Chuck D

Government and culture are two diametrically opposed forces - the one blinds and oppresses, the other uplifts and unites. ”

Music and art and culture is escapism, and escapism sometimes is healthy for people to get away from reality. The problem is when they stay there. ”

I like Rick Ross as a person. I like Jay-Z and Kanye West as people. But I hate the companies that they record for. ”

You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake. ”

Never try to make the same record twice, even when people are screaming for the same sound. ”

Rap is supposed to be about keeping it real and not relinquishing your roots in the community. Without that, it's just posturing. Somebody who claims to speak for the 'hood don't need no private jet. ”

I'd rather have a hundred thousand or a million people saying I'm nuts and I'm crazy for my musical choices and what I've said lyrically, than a million people all raising their hand on the first day. ”

People aren't going to support an artist just because they have an audio file. They have to feel a real connection. ”

You should be a person inside the world with knowledge of your terrain. And if you lock yourself into the 2,000-by-3,000-square-mile, lower-48 box of the United States, you're going to be frustrated by its limitations. You gotta think outside the box. ”

My daughter's 19. I'm not asking her to develop as an artist. I'm just asking her to develop as a full person, human being. ”