Angie Thomas Quotes

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

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 one of my favorite rappers because you don't get any of that flashy stuntin'; you get the real, just raw bars. The way he tells stories and his vibe, I think we would make great music together.

I listen a lot to rap, and I'm inspired to take it, to use it in another way, to get the message across.

Nas is an artist who writes from his heart.

Biggie and Big Pun were the best storytellers of the '90s. I would get wrapped up in the narrative of what they were talking about.

That's what hip-hop is: It's sociology and English put to a beat, you know.

I think that rap is narrative, when it's done right.

I don't think I would change really anything about rap. Rap don't have no limits to it, and I like it like that.

Big Rube was on my first album and some of my mixtapes. His words are so powerful. I want to speak every word he says into existence. I wanna be a part of that! I wanna be a part of greatness. His wordplay is great to me.

Nas always been my favorite rapper, but 50 Cent, he changed my way of thinking about music 'cause he was so detailed in his music, I knew that wasn't lying. I never felt Tupac that way; I never felt Biggie that way. I love Nas music, but I never felt and believed like, 'This is for real.' 'Cause I grew up that gangsta lifestyle.

Rap has so many possibilities that need to be explored. There are different factions of rap, but some are in a rut. Rap doesn't have to be about boosting egos and grabbing your crotch and dissing women. There's a way to make political and social issues interesting and entertaining to the young rap audience.

Hip-hop is not all '2 Chainz' - although '2 Chainz' is awesome. How he does that with metaphors, I don't know.

Biggie was a lyrical genius: he was a musical painter with words. As he rapped, you would see the picture come to life as you heard his story. You hear a lot of rappers rap; you hear a lot of singers sing, but you don't see the movie in your head the way you do when you hear Biggie rap.

This is going to seem odd, but I love Eminem because he has so much conviction and emotion in the way he raps. Every word that he raps, you feel it.

I listened to a lot of Jay Z and Nas, stuff like that, so I was always New York-influenced. I think I have that New York flow.

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.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

When Tupac came out, my writing changed for sure. I learned from it. It was a cultural thing.

Nas' storytelling was just fire.

We'll never change the fact that we are hardcore hip-hop and we make rebellious hip-hop music, and we're going to keep doing that and progress with our production, progress with our lyrical styles, be creative, and just have fun with it.

I'm the greatest game-spitter of all time. I talk about the swell, the block, the 'hood. I'm a street commentator. I narrate how people live. That's E-40.

I don't like political rappers.

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