I want to keep making records as long as I can, but I don't know how long you can be taken seriously in rap.
I got tired of the Ramones around the time I quit and I really got into rap. I thought it was the new punk rock. LL Cool J was my biggest idol.
I came from a crew, and to me, all the guys I rapped with were better than me, so I was surprised when I was the breakout one. It was definitely a cool thing.
Violence is a part of America. I don't want to single out rap music. Let's be honest. America's the most violent country in the history of the world, that's just the way it is. We're all affected by it.
I grew up listening to all kinds of music, everything from country to rock, pop, R&B and even rap, so for me, music is music and a great song is a great song.
Many elitists hate rap as much as they hate country, though they don't like to admit it for fear of appearing racially insensitive.
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes, but if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?
Throughout my rapping career, I always cooked for myself and anyone I worked with. It's what actually kept me grounded through those crazy years.
There were people who incorporated melody before me, but I would deem myself the first person to successfully rap and sing.
You know, there are artists who are 35 and up that still make rap and that still works for them. I don't know if I want to be that guy.
Rapping and singing are not two polar opposites. There's so much middle ground. And I think there's a lot of people who find that middle ground.
When Elton John sang a duet with the white rapper Eminem on a Grammy telecast, rap went mainstream. Massive parental headaches followed.
If the KKK was smart enough, they would've created gangsta rap because it's such a caricature of black culture and black masculinity.
'Paper Planes' by M.I.A. is very catchy. I like that, but I listen to everything from rap to Lenny Kravitz to Coldplay, depending on my mood. And my favorite song of all time is 'Always and Forever' by Heatwave.
You could be Top 5 on iTunes, but for people to buy an album, they've got to have a connection with an artist. Every time I bought someone's album, it was about the connection. I was loving everything, from their raps to their style. I wanted to meet...
Spats Colombo: [when his speakeasy is raided] What's the rap this time? Mulligan: Embalming people with coffee - 86 proof.
Dave Kujan: He was dead just long enough for the murder rap to blow over. And then he had lunch.
What music I listen to day to day changes very, very much. I can go from bluegrass to heavy metal, to blues, to classical and big band and then go to pop and rap.
I remember rap music. We used to party and dance off of it. Today it's all about a whole different angle... Rappers are going against each other, and it's more of a bragging, boasting thing.
I have considered rap music stars, and there is one in my new book, Lovers and Players, and there is also a hip-hop music mogul who I think you will like a lot.
Growing up, I didn't really like folk music - I wasn't a fan of Bob Dylan. I grew up mostly listening to rap and hip-hop; it was this new form of music.
