Rakim

“As I grew up, a lot of the music was made to uplift the spirit.”

“I'm not a mainstream artist. But I've seen my kids being born; I've seen them take their first steps, I've seen them grow up and start school. That's worth more to me than any umpteen million dollars.”

“It's hard to have fun and make a fun album when you know that it's something that you need to say.”

“Being a new artist, I was trying to make a good album and hope that people like Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel and some of the firstborns appreciated it. I was being influenced by them brothers there. That's where I got my start and my first listen.”

“We need the media to know that some of us are really passionate about music.”

“I try to make my flow sound like a John Coltrane solo.”

“When you look at hip-hop, I want to do that: to spit fire and take our best from the ashes to build our kingdom; to recognize all the regional styles, conscious lyrics, the tracks, underground, mainstream, the way we treat each other. Lose the garbage and rebuild our scene.”

“I was heavily influenced by Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Caz, but I kind of wanted to take it somewhere else.”

“Playing the sax and then enjoying jazz music, man - it's like I learned how to find words inside of the beat.”

“When I broke up with Eric B., I went on a little hiatus. Then all I was trying do is find producers. It's real hard, man.”

“I know how to read music, watching my mom and listening to Mom play music.”

“People think the older you get, the wacker you get. I think the older I get, the better I get.”

“Don't even go to the studio if you don't think that your music's going to do something. You're wasting your time and my time.”

“You can't have 12 records on your album and none of them sound alike. You gotta kind of have something to make them say, 'That sounds like Rakim.'”

“My aunt Ruth Brown was a jazz musician. I got hooked on it at a young age, understanding what John Coltrane was doing playing two notes on the saxophone at the same time, which is impossible.”

“I was always a laid-back, subdued person, and I just try to let that speak through my music.”

“I got a lot of vinyl, a lot of music in general in the house.”

“I try to support my kids in what they do and, at the same time, not push them towards anything.”

“We gotta let hip-hop grow. We gotta let it go through its different phases throughout the different places that's accepting it.”

“I stick to my guns - that's what keeps me going as an artist. Stevie Wonder never changed from what he wanted to do, and each new album that came along was dope.”