Vetrimaaran Quotes

However, please allow me to say that the fundamental style of my writing has been to start from my personal matters and then to link it up with society, the state and the world.

I'm not talking about Russia in my music. I've never been to Russia. I'm not talking about Africa, Switzerland, China. I'm talking about me being American and growing up in a crazy world and helping to reflect all different sides of life.

I could write a whole other book called 'I'm Judging You, America!' I still might.

I really am not interested in making political music per se. I'm making personal records, but at the same time, I'm very much aware of my surroundings. And those surroundings, what's going on in the larger picture, affects my everyday life and affects the way that I think.

I try to put my own history in my work.

Every body and thing has politics involved. Every. Single. Thing.

I don't think that early hip hop stood out to be a social critique. A lot of fans of mine think that hip hop's ultimate responsibility is to critique social structures.

Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics.

Fashion is not separate from art. It is inextricably woven into how we open ourselves to the world and articulates the exchanges of power both real and imagined.

Definitely, there is a sense in my writing that people now know me in a personal way. And to an extent, that's true because I write about very personal things, and I use the personal often to contextualize some of these sociopolitical issues that we're dealing with. And to an extent, they're right. They know something about me.

I'm not on a record like some rapper trying to boast about my clothes or where I'm from. I'm creating stories, experiences, the way places make me feel, the way a person makes me feel.

Well, I think the great tragedy in American politics is what is legal, not what is illegal.

Art is commenting on what's going on around you in your life.

I'm not really sure what social message my art carries, if any. And I don't really want it to carry one. I'm not interested in the subject matter to try to teach society anything, or to try to better our world in any way.

Politics are always involved, even in my love songs.

Politicians are becoming mouthpieces for other forces justifying the status quo.

We ought to remain skeptical of our own institutions.

Part of being an artist is being able to write about the world you live in and the times that you've been a part of.

I try to make music that's relevant to my life and relatable to the culture I live in.

The social realism of ' Establishment Blues' or 'Like Janis,' are what I chose to use to express what was happening in the U.S. and what was happening to me personally.

When the things in front of you in life reveal how messed up the system is, you lose faith in the system pretty quickly. You develop a contrarian attitude. Your instinct is to disagree with the status quo and then, if you can, to try and shake it up.

When something really affects you, it's hard to find the humor in it sometimes. There's are a lot of reasons why there are so many white male comedians, but I think part of it is that they are able to joke about a lot of things because a lot of things don't affect them personally.

What I see, what I went through, what a friend of mine may have went through, whatever - I rap about it.

I do music to tell people my thoughts and opinions about life, emotions, politics, everything.

I started making work that I assumed would be far too garish, far too decadent, far too black for the world to care about. I, to this day, am thankful to whatever force there is out there that allows me to get away with painting the stories of people like me.