
"I tried to hire a guy once, and I said, "Don't you have ambition to be bigger?" And he said, "No, I'm good." I had to respect that, but for me that was the wrong relationship".
"The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out. And when you have no style they can’t figure you out."
"Being broke is a great motivator."
"Don’t make decisions based on the fear."
"I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company."
"I'd rather die enormous than live dormant."
"Nerves. Be fearless. You have to not be afraid to fail. I’ve definitely failed. We had a thing called Wash-House in Roc-A-Wear which failed, a thing called Teen Tock which we’re gonna start over again which failed the first time."
"You are the product. If people believe in you, they will believe in what you create."
"Your product has to be a purple cow—it has to be distinct to have any success. You have to be clear on your product: What are you? What are you putting out there? For years I never did an ad for [my company] Rocawear, because I cared more about the quality than the face in front."
"You don’t have to be from Marcy projects to relate to the idea of, I’m not gonna lose. I’m gonna fight, and I’m gonna make something out of nothing. You know, that’s pretty much the American dream as it stands now."
"We were the kids who were ignored by every politician. We didn’t have the numbers, the vote, to put anybody in office, because no matter who was in the office, we didn’t think that it would affect change where we lived. So nobody went out and voted. For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton . . . It’s crazy."
"Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama’s running so all the children could fly, so I’ma spread my wings you can meet me the sky."
"Luckily for my I had a God-given talent. It took me a while to really realize it. I had this talent my whole life. I started writing since I was nine. My first album didn’t come out until I was 26 cause I was running the streets and I thought that was more important. It was a good thing that I had a lot of good people around me. They would push me like “You’re wasting your talent. You’re wasting your talent.” Finally I listened. Once I took that right turn to be an entertainer I never looked back."
"You know, successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who’ve never done anything because if you haven’t been successful, then you don’t know how it feels to lose it all. You don’t have that fear. So why do you think people get stuck in those boxes? It’s that fear of going back down."
"You make your first album, you make some money, and you feel like you still have to show face, like 'I still go to the projects.' I'm like, why? Your job is to inspire people from your neighborhood to get out. You grew up there. What makes you think it's so cool?"
"I feel fantastic about turning 40, I'm in a great place, got a fantastic album, my eleventh number one which beats Elvis, so I'm feeling like the king of pop."



