Emceeing Quotes

I'm here to inspire young people to be part of the most magnificent culture on earth: hip-hop.

I've hosted the Soul Train awards, the American Music Awards... and I had my own talk show. So if I can't host by now, what the hell can I do?

I can't stand rap....people who can't sing do rap....you can sing rebellion as well as talk it....Hitler would have been in a rap band.

As a kid and avid sports fan, one of the most exciting things always was the introductions. To be that guy who makes the presentations and do my best for both the person being introduced and for the fans, is still very exciting for me.

I emceed in metro Detroit throughout college, and even when I moved to New York, I would actually fly back on a Friday, emcee on a Saturday, and fly back on Sunday so that I could audition during the week. It was a big part of my life.

I guess rap has such a bad name, because everybody can do it now, and that's probably why people don't want to be considered as rappers anymore, they're not taken seriously anymore. But yeah, rap is definitely the core of what I want to do. But I'm also an artist so I try to do as many things as I can, but I always keep rap in the equation.

I don't think I would change really anything about rap. Rap don't have no limits to it, and I like it like that.

When I was doing research on the M.C.s and spending time with these cats, one of the things that struck me and made me realize that I could deliver this world to an audience was their really dark and acute sense of humor.

Hosting is pretty natural to me, since I was doing it as a kid.

I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people.

When I started emceein', you had 500 maybe 1000 rappers in the whole world. Now there's 1.000.000, nahmean?

Emceeing has always been about making the most intellectual, most creative, wittiest rhyme as possible regardless of any subject. It was always about bringing the best out of yourself.

We was just young guys who wanted to change. We got tired of doin' this same everyday bullshit that we was doin', and we all felt like we had dreams o' bein' a big star. You know, as far as with myself, I never really took it that serious as bein' a star. I only took it that serious as bein' a emcee, which is two different things. You know what I mean?

A good emcee will rhyme a lot of different ways. Don't limit yourself.

Take emceeing, one of the foundations of hip-hop culture. A guy grabs a mic, steps up on stage and becomes a spokesman; the voice of the people. If anything, that might be the strongest similarity between hip-hop and comic books, with super heroes, like many rappers, fighting to make a change.

I feel that in the underground world, there's not enough vocals out there.

I started quite young at school, compering a charity event at an old people's home. I would do stand up and impressions and enjoyed the laughter. It's very addictive. It's a lovely sensation to say something and hear a whole room laugh.

People would ask if I wanted to host things and I was like, "No, I'm a writer, I don't host things." Just thinking I wouldn't be good at it - which is true - but also just wanting to hold on to some part of my identity.

I enjoy any chance to get in front of a microphone in a role. I'll do it.

Big Rube was on my first album and some of my mixtapes. His words are so powerful. I want to speak every word he says into existence. I wanna be a part of that! I wanna be a part of greatness. His wordplay is great to me.

While acting is a passion, hosting is fun.

Acting is my passion, but I like hosting shows, too.

I just got a new manager. He's like, "So what do you want to do with the deejay thing?" I'm like, "The deejay thing for me is more my hobby." It's great when you can supplement your income, when you have a weekly or something, it's fun. It's really a hobby, because I don't want it to take away from what I do, which is emceeing.

Hip-hop, which is my generation's blues, is important to the characters that I write about. They use hip-hop to understand the world through language.