Rhythmic Influence Quotes

The writing process, the way I go about it is I do whatever the beat feels like, whatever the beat is telling me to do. Usually when the beat comes on, I think of a hook or the subject I want to rap about almost instantly. Within four, eight bars of it playing I'm just like, 'Oh, OK. This is what I wanna do'.

Because I don't play guitar any more, African harmonies and rhythms have been an inspiration to me. I love the raw origin of the sound. It complements my voice and words naturally.

Beats are really inspiring. They always make me want to write something over them.

I'm not capable of wielding the guitar like Jimmy Page, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. My skill set is more based on the grinding, sort of human heartbeat - almost playing the guitar more like a drum.

What I'm trying to do, in my own small way, is trying to bring African and Afro-Cuban rhythms into rock.

Music commands how we feel, dictates what we experience in our feelings.

I began to write poetry in high school, and would ride miles over sandy roads in the fine hills around Cedar Rapids, repeating the lines over and over until I had them right, making some of the rhythm of the horse help.

The music does a lot for me. I'm one of those types of artists who the music really inspires my delivery, my cadence, and what I hear.

Let me hear the music. I'ma let the music instruct me on which way to go. Forwards, backwards, left, right. It's like boxing. I'm only as strong as my opponent.

Music is not just a part of my everday life, I'm surrounded by it every minute.

The first Latin music that blew my mind was bumba, which was a Puerto Rican beat.

I always listen to music no matter what I'm doing. Music is definitely always something that drives the mood and creating and helps you lock that in and escape to a whole other world.

You can't make jazz without using certain elements of Latin music.

I thought of Gene Krupa's drumming, his staccato drumming. I went and put 'Misirlou' to that rhythm.

Music, I feel like, affects people's moods.

A lot of the music that you listen to now is because of the things that the Meters did, the Neville Brothers did, and they're there, the guys who invented those beats that the guys sample today. Such an enormous opportunity.

My definition of hip hop is taking elements from many other spheres of music to make hip hop. Whether it be breakbeat, whether it be the groove and grunt of James Brown or the pickle-pop sounds of Kraftwerk or Yellow Magic Orchestra, hip hop is also part of what they call hip-house now, or trip hop, or even parts of drum n' bass.

Whenever I cook, I think of Spanish music, so I always have to listen to some sort of salsa. It gets your body going.