Without me, rap is just a bunch of orphans.
I don't wanna be like everybody else, I don't wanna rap like everybody else.
I was just trying to fit into a certain spectrum. Just like, basic rap.
In the past it seemed like I was making fun of rap a little bit. But it was more me making fun of myself, since I'm not technically a rapper, whatever that means.
I've been compared to, like, five different people. Suga Free, Silkk The Shocker - I get that one a lot. Somebody named Freeway. I don't know who Freeway is.
I feel like I'm the last rap superhero. I really do. I feel like everybody else, they seem to be a bit victimized, and I don't feel like that's me.
I always knew I could rap, and in a sense I always rapped. And I've always behaved like a rapper. But I started to take it seriously when I recorded with the people of Brick when I started to receive some money.
I've been called everything. Gangsta rap. I've been called conscious rap. You know, everything. Whoever feels like calling it whatever they want to call it, that's on them.
When people say to me, 'What do you think of rap music?', my answer is, 'There's no such thing. There's rap, and there's music.'
I felt like I related to East Coast lyricism a little more. Because I couldn't be super gangsta.
I'm definitely a West Coast artist, so much so that I'm gonna get 'Thug Life' tatted on my stomach one day.
The fact that I got to do the 'Hamilton' BET Cypher is a totally crazy thing because I've watched the BET Cyphers since it started. I've seen every one. I study them. Because I'm a rapper. It's what you do.
Where I go, rap goes. Rap is like my dog; it's like my little pet. And where I go, I lead my little pet with me.
I'm certainly not a f**king fashion consultant. Don't call me if you want to know how to dress. I just rap. That's all I really know how to do.
Me and hip-hop have a relationship that has nothing to do with no other rapper, no matter where you from or nothing. Every n*gga got his own personal relationship with hip-hop and this is mine.
When I first started rapping, I was like, 'I'm gonna be, like, the female Eminem.'
I don't like calling it Christian rap. Titles are so limiting. It's hip-hop. I'm a rapper.
My rap name as a kid was Big Tasty.
I stand out. I don't really think I fit in with the 'what rap is' today. I feel like I stand out because I'm talking about me and my homies and stories from my life. I ain't really trying to have you turnt up all day.
Slim Shady, Eminem was the old initials.
I was, like, in a rap gang. I loved rap, and it was all around me.
My main influence is Kool G Rap and Cam'ron, pretty much. If you were to mix those two people up, I wish that would be me... This is my voice. I sound like nobody; I sound like me.
All these Lil' rappers, I'm just kind of getting real irritated by it. I said, 'You know what? Drop the Lil'. Forget it. I'm Bow Wow.
I think rap in general allows you to be more lyrically expressive. It's a lot easier to state your identity, as opposed to with a guitar making all these weird metaphors.
I'm a big hip-hop fan since being a kid. It was the first music that spoke to me and made me feel like, 'Yeah.'