Westside Gunn

“So it's rare if I go to a city and don't shop. I know different store systems in every city so I just like doing business everywhere I go.”

“I'm heavy into fashion. I always keep my ears and eyes open to the streets, to who's doing what, because I always designed.”

“I always wanted to just stay 10 steps ahead of everybody. It's just been like that my whole life.”

“I was accepted to multiple fashion schools. But I had two kids when I was a teenager. My kids' mom already had two kids when she was still in high school. So I had to be in the streets early. Instead of going to fashion school, I took the street route.”

“Once I got old enough to start making my own bread for real, hustling and doing everything I was doing, I was coming to Atlanta for spring and summer breaks.”

“I think God is the greatest. I know where I came from, and I can still go any second, if I chose that route. But I'm just focusing on positivity right now. That's where 'God Is the Greatest' came from.”

“We really just live our life. We rap about our life, where we from, our city, what we've been through, from the streets to losing people to being in prison. Everything you hear is reality for us.”

“I've been through so much in my life. I really don't like the feeling sorry for me, the pity.”

“I'm more of a fashion designer than I am a rapper.”

“I just like getting bigger and bigger. Taking it to another level, even as far as features and production.”

“If I'm going to go all out and wear something new, y'all just know that it's brand new and it's likely that nobody has even put it out there yet. Or it's going to be something that's real chill and laid back.”

“A lot of people from Buffalo haven't even been outside of Buffalo. Probably 75% of Buffalo never even been in New York City. We just come from a different kind of place. You just have to be from there to kind of understand that.”

“You know how it be sometimes: everybody bosses, and they got their own lane going on, they got their own crew, they got their own businesses. And sometimes, you just don't link with people.”

“I come from Eastside Buffalo and prison cells. That's the beauty about hip-hop. It just brings everybody together.”

“It's never sunny in Buffalo.”

“My song titles are always left-field or mean a lot to me.”

“I never had a budget, I never had a manager, I never had a PR. I never had nothing. I was getting everything straight out the mud.”

“Like I always tell people, Buffalo is closer to Toronto than New York City. We an hour and a half away - that's the next major city to us is Toronto. Buffalo's connected to Canada.”

“When I came into the game, my influence was so heavy in the States and overseas people was painting murals of me, people tattooing me on them.”

“The focus to me was always just being the best that we can be. Just being trendsetters and only focusing on us.”