Goin insane, never die, live eternal, who shall I fear?
It seems like I have more in common - or hit it off better - with rappers than fools that are in rock music. It was always natural for me.
[Big Pun] loved the fact that I could sing, everybody around us were rappers. A lot of people didn't know that Pun really, really loved r&b music.
When I got a little older I was obsessed Lil Wayne. But then it was just as many British rappers - Dizzee Rascal I would always listen to.
Gone are the days when you'd have to tune in to a mad illegal radio station late at night to be able to hear the rapper of your choice. That's all changed now. That's all gone out of the window. And I feel like I represent that change. I represent the era of iPods and Shuffle and things like that.
I was like 14 and decided I wanted to be a rapper, so I needed a hip rapper name. I was with one of my friends in class and literally went through a thesaurus. I saw "temper" and thought, "I like this, but it's too much." My friend was like, "What about Tinie for tiny," and that was that.
I feel like people mislead themselves when they tell themselves they're into me because of the lyrics. From my vantage point, people aren't into me because of the content, because of the lyrics. Because there's a million of rappers who have great content.
Unfortunately hip-hop is so competitive that in order for fringe groups to get in, you gotta be better than whoever's the best. So before Eminem, the idea that there would be a white rapper that anybody would really check for was fantastic or amazing or impossible.
Just because someone has great content doesn't mean you like them as a rapper.
Being called a conscious rapper is quite a compliment. It's a great thing to be. But as an artist, my nature is to not be in a box.
If I focus on being an activist and my job is to be a rapper, I'm not going to be as good of a rapper. I need to focus on hip-hop and focus on making the music, so that when the activists come to me and they need my voice to create a platform, then I've got enough people listening to me. Not because I'm conscious, but because I'm dope.
I'm not really interested in anybody, that's why I started rapping. I'm still a fan of Tupac. That's the only rapper that I'm still like, "Oh! Tupac!"
I'm gonna be real - there's no female rappers in the game.
A couple years ago it was really hard for me to sing, because there's so much pressure in hip-hop to be a certain way. My biggest thing right now is doing me, because I'm not like other rappers.
Because of social media, a lot of people think they can be, like, a rapper or a singer or a musician because they can put something on YouTube and it might become a thing because there's - like - YouTube phenomenons and whatnot, you know? It's not like they dedicated years to it or anything. It's annoying.
I was so obsessed with 2Pac. He was one of the first rappers I heard. "Dear Mama" was one of the first tracks I ever memorized.
You already past 21 and you still talking about "I'ma be a rapper." You ain't did one show, niggas ain't seen you on TV. So Kendrick kind of went through the same thing I went through. He just had his mom's house to go to.
If there's no deals being made rappers, what happens to the lawyers. They've got to close their firms, they can't make no money. How can they make money from the client now? Litigation!
I think as time goes on that generation of rappers who's making it now is gonna face the same thing that my generation was facing, which is the decrease of sales. The decrease of hard-copies.
I mean people are sexist and racist and homophobic and violent. But I don't think of the rappers as being any more sexist or racist or homophobic than their parents. Certainly less, in all those cases, less homophobic or racist or sexist, and then less gangster than our government. It's stuff that people normally don't speak on, subjects they don't speak on, and ideas they kind of keep to themselves.
It is crucial that rappers have the chance to express the truth that is in their heart.
Over the years, a lot of rappers - Lil' Wayne, Ice Cube - have used my name in their songs. I'm a real touchstone of history.
I quite liked Sharkey and George and then there was a cartoon with rapper MC Hammer in it - Hammertime - I loved that cartoon, it was genius! They don't make cartoons like that anymore.
Everyone wants to label me, but I don't want to be labeled as a rapper or a movie actor.
I know rappers who are grandparents and we still haven't conquered politics, social development, philanthropy and these are areas, as we become our parents and grandparents, that we need to hold the torch of what makes the world run and what makes communities better.
