After 'Resurrection,' I was getting calls for people to do work with me, and I was turning it down.
— No I.D.
I've won; I've lost. I'm at the point where I do what I believe in and, win or lose, believe in what I do.
I think that sometimes, as producers, we just service the artists who's really just the main front or person. You know, our roles are really just to help them get where they're supposed to go.
I am the guy that, if you catch me saying something, I don't do the, 'Don't tell anybody I said it.' If I said it, I said it. I'm gonna stand right here and say it again to whoever - the end. What's the trouble? Where's the problem?
I come from an era where you just build something. Me and Common built what we built from Chicago from scratch.
You make some good music, people are gonna find you.
Ghostface, when it comes to hip-hop, was one of my favorite rappers and definitely one of my favorites in the Wu-Tang. He's also a really cool dude.
'Take It EZ' was actually the first video I ever produced for.
I'm not here to put my music out on the Internet with no support and then say I got creative freedom. I've got creative freedom wherever I go: I don't create anything that I don't want to create. That's freedom. Since when does a company force you to make something that you don't want to make? If they do that, you leave.
If you think about 2Pac, Biggie, and Nas, all of those guys were teenagers or in their early 20s when they got started. Everybody acts like young people have to be silly and lack perspective. Those guys had incredible perspective, and everything that they said was before 25 years old.
I have a Chicago personality, which means that just because I'm friends with one person, I don't assume I'm friends with his friends.
When you really make things that really challenge the status quo or challenge issues, and you do it artistically, and you do it with no fear, people are listening.
I've never been a mega-star. I'm more of a tastemaker of hip-hop. I try to be more of an ambassador for the era of hip-hop that I came in.
For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad.
There's this concept in urban music and lifestyle that money is everything, and I'm just not with it. If it makes money, it doesn't make it good. If it's good, it's good.
Wine gets better with time. So does art.
I come from a very specific love of hip-hop. I'm saying hip-hop, not rap. That's what saved my life. I carry that badge with a lot of pride and honor, and I really enjoy trying to raise the perception and the bar of what we do.
Nas' longevity comes from him having strong lyrical value in his songs, him being more like a poet and improving over time.
Most of the greatest albums in the history of music are one producer. It's just a fact. Or one collective.
I really like G-Herbo.
I don't speak out of place, but if you ask me, I will definitely speak the truth. Also, my opinion is my opinion. I don't feel the need to force anybody to agree or disagree with me. But if you ask me, I do feel it's important to speak with confidence about my feelings about whatever the questions are.
There's so many things that Kanye does that I agree with and disagree with at times. I just say, 'You're in a different place, and what you're doing is experimental. Nobody's been there in hip-hop.'
If you want to make money, that's great, but if you make great music, you're going to make money anyway. Keep your eyes on making a great product. You don't even have to promote it.
When I do music, I have a hard time experiencing it like everyone else, because there's so much thought that goes into it. You can sometimes fool yourself into thinking it's better than what it is, which stops me from being creative on the next thing I do.
The effect that 'Illmatic' had on us at that moment was serious.
I was a rapper. The reason I stopped rapping was because I realized that people wanted guys like Puff Daddy. That's not what I do. I quit. That was it. I had to sacrifice for my choice. I said, 'Forget it. I'll be a producer.' Nobody was going to make me do anything.
There's the way modern music is produced, which is, 'Here's a piece of music, and I'm the producer, so pay me and make sure my credit is right and get me my splits.' But I'm trying to go backward. Now, it's more like 'What's the texture? What's the over-arching story?' There are more things to pay attention to than 'Is this the right snare?'
I tried to embrace the concept of the sampler as an instrument, looking at how to take it artistically to another place where it can be appreciated, more than just taking someone's song and doing a 4-bar loop.
There's not too many one-producer rap albums. There are lot of one-producer rock albums... and country albums.
I just want to work on music and make some new stars. I'm not interested in being a star.
A lot of my favorite artists didn't sell much out the gate. I didn't with Common at first. Neither did first albums from Outkast, Nas, or Jay Z. It doesn't scare me.
Hit records create slang, and if you create slang, you get into a broader conversation level.
I've got a philosophy I call 'no dancing in the end zone.' You score, get back, and run another play.
Pillow talk is the strongest conversation on the planet.
Common and I have a long history of making great music together.
Part of my growth as a producer was not just about making beats but also helping in the process of inspiring the song and making the song the center.
When you do your art, and you may think people don't recognize it or appreciate it, you actually go and try to get better.
When people get to see me interact with the creative giants, they see the perspective and the respect. A lot of times, people don't have that respect, from a music perspective, with the music people.
I'm not interested in anything besides making some good music, helping some artists, being an executive. I'm pretty happy with that.
The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did.
'I Used To Love H.E.R.,' from a production standpoint, was a brainchild of the style I developed on 'Soul By The Pound.'
Sometimes I think albums are so ambitious, they don't stand as bodies of work because you try to achieve so much, and sometimes we need to do less. Say less.
I'm not going to put my music up on some little corner of the Internet or give it away for free. What does that do? That's just giving up. I'm not giving up, ever.
I take a lot of pride in helping people become great. I think that's an element of being a producer that people don't always take in: They want to be great for themselves, whereas I'd like to be recognized as having helped the most people get over the hump.
As much as you act like everything is programmed or calculated or researched or numbers, spins, radio, and clubs, it's still human beings out here you can reach with music.
I believe that when you really make the best music you can make from your heart, it will transcend all of those stereotypes, color issues, everything, because music is really made for human beings.
My entire approach is built on the idea that things can be commercial and artistic.
I don't care whether something makes one dollar or a trillion because guess what? I don't know many happy rich people. And I know a lot of rich people.
Honesty, vulnerability, pain - these are things that always supersede the trends of the day.
Trophies or no trophies, we are all just striving to do some really good art and help people's lives with it.
