Freddie Gibbs

“I just have to go against the grain. I mean, I can be objective and do what I need to do, handle my everyday living, follow directions, etc. But there's something that's always been attracted to that taboo. It's been like that since I was a child.”

“You've got a lot of Tupac clones, but I don't think I'm one of them. I just think I give people a little piece of the feeling he gave them.”

“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 played wide receiver in high school; then I went to college at Ball State and played safety.”

“My mom had me at a young age, like 20, and she was the oldest child. All her brothers were seven and 10, so I was like a younger brother more so than the oldest child. I was the younger brother to all my uncles, so they were going through their childhood and their teenage years, and I was right there.”

“I don't really know what a debut album is no more. As long as you got music on the streets, you've debuted.”

“I still bump 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' I used to listen to it before all my football games.”

“Lil Wayne makes good music. He's one of the best rappers.”

“I'm not trying to obey the rules of radio.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Me separating from CTE - I'm extremely happy about that because a lot of guys wrote me off, Jeezy included. He really wrote me off.”

“Gary is a really impoverished town; it's in industrial decay. There's low employment and things of that nature.”

“I've been known not to bite my tongue.”

“I grew up on N.W.A., Geto Boys. My dad was listening to that.”

“I don't mind travelling. I'm independent, so I gotta get on the grind.”

“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.”

“Ninety percent of the general public aren't gangstas, so all of the rappers aren't going to be gangstas.”

“I wanted to be in the NBA. I wanted to be in the NFL.”

“I'm an educated individual.”