Slick Rick Quotes

I think that hip-hop has done what it was supposed to have done, which is it defied all the laws of what is statistically a music genre and what statistically is not a music genre. Because it wasn't supposed to be here.

Rock n' roll seems like it's faded away sometimes, but it will never die.

I think there were early critics who wanted us to change the world because the Sex Pistols failed.

I'm gonna try and change the course of hip hop again.

Hip-hop artists, especially the older ones, are the ones who knew hip-hop was a worldwide phenomenon before the mainstream caught on, so hip-hop artists are forward thinkers. We want to stay with the new.

When 'Nevermind' came out, my roommate had the CD. At first, I actually thought, 'This is too polished and commercial.' It was a little off-putting. But then I was like, 'This is the best music ever.' It felt so close to what I wanted to do.

People misinterpret my emotions towards Nirvana because I've said things about how something happened with grunge that took a little bit of fun out of things. It's no offense to Nirvana; they were one of the greats, obviously. But something died there, too, and we haven't quite gotten the groove back.

The vitality of a new movement in Art must be gauged by the fury it arouses.

I'm forever learning and that's why I'm always able to create new styles and new dimensions of hip-hop.

Let's face it: pop music in its myriad permutations will always be sexually presumptuous, racially controversial and, frequently, politically charged.

I may have destroyed world culture, but MTV wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for me.

Dick Clark really didn't make rock 'n roll safe for America, as many people think.

They'll see it. And it doesn't matter if they don't. It's only Rock 'n' Roll. But I do intend to move more into the Mainstream. Marilyn Manson is just the First phase.

By denying its musical and artistic merit, hip hop's critics get to have it both ways: they can deny the legitimate artistic standing of rap while seizing on its pervasive influence as an art form to prove what a terrible effect it has on youth.

Without David Bowie, popular music as we know it pretty much wouldn't exist.

No, I don't think rock 'n' roll will ever fade.

First and foremost, I am most proud of how 'Hee Haw' did its part to help pave the way for country music to burst from its regional roots to remarkable worldwide popularity.

Everyone uses grime as a footstool, but imagine Biggie Smalls started doing hip hop, and it started going well, and then he started making RnB: there would be no hip hop!

When Nicki was putting out mixtapes, she was the only female rapper that had any kind of buzz. And not to mention that she was on the track with the guys, you know? So you had the girls playing it, and you had the hood guys playing it, too, so you couldn't run away from Nicki.

Hip-hop has always been evolving.

I started singing because it was a natural evolution in hip-hop to me. Without Prince, I wouldn't have embraced that. I wouldn't have been able to embrace me.

Hip-hop, at its best, is disruptive.

We're a direct mirror of the audience, and that shows how hip-hop has expanded. It's no longer just an urban thing, and it's no longer just an American thing, either. It's a universal thing.

Punk helped musical fringes get attention. Stuff like Nirvana could never have happened without it.

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.'