Top 133 Quotes & Sayings by Nipsey Hussle - Page 2

L.A. hip-hop is so different; it's so diverse. Out here, it's, like, funk-inspired; it's, like, '70s-skating-rink-inspired at times. It's Zapp-and-Roger-inspired; it's house-party-era-inspired.

Compton got such a legacy in hip-hop.

When you say 'follow me on Twitter,' and you get 10 million people to follow you - you just leveraged your influence to add value to an app that you have no ownership in.

I want to thank my Eritrean fans for feeling connected to me and for supporting me. I feel extremely grateful.

Doing music to pay bills is an uncomfortable situation. I never wanted to be in that situation.

We came up with TDE. As competitive as rap is, and as much as we're trying to exceed the standards we set for ourselves, we take their wins as our wins, too.

When you talk about black entrepreneurship, you're talking about addressing the foundation of what's going on with our people when we don't have any financial power. Our basic needs aren't being met in a lot of cases, so there's no way we're going to be able to tap into our potential until we address those bottom-level base needs.

I get a more passionate delivery when I just go in the booth and let the music talk.

From the beginning of my rap career, since I was seen and heard, I always had a store.

It was always a plan that we were going to have a retail side with what were doing musically, like an Apple store or Nike Town. I wanted something where you can come get everything - 'Marathon' or 'All Money' or 'Crenshaw' - and make it like an experience. Especially with what Crenshaw and Slauson meant to my story.

I really love the culture of hip-hop.

I think everybody's trying to get to a place in themselves where they conquer what they was afraid of; they achieve some of their life goals, kept their word about what they were trying to do.

I'm touring the world, not doing nothing against the law, getting money to feed my family. I got employees that have felonies, and they can't get jobs. They work for me.

Proud 2 Pay - that's something that distinguishes me, that's something that defines me, and we're going to keep that going.

Cardi B put a lot of work in.

My music is influenced by L.A. culture.

I always wanted to do things right and represent myself as somebody that took the art serious and someone that took the business serious also, so I had time to weigh the options and figure it out and do my best to create the situation that was ideal.

I built a company at the same time I built a career.

I don't ever make moves under pressure.

In 2013, the week before I dropped 'Crenshaw,' 'Complex' wrote an article that said that Nipsey Hussle is one of the top 25 underperforming artists. I was so offended that I responded with my own opinion about these journalists - their point of view is not validated in our culture.

We represent a hustler. I think we represent inspiration. I think we represent, you know, staying down. I think we represent building yourself up from the bootstraps.

My experience with power, you can maintain it, or you get it taken from you. You get you some newfound power and go crazy, and it get taken from you quick.

At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.

Snoop ain't never cosigned me, but I know everybody is like, 'That's the next Snoop.' Nah, I'm Nipsey, and I got to work to define myself.

Every artist wants something different out the game.

I realized the power of hip-hop. I realized how influential this music and this culture are.

I knew 'Crenshaw' had elevated me and distinguished me.

As I got older, my pops tried to keep me involved with the culture by telling me the stories of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, how he came to America, and about our family back home, because all that side of my family - my aunties, grandparents - is in Africa.

If I inspire you, pay for it, period.

You listen to Charlie Parker or John Coltrane before they found their voice, they sounded different. And when you listen to them after they found their voice on their instruments, they sound more confident and in control. Artists have that, too.

I built a label at the same time I built a career.

A solution built by an artist serves the artist more than the solution the capitalist comes up with.

Looking at 2014, I look back: we made more money off 'Mailbox Money' than we would have made off taking an advance from anybody. We made more money letting our fans buy the stuff directly from us than what any label could have offered us.

We was able to become real successful in the mixtape space.

If you don't know your full-throttle history, the whole story of how you came to where you are, it's kind of hard to put things together.

I think you can give a pure artistic product if you understand how to build your own industry.

People that's in power - the central banks, these fiat currencies that are traded globally - they got influence over the messaging and the narrative in the media.

Partnering with Atlantic Records creates the opportunity to take what we're doing to the next level, without compromising.

I respect Soulja Boy.

A lot was accomplished in my mixtape career. But I still needed a few things: I needed to be recognized. I need to have radio. I need to have a real retail machine that can get us where we need to get that.

I'm more focused on giving solutions and inspiration more than anything.

When I became a man, and I started to understand the difference between the truth and what your parents are supposed to tell you, there's a difference, know what I mean?

My mom is American, so I was raised in her household in my formative years. But as I got older, my pops tried to keep me involved with the culture by telling me the stories of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, how he came to America, and about our family back home, because all that side of my family, my aunties, grandparents, is in Africa.

And it's possible to monetize your art without compromising the integrity of it for commerce.

We're not the cause, we're the effect.

Luck is just bein' prepared at all times, so when the door opens you're ready.

As gang members, as young dudes in the streets, especially in L.A., we're the effect of a situation. We didn't wake up and create our own mindstate and our environment; we adapted our survival instincts.

I feel that luck is a product of hard work.

If you 35, 28, or 30 years old, and you decide you're gonna pick up a rag and start bangin', and you can look yourself in the mirror and you still feel like you're a man? That's cool, do your thing.

Your parents are supposed to tell you to make decisions that are gonna help you and that'll have a positive effect on your life and your well-being.

All the smart money got they bets on me / And all the real niggas wish the best for me

I kinda came into my manhood, or what I thought was my adulthood, early. I had to show up, and I had to make sure I had gas money, food money, rent money, clothes money - everything was on me, startin' at that age, so that's what led me to start hustlin', that's what led me to start to try to find ways to fend for myself. And once I did that, I was full-time, bein' in the street, and, bein' in the street, it's cold. It's the way the streets operate, and you have to adapt to that.

Gangbanging is a survival instinct, regardless of how anybody tries to paint it.

On a mission your worst enemy is idle time.

My thing is that I don't give no person that much power over my path that I'm walking. Not one person can make or break what I'm doing, except me or God.

Killing and gangbanging, that's just wrong.

Money is a tool – it’s the means, not the end. Inspiration is the metric that dictates whether or not a project is a success. It’s more realistic than trying to aim for radio play, or trying to satisfy an AR, or the other gatekeepers on these platforms. I don’t even know how to create with those things in mind. But if you tell me the goal is to inspire? That makes my job a lot easier.

If you're a real hip-hop fan and a real street music fan, and you just love good music, you're gonna play it from top to bottom, and you're gonna get the concept, you're gonna get the story of my life, you're gonna be entertained, you're gonna dance you're gonna feel emotion, you're gonna get the truth, whether you like it or hate it.

I feel that puttin' in the hours and years in the studio, honing my craft, definitely played a part, me consciously networking and presenting myself as an artist that's commercially sellable led to me meeting the right people, which in turn led to them givin' me positive referrals to other people, which in turn led to me signin' a deal.

Obviously from childhood to my teenage years, I really came into my own. I left the house early; I was on the streets when I was, like, 15. I've been holdin' my own since that age.