Prodigy Quotes

What I find curious is that I ever became a writer at all. I grew up in the South Bronx, the land of poverty and petty hoodlums.

I grew up poor. The fact that I had to struggle to succeed, that wasn't a big deal to me. I'd struggled my whole life.

I've experienced poverty and plenty, and there's a lesson to be learned when you're brought up in poverty.

I lived in Complexo do Alemao until I was 12, dealt with domestic violence in my childhood and faced difficulties in life.

A lot of times when people become successful, people don't really understand what they had to do or the sacrifices they made to do that, or they assume that they had money. This is coming from, like, a kid who was broke and lived with roaches and a single mom in Dorchester.

All I'm trying to do is survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty, unbelievable lifestyle that they gave me.

No, I was two years older than the other guys. I was a war baby. My family were a lot poorer than they were. I'd had to fight too hard for anything I had in my life and to smash things up for me.

I'm from Brooklyn. I grew up very poor- seven people, four rooms. My dad had no education.

I grew up in a working-class neighborhood, so there was always a sense of struggle, but we had hope.

I come from nothing.

Every step of the way, life was hard. I was supposed to be a statistic.

I was born in a house without a light or a toilet, so why would I forget who I am or where I come from?

Hip-hop has always been speaking about the way your brain is manipulated by stress and struggle because hip-hop is borne from struggle.

As someone who grew up in public housing, I've known these conditions.

You don't forget where you came from. I came from nothing. I was in Marseille in a bad area. We didn't have anything. We were rich in love.

When you grow up on the other side of the tracks, you're used to taking a few bumps.

I come from nothing, man.

My children didn't have my advantages; I was born into abject poverty.

Sometimes you almost have to laugh to keep from crying to deal with the pain associated with the 'hood.

But hey, when you live in Watts, you need a little smack to get by, you know what I mean? You need something soft and comfortable in your life, 'cause you're not going to get it from what's around you. And society isn't going to give it to you.

There's no way I would have got to see so much of the world, with my humble background, without modelling. We were penniless and hungry for most of my youth. I washed the sheets in the bathtub in my bedroom and hung them out of the window on the clothes line, which in winter was difficult as the sheets would freeze and get stuck to the line.

I travel around the world, experiencing every language, every religion... some places where there's just no reason to smile, because their lives are so difficult.

I mean, when you grow up in the inner city and you grow up in a single-parent household, that's - those are humbling times, you know?

I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore. I definitely felt a connection to the people. They're really hard-working people that want to have a better life. And I saw the struggle that exists there.

I grew up very modest, and I never forget that.