Afeni Shakur Quotes

To me, it's an honour to be accepted as a hip hop artist, it gives me a lot of opportunity to express myself.

Rap comes from the oral tradition. The oral tradition gives voice to those who would've otherwise been voiceless.

There's a machine that I have nothing to do with. It's called the "Tupac Machine."

In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.

You know, I'm the 1st black solo MC from Detroit. I didn't do the 50 Cent sales but hey... I got a long career, I'm still young and I'm trying to bring really good music.

When I say 'hip-hop is dead,' basically, America is dead. There is no political voice. Music is dead.

I think the greatest hip-hop artist of all time is Jay-Z, without a doubt. He just keeps amazing me with his performance, and since '96, that guy has been producing at least one hit every summer and every winter. That's a pretty good resume.

I was king of the mountain for a long time, well, I don't want that no more. I like to perform every once in a while for people who want to see me, and cut albums of music that is what I'm really about.

Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history, and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such topics.

I would do a documentary about Jay-Z. Yes, I would.

Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.

Black artists deserve the opportunity to create work without the burden of alleviating the social ills plaguing many black communities.

Who doesn't love Tupac? Those records have such swagger to them. The groove is just incredible.

Azealia Banks - love what she's doing.

Me and Tupac were long-time friends.

I don't know that there is a, quote, 'hip-hop lifestyle.' I think the music responds to complex social issues and injustices; I think it also raises complex social questions.

I got a new song called "The Plug" and the hook says "I'm the plug/I'm connected to everything you love.

Tax not so bad a voice to slander music any more than once.

I know that I'm freer as a hip-hopper than as an executive. Even as a black man, I enjoy more freedom as a hip-hopper than as a black man. That, s controversial to say, but it's the truth.

Before I think we was emcees, we was more or less narrators too. Because if you look at the early '80s hip hop, it was so much creativity goin' on with artists like then, like Slick Rick, then you had Rakim, and you had these different kind of artists back then. And we was a marble cake of all these artists. So I didn't have a problem with writin' stories because I felt like that was somethin' I loved to do. Even to this day, I really consider myself an entertainer-slash-narrator. I like to talk about stuff that goes on.

Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.

I think things are gonna change. I'm gonna take the age limit off of hip hop.

To me, writing is fun. It doesn't matter what you're writing, as long as you can tell a story.

Today's Baudelaires are hip-hop artists.

We are in a social and political context in which the norm is to punish poor folks of color rather than to educate and empower them with economic opportunity.