Wiz Khalifa

“When you're from the East Coast or you're from the South, people expect you to sound a certain way. So if you don't sound that way, people won't label you as that type of artist. For me, I had a whole new lane to create for myself being from Pittsburgh and being a Midwest artist.”

“I never write from concept. The beat is the beginning, and then I fill in the rest of the song into what it should be.”

“I'm always hustling.”

“I've been pretty focused my entire life, and now that I have a family, I'm just going to keep that focus, but it's going to be a family focus.”

“I don't consider myself an A-list celebrity or a big dog, but every time I meet somebody, even rappers who've been in the game for years... they're like, 'Man, I'm trying to get on your level.'”

“I see myself as like the lead singer of a band or something.”

“I made my first mix tape when I was 14.”

“I want to be an icon.”

“I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.”

“Worrying is stupid. It's like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain.”

“Every day is new. It's just a new day. I look at six hours at a time.”

“I think wherever you go, when people hear good music, they will react to it.”

“I critique myself way harder than anybody else could critique me.”

“Brand names aren't important to me at all.”

“Just growing up in Pittsburgh and knowing different neighborhoods, having family there and just loving it, it's like no other place.”

“Cry as much as you want to, but make sure when you're finished, you never cry for the same reason again”

“People connect with me just as a cool, around-the-way type of guy.”

“'Khalifa' is Arabic, it means successor, leader, shining light. My granddad is Muslim and he gave me that name.”

“Whatever I do, I do it because I want to do it and because it's completely, 100% me.”

“I have an idea of who I want to be, I have a vision of my own success.”