I had the type of family who would tell all their kids, 'You're going to be president.'
— Kyle
I want to make an impact on people. Like John Lennon writing 'Imagine,' a song that changes an entire generation of people.
I need to get as deep as I can into my own heart to really make people connect and react to the music as passionate as possible.
Everybody on my street was broke, running around with no shoes on. We didn't have money, but we played tag, we talked. It was great.
I've always wanted to make people feel better or feel alright or feel comfortable or not threatened and feel OK in their own skin.
Nobody can deliver a line better than Jadakiss. That's where I learned my technique. He can deliver punchlines so perfectly wrapped up for you to enjoy. If I had a different favorite rapper, I wouldn't be able to make some of the music I do.
I'll always have my fan base. I know my actual fans are rockin' with me even when my haircut was messed up. They're never gonna leave.
I really like blending two things together that are polar opposites. Because I feel like, in a large aspect, that's kinda like what I am.
If you can't love yourself, you can't love other people.
People called me sharktooth, Dracula. I got made fun of so much cause I couldn't afford braces.
Most people have perceived my brand and my personality as this guy that just is so happy, he has no cares in the world.
I look at old performers like James Brown: back in the day when you actually had to work hard to get poppin'. I look at all those types of performers. Even like Kid n' Play and the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff and Salt-N-Pepa. That era where they had to perform. You couldn't just rap. It had to be an entire performance.
When I heard my first rap song and figured out what that was, I kind've stuck to it. I always wanted to be a musician in general, an entertainer. I just started rapping. I never decided, 'Oh, I want to be a rapper.'
I don't feel pressure to act like other people or rap like other people, because I just can't.
I know everywhere is cool and all, but, at least for me, I was lucky enough to be in southern California. I feel lucky to be from there... I feel like it taught me how to be polite.
I've been compared to Drake before and Kid Cudi.
You never know how many people are compassionate about something, especially when it's not happening to you. You just hope somebody's out there helping.
I never had a plan B; I would walk around with my head up in the clouds like, 'I'm going to be a famous singer/rapper person one day.'
Big Sean could get on a verse with anybody and probably annihilate them.
I grew up really kind of mixed up. I lived with my white grandparents and mom and got made fun of a lot because I talked like her.
Yachty is a genius.
For me, I feel like the most important part of music is the storytelling behind it, and that's my favorite; that's what makes my favorite artists my favorite artists, having the story that I relate to the most and that helps me the most.
I just like blending all the genres together but blending them up in a good way. I try to be as free as I can with it.
When you start making music, you start making music at a young age, and for me, I just thought, like, 'Ahh, once you make it, all your problems will be solved, and everything will be fine.'
The name 'Light of Mine' came from how the album was conceived and what its purpose was in telling my story. I started making it at a time when I was, more or less, in a darker place than usual.
When you roast yourself, it makes everybody else comfortable.
I did have a speech impediment.
That was everything to me as a kid. When I'd see someone on MTV, it was like, 'Wow, they're the real deal.'
I always been writing songs since I was, like, six. I was listening to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Frankie Laine and people like that. I was just in the backyard writing songs.
I ran track, and I was really good at it. I was really fast.
Pete Rock, CL Smooth, all this East Coast stuff - that's kind of, like, the rappers I first admired. I wanna rap just like them because I just thought they were so hard. I thought their delivery was so crazy.
Growing up in California has completely made me the person that I am.
My style has been compared to someone probably like the Fresh Prince.
I just want to reach a point where I have an opportunity to impact the entire world with one song.
Big Sean is one of the dopest rappers, of my lifetime for sure. Like, Big Sean is one of the best rappers. Period.
What's important is that people never give up that fight to be happy, because when you do that, that's when things really start to go wrong.
I would want people to be their own superheroes, save their own days, know that nobody else is gonna do it for you. You have to pick yourself up out of your dark moment; you gotta be your own source of light, just like I was for me.
I really love 'Mr. Rager.' I know the first album is incredible, but my favorite Kid Cudi album is the second one.
I have a really diverse family and have a diverse background in music.
As I grew up and really - 22, 23, 24 - I was faced with new problems that were bigger. A lot of them were issues that pertained to people that were super close to me.
At some point, I had to ignore what people thought of me. I had to be my own biggest fan from an early age. Once I learned that, it was like a superpower. That was the armor that got me through high school.
It's not about being happy 100 percent all the time, cause that's just life. I make sad songs, too, that really only make the happy songs better.
Mike Tyson and Kool G Rap had lisps - lisps always been cool!
I feel like the biggest key to longevity is maintaining what's special about yourself but always presenting it in a new way. That way, people can never get tired of you.
I heard 'Why,' and I think that's when I first started learning about Jadakiss.
I'm not ever going to - ever going to be able to put on chains and become the Migos.
My favorite rapper of all time is Jadakiss - hands down, no question.
I don't think anyone has the same music sound as me. I can't think of anyone else.
I try to make things as versatile as possible. Usually, you have to listen to one artist for a certain vibe and another artist to catch the next vibe. I want to make an album that has all of that in there.
