Big K.R.I.T. Quotes

I'm a hip-hop head, but hip-hop actually introduced me to other genres of music because I started to wonder where a lot of these samples came from. So I fell in love with Bobby Womack or Willie Hutch because I wanted to know where those samples came from.

It's not very often that I like new bands.

My years with Aretha Franklin have been very special, as were the years making records with Dionne Warwick. Other highlights include working with Janis Joplin, who was the first artist I ever signed, as well as Patti Smith and Alicia Keys.

Hip-hop educated me about other forms of music, because it sampled from all different styles.

Everything was so fresh and unique to us - it was a whole new world of music. Michael Jackson was so fresh, you know? We could approach it with such fresh ears, which wouldn't be possible if we had been listening to it when we were younger.

It keeps me in touch with younger musicians who are constantly saying, 'Have you heard this new artist, or this new guitar player?' It keeps you reaching.

A big part of making music is the discovery aspect, is the surprise aspect. That's why I think I'll always love sampling. Because it involves combining the music fandom: collecting, searching, discovering music history, and artifacts of recording that you may not have known existed and you just kind of unlock parts of your brain, you know?

When I go to shows, I'm really looking forward to hearing the songs I know. I don't like it when a band tries to expose me to new stuff.

I think it's healthy for bands to discover new, older stuff.

Salsa, classic rock, soul music, jazz... all of that was a part of my education in making hip-hop music.

I'd say I got into Marvin Gaye properly in college.

I would hate to think that some people have found themselves in a musical cul-de-sac and have ceased to explore new music, or at least music that is new to them, because they are so glued to the past.

With L.A. it's like, yeah, there's Death Row and whatever. But I always wanted to know what those artists were sampling. It's how I fell in love with music.

When I was 14, I heard Otis Redding in a club local to me, and I was blown away. It leaped out at me and went straight to my heart. I set my sights on singing like that.

Other music that 'Ride The Lightning' led me to discover was to start really kind of sinking my teeth into some of the thrash of the era that I literally had no exposure to - whether it was Slayer, whether it was Testament, whether it was Megadeth. It was the opening of a doorway, for me, to a whole new palette of music.

I've been sampled at least 71 times. Me, James Brown and George Clinton, we're the ones who've been sampled the most.

My bassist Jorgen Jorgensen opened up my life to a lot of great, obscure old soul records.

I was a huge fan of '90s hip-hop, and a lot of what they got their music from was funk and soul records. They just, like, take a clip of that and rap over it because, you know, that was just kind of what was up.

'Wages Of Sin' was the first metal album I ever bought, and it was love at first listen.

Musicians are hungry for new music.

My uncle introduced me to R&B, like Dru Hill, 112 and all those dudes. Eventually, he put me on Omarion's first album, and that was the first album that made me want to start singing.

You never know what can happen if you get sampled by the biggest artist in the world.

My musical tastes - I'm always searching for new things. I know a lot of people say they listen to everything, but I kind of do.

The first time I heard Adam Feeney and Chester Stone Hansen's 'Vibez,' it was used in Drake's '0-100' as a sample.

'I Used To Love H.E.R.,' from a production standpoint, was a brainchild of the style I developed on 'Soul By The Pound.'