anyways, trying to express yourself to the press is often like arguing with a hysterical person.”
“I still to this day get the most inspiration from rap lyrics.”
“I'm a huge fan of the Bay Area so I always love coming to San Francisco.”
“Playing 'Tetris' for 15 minutes is like meditation.”
“You can be 24 and continue to live like you're at college, or even continue to live like you're in high school. Or you can put on a shirt and tie and pretend to be an adult.”
“It's so easy for anyone to deal with their own guilt of being a middle-class white music fan by pointing to other people who they perceive to be richer than them, whiter than them.”
“If kids and teenagers can get into a band, it's probably not because they think it's brainy.”
“I'm pretty sure that the Walkmen are the band that I've paid to see the most in my life.”
“All I know for sure is that issues like race, like class, are always best approached with compassion and open-mindedness.”
“Sometimes you want to dress a certain way... that doesn't always reflect your pedigree.”
“I remember the first pangs of stress arriving at the end of school. Once I graduated I had to get a full-time job, worry about health insurance, saving money, paying rent - things I'd never thought about before.”
“I grew up listening to Jay-Z, and I think the first time I really became obsessed with learning and thinking about lyrics was when I started listening to rap; I was 11, 12, and started becoming aware of music beyond the familiar.”
“I go to great pains to find the best yogurt and granola.”
“My dad has a really great record collection that basically went up to the year I was born: 1984.”