No I.D.

“When you really make things that really challenge the status quo or challenge issues, and you do it artistically, and you do it with no fear, people are listening.”

“When you do your art, and you may think people don't recognize it or appreciate it, you actually go and try to get better.”

“I think that sometimes, as producers, we just service the artists who's really just the main front or person. You know, our roles are really just to help them get where they're supposed to go.”

“I have a Chicago personality, which means that just because I'm friends with one person, I don't assume I'm friends with his friends.”

“If you think about 2Pac, Biggie, and Nas, all of those guys were teenagers or in their early 20s when they got started. Everybody acts like young people have to be silly and lack perspective. Those guys had incredible perspective, and everything that they said was before 25 years old.”

“I just want to work on music and make some new stars. I'm not interested in being a star.”

“A lot of my favorite artists didn't sell much out the gate. I didn't with Common at first. Neither did first albums from Outkast, Nas, or Jay Z. It doesn't scare me.”

“Most of the greatest albums in the history of music are one producer. It's just a fact. Or one collective.”

“For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad.”

“Wine gets better with time. So does art.”

“The effect that 'Illmatic' had on us at that moment was serious.”

“If you want to make money, that's great, but if you make great music, you're going to make money anyway. Keep your eyes on making a great product. You don't even have to promote it.”

“There's the way modern music is produced, which is, 'Here's a piece of music, and I'm the producer, so pay me and make sure my credit is right and get me my splits.' But I'm trying to go backward. Now, it's more like 'What's the texture? What's the over-arching story?' There are more things to pay attention to than 'Is this the right snare?'”

“I tried to embrace the concept of the sampler as an instrument, looking at how to take it artistically to another place where it can be appreciated, more than just taking someone's song and doing a 4-bar loop.”

“As much as you act like everything is programmed or calculated or researched or numbers, spins, radio, and clubs, it's still human beings out here you can reach with music.”

“If you look before the '90s, you might not find many - if any - albums with multiple producers. It just didn't exist in the history of music. That would have been like Michael Jackson telling Quincy Jones, 'Look man, I know we did well on 'Off The Wall,' but I'm hot now, and I need to see some other producers for 'Thriller.''”

“There's not too many one-producer rap albums. There are lot of one-producer rock albums... and country albums.”

“I'm not interested in anything besides making some good music, helping some artists, being an executive. I'm pretty happy with that.”

“The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did.”

“I am the guy that, if you catch me saying something, I don't do the, 'Don't tell anybody I said it.' If I said it, I said it. I'm gonna stand right here and say it again to whoever - the end. What's the trouble? Where's the problem?”