KRS-One

“You have to be educated to vote.”

“When you do an album, you don't get to test an album live.”

“I think music should be free. I think all communication should be free. I think people should respect artists, and there should be a certain respect for artists who give their music away for free.”

“Hate is indeed self-destructive, and this is what real Hip Hop must avoid at all cost.”

“The only time you had blacks, whites, and Latinos jamming together was in hip-hop. It's an unsung history.”

“When you're not attached to anything, nothing can harm you. When people become attached, they can be harmed. I know this, so I don't attach myself to anything, really.”

“Even with so many artists using auto-tune, there's still a growing group of artists rising up and going in the opposite direction, making music that's real and fresh. And those cats are getting back to the basics without auto-tune. And a lot of those cats are packing out venues without getting played on the radio!”

“I existed before the mainstream. Why would I join them? I watched the mainstream come up, and now I'm watching it collapse. I don't want to be a part of that.”

“The Temple of Hip-Hop makes sure that we don't just approach hip-hop just through music or through rap. We approach the totality of hip-hop.”

“Original hip hop manipulated technologies of all sorts; it was not manipulated by the technology itself.”

“I think that Napster is the greatest invention since sliced bread. Napster, to me, is liberation and freedom for artists.”

“I have to put a business model together because certain businesses are approaching me as a legend, as if I'm on my way out. Same goes for the way I get presented on the VH1 Hip Hop Honors and BET. I get lifetime achievement awards because of who I am and what I've done, but they want to put me in a place, as if I'm on my way out.”

“Radio has always been just disgusting.”

“I'm the most humble rapper in the industry.”

“For KRS-One, I have a specific sound - sparse drums and bass. I try to steer away from elaborate productions.”

“When you seek to do something, if you don't know the whole game plan, you're usually going to work against yourself.”

“When you know your self-worth, and you read and you ask questions and you study and you travel, you become free.”

“Record companies feel they are the culture. Hip-hop has to begin to define, protect, and promote itself, and that's why we founded the Temple.”

“The only solution to the education system is to find yourself.”

“Hip Hop is an idea. It is the pursuit of one's authentic being through the arts. It is not a physical thing; it is an attitude - even an aptitude.”