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.
— Nipsey Hussle
I identify myself as a hustler since I was a young kid.
I grew up in an environment where being polite was taken as a weakness. So I just fought everybody.
Cardi B put a lot of work in.
Black people in America, people from the struggle, immigrants, it's no generational wealth that we are attached to, so we are tasked to create - in one generation - closing the gap. That's why we so Doomsday about getting to the check: 'cause it's life or death for real.
I respect Soulja Boy.
Even as you make progress, you need the discipline to keep from backtracking and sabotaging the success as it's happening.
Being self-made means never making an excuse as to why you can't take steps toward whatever your goal is.
I think you can give a pure artistic product if you understand how to build your own industry.
If you've got a plan, it's not just like a pipe dream. You have a step-by-step list of things to do to get to your goal.
At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.
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.
I built a company at the same time I built a career.
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.
As much as I'm a black person from America, I'm a black person from Africa, too.
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.
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.
I try to sprinkle a little gems and jewels in the music that people could use in their own life.
The artist part of me always wants to be appreciated. I read every review. But I never wanted to seek validation by awards or anything controlled by politics.
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.
Partnering with Atlantic Records creates the opportunity to take what we're doing to the next level, without compromising.
I knew 'Crenshaw' had elevated me and distinguished me.
I get a more passionate delivery when I just go in the booth and let the music talk.
One pillar to wealth is having residual income.
If I inspire you, pay for it, period.
I believe that economics is based on scarcity of markets. And it's possible to monetize your art without compromising the integrity of it for commerce.
You've got to have faith in what you're doing and not take no for an answer.
Look at Pusha-T. He makes a certain type of rap music. 'Daytona' is that on the highest level.
I always had faith in my creative capacity.
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.
I pay attention to politics and technology.
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.
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 intend to inspire people with my story: motivate young people that grew up like myself, or even not like myself. Just, you know, go through the human experience.
You're not going to scare me into being somebody I don't want to be.
Every artist wants something different out the game.
I'm the type person, my safe place to be emotional is the booth.
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.
None of my peers avoided prison. None of 'em.
It sounds simple telling people to work hard and never quit, but to really execute and demonstrate those principles takes discipline and faith. Those are the two factors that I believe separate the good from the great, the successes from the failures.
A solution built by an artist serves the artist more than the solution the capitalist comes up with.
Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take ten forward.
Thought is powerful in all phases. Even in my career, even in my life, things end up exactly how I visualized them.
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 built a label at the same time I built a career.
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.
I realized the power of hip-hop. I realized how influential this music and this culture are.
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.
I believe that we should own the fruits of our labor and the assets of our creations.
