Dave East

I wouldn't tell nobody to sign no slave deal or sign your life away or nothing like that, but if the deal is right and if it benefits you, you'd be a fool if you did not take advantage of it. ”

I wanna be in a movie, I wanna have a clothing line, I wanna put myself in a position where, when I'm dead and gone, or I can't rap anymore, that's still moving. Tupac and Biggie, they've been dead 10-plus years and people talk about them everyday. I'm gonna try to speak everything into existence. I know the music is my key to get there. ”

After the first three or four years of me taking rap seriously, it started to look more promising. I started booking shows and more people were playing my music, so I starting believing this could actually work for me. ”

I feel like rap fit me better. I could hoop. I could have went and did that, but this is my lifestyle, my temperament, my mentality. ”

Islam has a negative outlook on it around the world based on what the media tries to show. They not showing the peace. ”

I was incarcerated for a little while in Baltimore, and my celly was Muslim. I was watching him pray every day, and his outlook on getting out of that situation was a lot more positive than the other dudes that were Muslim in the jail. ”

A big part of what kept me focused on the music was already failing with basketball. I played basketball all of my life. When basketball didn't work, I knew that I had to make it in whatever I decided to do next. ”

If you're a fan of anything I do, I'm always telling a story. I'm into that - I like it when you don't know if it was true or not. ”

Wu-Tang was going through it. They didn't come from great homes or families. They really came from hard beginnings so it just made me reflect on my own situation. If Wu-Tang was able to make it, why can't I? ”

I've been able to provide for my family, move out of Harlem and travel the world. ”