Top 133 Quotes & Sayings by Big Daddy Kane - Page 2

If you come on stage rocking the same LRG shirt and Ed Hardy jeans that two people in the crowd have on, then what makes you different than them?

I mean it's always good to document your history. 'Cos for some strange reason black history has a tendency of getting lost. So I think it's beautiful to have the ability to document it.

I made songs in the late '90s and the early new millennium that didn't succeed very well, but songs that I made in the late '80s, early '90s, they stood the test of time. I respect those songs for keeping me relevant.

I was a big fan of Marvin Gaye, and when my parents were at work, I would get in front of the mirror, put my father's clothes on and pretend I was singing Marvin Gaye songs.

When I started working on my sophomore album, I'd seen more.

Rap is good for politics because when you make a rap record, you put good music on a track and people listen to you. It's easier than trying to preach.

I remember Luther Vandross had turned me on to Versace in 1990. I remember a girl ironing the jeans for me and she was, like, 'What the hell are these? What's Vercayce?'

I don't get too political in my music, because some people tend to get bored with the message: I say what's necessary and leave it at that. The books of Malcolm X go deeper than any song. But entertainers can be educators. Music touches the soul. Knowledge touches the mind. When you combine the two, you capture the whole.

The Lifted Crew, I think that they're a great band that plays great soul music. They may have studied a lot of soul, but really, their heart and soul is in hip-hop.

I think that Kool Moe Dee birthed Rakim, Rakim birthed Nas.

I wanted to be different. I wanted to address everyone. I wanted to address the hood, but also the people that was getting money. I wanted to address the men and women, the kids and the adults.

I've always called Puff like the greatest promotion person in this world - for himself and for his artists - better than anybody I've ever seen in my life.

I have a lot of love for Long Island.

I love old school music, that's just always been my thing.

I just think it was because I was known as a lyricist that's what people only wanted to hear that from me. If you're an artist you have to expand, you have to grow.

With New Edition it would get to the point where kids would have their New Edition posters; say like it was in a household of sisters. Each sister would have also have an individual poster of the member of New Edition that they liked. Now that's star power.

To me, fresh means you're in something new, something that looks real nice... and something put together creatively.

It's the type of thing where, if you gonna battle somebody to prove your greatness, you wanna go to somebody that shares that same seat with you.

After 'Long Live the Kane,' I toured the world as an entertainer seeing so much more. My mindstate was so much broader.

If you call 'Rapper's Delight' an old-school record, I agree with you. If you call Sugar Hill Gang old school, I agree with you. Not because they came out in '79 or '80, but because in 2002, that's still the way Hank and Mike rhyme.

A kid will be like, 'Yo, you're Big Daddy Kane. My father listens to you!' It kind of makes you feel like one of the Platters or Temptations or something. You feel like you're super-old. But then again on the flipside it's cool to see like someone that's two or three generations after you excited.

I feel that in the music industry there are so many artists it's easy to be forgotten because it's so cluttered.

In a certain way, rap music is alternative.

He's definitely someone who helped mold and shape hip-hop with his music. I would put him in the category of James Brown, the Honeydrippers and Chic. He gave the B-boys and B-girls a track to dance to, but it would only be a DJ or an MC who knows who Billy Squier is.

I like Ludacris; I think that he's a complete artist. I think that he makes great records; I think that he is a great lyricist and at the same time I think he knows how to have fun.

Life ain't a piece of cake for me.

I have my views, and I'm always willing to share them.

I got to meet and work with Barry White, Quincy Jones, Patti LaBelle, even.

I want to be remembered as a combination of Malcolm X and Marvin Gaye, a strong black leader and a sexy entertainer.

My song 'Smooth Operator,' I think that's a real simple, easy, sing-a-long kind of song. It's not too complicated.

My best album is probably my second one, It's a 'Big Daddy Thing.' I like a lot of the songs on there. It was put together... just the structure of the album was tight.

I have ultra-strong respect for women that respect themselves.

It's all about the family tree, there's a family tree. You know Melly Mel birthed KRS-One, KRS-One I think birthed Tupac.

I knew how to be a voice for L.A., I knew how to be a voice for Detroit, I knew how to be a voice for London, I knew how to be a voice for Amsterdam.

I always thought that was very important, to be able to deliver great lyrics and also put on a great performance, to have that type of visual where people would take to it, where they'd want to dress like you or have pictures of you hanging up on the wall.

I always loved slow jams and wanted to make them, but didn't know how I could because I couldn't sing. Then Barry White made 'Love Serenade' in which all he did was talk the entire jam. I said, 'I can do that.'

I had fun working on films.

I respect artists that know how to be artists, that know how to create their own lane and make people respect them for who they are and what they represent.

What earns my respect is... I love great lyricists, artists that can create incredible rhymes or incredible songs. The same thing goes if you're a singer. I definitely respect that.

Good rap records don't get too far, but rap records that are made for crossing over to white audiences do go a long way.

It's hard making a woman your wife when you've been humpin married women for most of your life

No-frill rappers: you will evaporate, disintegrate, deflate to your fate, as the great will dominate straight to the state Of reignin', gainin'...So put Kane in That category. Period. End of story.

When I hit the skins they all say, 'Damn Kane... You knock out the Bush like a presidential campaign!'

You gotta school these young macks comin' up today... I mean to be 'frank', they just hot dogs, The girls are relish, and they need to catchup on they pimpin'.

Control what I hold and of course be the boss of myself, no-one else will bring my wealth.

If you are what you eat then feed me dope.

There's no time for conversation dear, moan is all I want to hear.

I get physical, mystical, very artistical... Giving party people something funky to listen to.

Stepping to me? Yo, that's the wrong move. So what you on, hobbs, dope or dog food?

When you teach her that hoe mentality, they accept that as reality.

Yo, I'm the illest. Plus I know more different strokes than Arnold and Willis.

Rappers act so wild, and love to profile, Frontin' hard, but ain't got no style.

Save your wack rhymes, hold your female. Pass the Old Gold, trash the ale. Cash your food stamps, get the WIC out the mail. Love to eat shrimps, but I never eat snail, Eat a whole fish except for the tail. Keep food in the fridge so it don't get stale, And when there's nothing to eat...I bite my nails.

I won't say I'm the baddest, or portray that role, But I'm in the top 2, and my father's gettin' old.

There are desires that we all want to achieve, but remember respect is most greatest to receive.

I take them 8 to 80, dumb, crippled, and crazy. Crisp and clean with no caffeine, and a pair of spandex or either tight jeans.

Take a stand and command to demand what's grand.

I like to make them wait, then I make them beg. And when I take off my clothes, then I form a third leg.

So put a quarter in your ass Cuz ya played ya'self

My name ain't Keith, so could you lease stop Sweatin' me.