Sometimes I feel I'm the luckiest rapper in the world.
Rappers are separated.
If anybody can make a change it's the rappers.
I secretly want to be a rapper.
I never pictured myself as just a rapper; I always wanted to act and do whatever else I could do. I always felt like I could do a lot of different things.
When it came time to be a professional rapper, I wouldn't sign anything without reading it. There was no way I was going to have people make decisions for me or wake up one day and find that I was broke because I never bothered to read a contract.
I want to see 10 female rappers getting regular rotation. It can't be all about a man's opinion.
As a rapper, you sort of act in music videos and in the persona you adopt onstage. You kinda have to put yourself out there and be courageous even to be a rapper. So, to step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make.
People in the record business would say, Well, Pras, you know, you haven't been out in a while, maybe you should get today's hottest producer or rapper to do something.
Like I have to pretend like I'm a male rapper, that I got stacks and we're in the club, and what do I want to say. And then, when writing Rare I could just be PJ.
I never worry 'cause people always try to categorize me. "Oh, that's reggaeton." "Oh, he's a Latin rapper." "Oh, he's crunk." "Oh, he's a Southern rapper," or, "He's a club rapper." As long as they're listening to the music and they're talkin' about it, one way or the other, that means I'm doing something right.
As far as my single selections, over the years it's been a very essential part of my survival tactic, but I have no problem being able to jump on records with whoever people think is the rawest rapper in the game or number one or King or whatever they wanna name themselves, to be honest with you. It doesn't affect me, 'cause that's what I come from; I'm comfortable in that zone. But I don't wanna make hood music, I don't wanna make street music, I want to make world music, global music, international music.
Rappers are in danger Who will use wits to be a remainder?
When will rappers & skanks realize God's not the only one who gets to judge them on their actions? We do too. It's called CONSEQUENCES.
These broke rappers always rappin bout a pink truck. I'm only happy when I'm hoppin out the Brinks truck.
I'm a rapper... Gaga's a fantastic artist, you know, she paved her way. She's opened her own lane. But I think that I have my own lane. And we never cross. Ever. So, you know, I really don't get the comparison anymore. Our music doesn't sound the same. Our stage presence is not the same. I just can't see the similarities.
You can't run game on a rapper. I'm always 10 steps ahead of you.
A lot of rappers want somebody to always sing on their records. If you can hold a note, they're gonna' ask you to come and be apart of their creativity. At that time, they were eager and on the streets selling drugs or in the studio making music. That was a big part of our lives were I grew up.
When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot . . . and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing.
I'm also working on another independent film called Roxanne, Roxanne, about Roxanne Shante, who was one of the first African American battle rappers from Brooklyn. It is produced by Forest Whitaker and Pharrell [williams], so I'm really in great hands.
I never was the battle rapper. That was never my thing. I always felt like it's enough room for everybody to do their thing. I like bringing new energy, re-inventing the wheel, so to speak, every time I come out.
I think more people want to be rappers than anything else.
Everybody wants the easy stuff, "Okay, I wanna be a rapper. I wish I could fight in order to get more money." They see the finished product, they see this guy Derek Jeter hitting the homerun and whatnot and say "Ooh, I wanna make $20 million a year," but they didn't see him playing sandlot ball.
I think that Mos Def is the best actor, but when you talk about rappers in films, I don't really think the quality of the acting is most important because most rappers are put in movies because of the personality and people want to see that.
If someone had said to me ten years ago "Yo, we have this role of this pimp who wants to be a rapper, he lives in Memphis", I'd be like, "Really?" But then when you read it and you see it, you say "That's a great role."
