Top 1200 Gangster Rap Quotes & Sayings - Page 4

I found Celebrity Gangster intense, dramatic, a real page turner.

One of my homeboys from my neighborhood had actually taught me how to rap. He was the rapper and we would all go over to his house. It would be like 10 or 12 of us in there and he'd write everybody's rap in the house and would give everybody four or eight bars.

The weird thing about rap is that you don't get compared in the same way that athletes do, even though it's probably the most competitive sport in music. In basketball, they look at a player and say: 'This guy was the best in his prime at this sport.' But in rap it's not until you're dead or retired that people think about it like that.

The Italian gangster thing has become a form of the modern-day Western.

We used to have MTV and all these ways we can show our videos, and it was these rap shows, and it was everything. And then it became not cool to be conscious; it became cool to just hang out. Escapism rap became the norm. And, when I say "escapism rap", I mean getting high, get your cars, get your money, get your jewelry, go to the club, have your women, and it just became all about escaping your reality and not making your reality better on a real tip; not just on the have fun tip.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

I think American audiences like gangster movies. It's part of the culture.

You can't write a book if you've never read a book. And if you've read five books and you try to write a book, your book will mainly encompass the themes and the context of the five books you've read. Now, the more books you read, the more you can bring to a book when you decide to write one. So the more rap I learned, the more I was able to bring to rap when I decided to rap. But this was all subconscious.

There are many people who think I'm actually a gangster or a mafioso, largely because of 'Goodfella.'

There are many people who think I'm actually a gangster or a mafioso, largely because of 'Goodfella'.

If I'd had the nerve, I'd have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn't, I became a photographer.

When you're 16, the top of the world is directing a gangster movie.

I had phases of listening to rap and trap, and then I had phases where I'd listen to post-hardcore, rap, grunge, metal... all that. I had different time periods of listening to different music. And now it all clashes together.

I think a lot of rappers limit themselves by doing the gangster movies and that's stereotypical for a rapper.

I think American audiences like gangster movies. You know, it's part of the culture.

I'm a prince for real, I don't look at myself as a rapper, as a gangster, none of that.

It seems other rap artists are trying to follow a "tradition", or something... I don't consider us [Migos] as weirdos, we just went the other way and didn't follow the rap tradition. We just killed it and made it our tradition.

The media have been tireless in their efforts to suppress the truth about the gangster state.

Rap got me out of the hood. Rap got me out of Houston and helped me to see the world.

Public Enemy started out as a benchmark in rap music in the mid-1980s. We felt there was a need to actually progress the music and say something because we were slightly older than the demographic of rap artists at the time. It was a time of heightened rightwing politics, so the climate dictated the direction of the group.

People love stories about the mafia: 'The Godfather,' 'American Gangster.'

I don't think there's much a person could say about me. My gangster's never been on trial.

I was always interested in the 1920s and the gangster world, in general.

Every human being has a bit of gangster in him.

I ain't no gangster. I'm a grown man trying to run a business.

New Orleans is just so full of culture in the music content - blues, folk. I was introduced to a lot of things. My mother didn't keep me away from other music. She only kept me away from rap. The closest I got to rap was D'Angelo.

I found 'Celebrity Gangster' intense, dramatic, a real page turner.

The laws of the lowly gangster govern Qaddafi and his sons.

When I say I'm going gangster, I'm working really hard at something.

They thought we were just basically keeping ourselves underground on purpose. And it was just strange for people to approach music that way. And for rap, trying to get recognition, and be seen as a regular form of music like anything else. I mean, the Soul, R&B, Rock 'N Roll, they would dis the hell out of rap when it first came out.

Rap is the number one most influential thing, it's the only genre that really strikes a chord. When you sing, you feel a certain way and it makes you feel good, but when you rap, it just strikes a chord a whole different way.

There was this hip-hop collective called People Crew. And at the time in Korea, there was no real place to access rap music. So People Crew used to host this summer school program, which taught rapping and dancing. I begged my mom to attend that school to learn how to rap.

