Rakim Quotes

It's been over 15 years since I toured... over 12 years since I did any recording under my own name. I never really intended to take that long of a hiatus.

When Rick Ross made 'Hustlin',' Rick Ross also helped those producers become some of the biggest producers in the world.

I've been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it'd be awesome to work with him. He's really kind, and he's been really encouraging when we've met.

No I.D. is actually married to my cousin, and my cousin is my manager. So I met him when she met him many years ago. I was in the studio and he hooked me up with a bunch of producers that he knew.

I would love to work with Pharrell one day. Like, my biggest dream.

You kind of have to have no ego to be a producer and a songwriter.

I've been working with a lot of different producers.

I want to record, tour, and just live life.

I competitively want to produce just as many records for Drake as Kanye West did for Jay Z.

Obviously, Jay Z definitely got my attention. I thought it was pretty cool that he wanted me on the team.

I'm involved in a lot of different things, like producing, starting a label and writing songs. But still my biggest release, and the easiest and most fun thing for me to do in my life, is to be in New Found Glory, go on stage and play these songs.

After 1999, I thought that I needed a break. As a senior composer, I didn't like the trend of three music directors working on a single film. But after a few quiet years, I was back for good.

I definitely made friends with the people I like to write with, but I'll also write with people I haven't met before or producers I haven't met before because how are you supposed to make those friends without trying?

I'm very thankful that I'm in a position where I'll never be without a session. I'll always have someone who will want to get in the studio with me, or there'll always be someone that I'll wanna get in the studio with.

I definitely like making my friends in the music industry.

When I went to college, I made my first mixtape, and Sean gave me three verses for it. That was a big reason anyone ever listened to my music. I definitely wouldn't be talking to you now if it wasn't for Big Sean.

I worked with Busta back in the days, shoutout to the OG Busta Rhymes.

I went to college to find myself. That's where I really realized I wanted to be a recording artist and started on the process of figuring out how to do that.

I've been working a lot with Benny Blanco; he's a producer. And I've been working with Diplo and a bunch of other people. Detail, Charlie Handsome. A variety of people.

My first significant break was when I was 15, going on 16, and my cousin Courtney 'Bear' Sills told me you can make a career out of writing songs. He was the one who put me in with 112. The first song I did with 112 was 'We Can Do It Anywhere.'

I began working as an assistant since the age of 16 with my father Dabboo Malik, went on to work with composers like Amar Mohile, Salim-Sulaiman, Pritam Da, and Sandeep Chowta.

We didn't move to L.A. to move to L.A. We moved to make music with Muggs.

I love music, but the people in the music don't wanna work.

I keep reminding myself I'm the same guy who was lucky enough to get my break because Roger Daltrey commissioned me to write the songs for one of his earlier albums.

I wrote a whole solo album and recorded some of it, even did a little tour with Sara Lee and Gail Ann Dorsey.