I grew up in such a melting pot. There's more ethnicities in Queens than there is in any place on the planet. So you grow up knowing things about other cultures.
— Action Bronson
You have to be talented. You have to work hard; you have to get the right pieces flowin' for you at the right time. And that's just what happened to me. I can't explain what happened.
I get angry real quick, but I also cool down just as fast. Albanians don't want to deal with anything in the moment.
I grew up in the '90s. My goal isn't to be a '90s rapper, but I have little hints of '90s influence in my music. It's a modern approach to classic rap.
You don't judge a book by a cover. I'm not your typical rap look.
Everything is creative. It's all relative to me. No matter what, you've gotta use your imagination, use your senses.
I pick and choose my battles, but I overthink everything because I have to think about everything.
I'm gonna be honest. I don't care about much. I care about people liking my music. I made it very far without nothing being on radio.
I just do whatever I do, and put it out there without tryin' to cater to anybody. If you like it, you like it.
My mother pretty much raised me to be a free spirit. Anything my father would say, she would tell me, 'No, it's like this.'
I've started getting acclimated to writing on the road and on the spot. I just let whatever I feel at the time come out, instead of really sitting there and taking days to write just one song.
If I would make a song dedicated to any woman, it would have to be my mom because, you know, she's been there since I came out of her. She would have to be the one... my mom or my daughter.
You can make a hit song in 15 minutes. I don't know about someone else's song, but songs that people like of mine, I've created in 15 minutes or less.
I'm the Bjorn Boerg of table tennis.
Billy Joel is an incredible musician. He just feels like one of the guys, you know. I grew up listening to his music.
Albanians, we tan well! I don't burn; I bake.
I'm not just a normal guy. I'm a gymnast.
No one raps about food like I do. I rap about fine dishes - like, all kinds of things that only real chefs and real foodies are going to know about.
This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet.
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.
When you start putting too much thought into it, the music starts getting too revealing. You don't need to know all my inner thoughts.
I come from a musical family as well as a culinary family.
I don't wanna be preached to. Unless it's in a beautiful voice, I don't want that.
My childhood was great, honestly. I have all these incredible memories of my childhood. I was an only child. I always had all my cousins around. I had my grandparents around. I had my parents around. I had my uncles around - whatever.
I hope I have a long career, but I really don't think about the future like that. I live, like, for right now, honestly. I take it however it comes.
I would say I started rapping because my friends were doin' it.
I'm rap's vigilante. I'm out for justice.
I don't ever have the pressure of making a hit, because I've never had a hit song, per se. The closest thing to a hit song was 'Shiraz,' and it's not your prototypical hit song, with a catchy hook and all this other stuff.
When I think of influential females in hip-hop, my mind goes to Foxy Brown, hands down.
New York was at the forefront of rap, so because of all the great people who have gone before me, being a rapper from Queens, I have to live up to those standards. I'm basically just a regular guy who says what he feels and likes to joke. I like long walks on the beach... and I love rap.
I'm a championship handball player. I'm a championship softball and baseball player. I used to be an extremely talented center in high school in football. I also dabbled in lacrosse and soccer. I'm really good at billiards, darts, shuffleboard.
I have to be able to rap. I don't have the look. I don't have the typical slim-dude, fancy-clothes look. That's not me. I have to be able to rap - there is no other choice, or else I get eaten alive.
I'm an honorable human being. I know what to do and what not to do, and if I'm wrong, I always apologize. I'm a big enough man to do that.
I'm a born athlete. Weight-lifting is in my blood. I used to do the powerlifting thing. I gained a little weight, but I still got it; I'm mad built.
'Molto Mario' was the show that sparked my entire interest in cooking.
As far as rap, I was more of a Mobb Deep guy rather than a Tribe guy.
I'm a man of different types of flavors and tastes. I like listening to things that inspire me. Older music, when instruments were being played, not just people hitting buttons. It's manlier. You're touching things to make sounds appear.
I still wake up every day and take my kids to school. It's supposed to be this way.
I got a lot of influence from my father, honestly. He'd take me in his car. I'd hear Carlos Santana. I'd hear Queen. I'd hear all these Turkish people, like, bands that he grew up listening to. He was in a band as well.
You have to take control of your own life, your own destiny, and your own careers. You can't leave everything up to someone else, 'cause then you can look at them and blame them.
I'm into heavy duty, psychedelic, foreign music. That's what I like listening to.
I guess I am a rapper. It's weird to be called that, or tell someone that's your profession.
The best rappers I know are, like, air-conditioner men.
I'm a piece of work, man. I will do what I want, at all times, always. Nobody's going to persuade me one way or another. I can't be persuaded. I take criticism, I listen, I analyze, but at the end of the day, I make the decisions. Because that's the way I started, and that's the way I'm going to finish.
The restaurant business is something that you have to treat like a baby. You have to constantly be there. You can't trust it to anybody else, because no one's going to love it like you do.
I don't even remember the last time I bought an album, honestly.
My 9-year-old daughter can recite every line from 'Easy Rider,' and that is not an easy song to do. She raps all of Nicki Minaj and everything; she's dope. She has my musical ear for sure. She sings, and she's beautiful. It's very powerful.
All I can do is put out the good stuff, and people will make the decision on whether they like it. My fans are very intelligent people. They're not stupid. They know what's good.
Everyone is trying to make these huge songs; I just make things that I want to listen to. Music that I will be comfortable listening to 10 years from now, that's my only thing.
I'm naturally a nice person. I'm not trying to have any problems with people. I'm done with the drama and trouble. I want a stress-free life.