When you've been raised in care, rap music isn't just about guns and sexism. They're talking about real things you can hang on to, problems of identity that you have sympathy with. It's not just about the music, with rap: when I was in care, it meant a whole lot more than that.

Any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.

I'm a rapper but I don't f**k with that hip-hop s**t. You understand? I'm home, I take care of my family. I f**k with other kinds of n****s, I don't f**k with no hip-hop dudes, man. That rap s**t is fake... these rap dudes is fake.

Growing up people would tell me: 'Yo, you only can do one thing. If you're going to rap, just rap. If you're going to sing, just sing.' It boxed me in. But I just figured out a way to show everything. It's like if you have a job interview, you want to present as many skills as you have.

I'm a dirty south goon - damn right, I ain't no West coast gangster.

'The Godfather' is the talismanic giant that hangs over everything in the gangster genre.

I look at old performance videos now, and it's really funny - I thought I was such a gangster!

We went through rock 'n' roll, which then became just rock, then punk rock, then the worst disease of all - rap music. It's an oxymoron, because rap is not music.

Biggie was a lyrical genius: he was a musical painter with words. As he rapped, you would see the picture come to life as you heard his story. You hear a lot of rappers rap; you hear a lot of singers sing, but you don't see the movie in your head the way you do when you hear Biggie rap.

I would just as soon listen to a gangster lecture on honesty as watch Hollywood portray the Bible.

It has no color to it. If you can rap good, you can rap good. I look at Mac Miller, who’s one of my homies, and I look at Wiz Khalifa, who’s one of my homies, and I don’t look at Mac different because he’s white. He’s my homie.

I'm an emotional gangster. I cry once every month.

How can I be a gangster, if I worked for the KGB? It is absolutely ridiculous.

Jacare is a gangster. He's been in the game for a long time.

I am an undisputed gangster. To me, that means playing by my own rules.

My dad wasn't a gangster, and he wasn't a criminal, but he sure liked to rub padded shoulders with them.

I met this gangster who pulls up people's pants. Name's Wedgie Kray.

An archetypal gangster is always at a remove. We can't get into his mindset.

I like rap music. But bragging about being rich to poor people is really offensive. I want to hear a rap song about buying a Cy Twombly painting or dating a museum curator. I want to hear about that kind of rich.

What's when you rap and don't appreciate the art? What's when you sell out just to get a start? What's when you make bullshit just for the charts? What's when you rap, but it's not from the heart? What's when you're hardcore, then you turn pop? When you steal ideas to get props? When you sell out to be on top? What's when you front like you're hard, but you're not? That's a gimmick.

The Italian gangster thing has become a form of the modern-day Western

Let's be real: dads get a bad rap in the media. We're talking Vanilla Ice's 'Ninja Rap' bad. More often than not, they're either pop lockin' Soul Train-style after learning they aren't the father, or they're selfish man-children who have more toys than brain cells.

It's not that you don't make any money doing conscious rap music. You make a lot of money doing this, but if you're greedy and you're not satisfied with $500,000 a year, and you want $2 million a year, then you will suffer as a conscious rap artist.

Rap is the only super-current music. If you're into reggae or dancehall, and you don't know Bob Marley, then you don't really know what you're listening to. But if you're listening to rap, and you're 15, you're like, 'Grandmaster Flash? Who's that? Public Enemy? Yeah, my dad told me about them once.' And that's just how it is.

It really really sunk into me when I went to Europe and they take rap so much more serious than we do here. That was the first time I ever heard rap considered folk music. And sometimes somebody will make you understand like, "Hey, what you doin' is serious, don't play it lightly 'cause it's changin' my life."

No gangster is ever happy when he's at peace. The main reason he's in the business is to eliminate his enemies.

But with rap music - not just N.W.A. - but rap music in general, seeing these artists wearing these team logos all the time started bringing a synergy and energy about having to rep your city, your team, everywhere and all the time.

In all honesty a gangster picture was the easiest kind of film for me to get made.