Tink Quotes

My favorite Eminem song is probably 'Lose Yourself' because I can relate to it a lot. That's how I feel every time I write a rhyme.

In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.

I loved B.I.G., but not like I liked Tupac, because he was an actor, so I related to him.

I think hip-hop does a very good job of infusing comedy and humor and wit into music, a lot more than other genres.

The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

Nas is an artist who writes from his heart.

When you're looking for good lyrics, you turn to Kendrick Lamar, you turn to J Cole, you turn to Wale, you turn to Chance the Rapper, you turn to Rapsody. You don't turn to Post Malone.

My core thing is gangster rap, but a lot of my music is melodic and carries a message of survival.

I was born into hip hop and reggae, and then I started listening to more hardcore and punk bands like Bad Brains and the Suicidal Tendencies; they opened up a whole new world for me. They had something to say, and I could relate to them.

Eminem was someone that I discovered I liked, largely because of his relationship to language and to his mother.

I feel like the albums I grew up listening to - for example, Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Christina Aguilera - they all spoke about real stuff that was happening in their life and everyone else's life.

I just loved listening to hip-hop, I love the words. The angry words resonated with me.

Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar sounds decades older than he is, and it's not necessarily the wear and tear that comes from a rough life; instead, his world-weariness seems to result from years of soul-searching.

I wanted to write a book like a rapper would write it - I didn't want to hold back. Rappers catch a lot of slack; I'm not going to be cursing up a storm, but when I look at Nas... his first album is one of my favorites. I want to tell stories like that.

I felt like I related to East Coast lyricism a little more. Because I couldn't be super gangsta.

Rap music was and is, for me, everything.

I grew up listening to a lot of Chief Keef, Lil B, all that.

My music is more like ghetto gospel; there's a message in my words, so people listen. Sometimes you might here different things; it depends on how you feel. You might feel down, and I might be the cat in the same sentence saying, "You need to get up and do your thing." And then I could be the same cat, when you at the top of your game, telling you, "It feel good, don't it?" but with the same words.

In the future, hip-hop is going to be called American folklore.

Childish Gambino - him and I are the same age, and I really like him.

Pop culture mirrors culture, and, I think, as a rapper, hip-hop in a lot of ways mirrors the things that are happening in urban neighborhoods.

I don't like rap that doesn't have a story behind it.

I have been skeptical, sometimes, about the importance of rap music, which I think is a capitalistic project to make money.

I think, in a lot of ways, hip-hop is interesting to me because it's like the modern-day folk music.

I don't want people to confuse me as an MC that talk about nothing.