Statik Selektah Quotes

Notorious B.I.G. was one of my favorites. I started getting into hip-hop around the Bad Boy era.

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.

I listen to a lot of music, and I listen to some rap, and I do like listening to Biggie Smalls.

I have my dark side like anybody, you know, depression, anxiety... and I write about gritty, real-life stuff.

I've had more people in my life take their lives than... I think it's out of proportion with most people. I think a lot of them gravitate towards me because of the music.

Tupac, Biggie, Jay. Your usual suspects. These were the people that was played in my household.

Biggie is my favorite rapper, for sure. No other artist has impacted me that much.

For me, I put Mac Dre right up there with Biggie and 'Pac as legends who have since passed on.

There is some gangsta music I like, like Biggie Smalls - he reminds me of Slick Rick -doing the same thing, but he did it in a really artistic way.

When I was in Portland, there were some dark times for me.

I listen to a lot of Biggie, he's so lyrical.

I grew up listening to a lot of 2Pac and a lot of East Coast, West Coast rap; Bad Boy, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Biggie, 2Pac. Super hip-hop, super listening to that raw era of music.

You never know what they're going through. Maybe they failed a test. Maybe they're going through a state of depression. Kids go through so much.

It's in the DNA of all the shows that I have done that are about people that are dealing with very stressful situations that are giving them a lot of angst.

I could write songs on the beach, but the interior darkness, we have it all. We have it.

I went through a lot of changes and a period of depression. I'd reached an age when I had to grow up and start taking life a bit more seriously, which had a huge impact on me. I suffered terrible anxiety, and sometimes, in the middle of a game, my legs would start shaking uncontrollably. It was pretty scary.

I got issues. Boy, have I got issues.

It was one of those times when you can feel the air in a room. Everything stood still. I can remember the T-shirt I was wearing and the bag I was carrying. I don't think I breathed for 15 minutes. It was a devastating moment. They said they wanted me to experience more things. OK. I began contemplating things. Maybe I should take LSD or become a hooker. I left Juilliard and was just meandering and drifting for a while. Thank God I had support from my family and close friends. Bad times.

Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.

Lil Wayne is definitely the greatest youngest rapper alive.

I think Lil Wayne is definitely a dope rapper.

And you can tell that Britney Spears is struggling with who she is. I think she has a team of agents and managers who are saying, yes, push the envelope, kiss Madonna, take off all your clothes. And she’s doing that because she doesn’t want to sacrifice this enormous platform that she’s built. But at the same time, she is sacrificing herself and you can see that in her eyes when she talks.

I miss the old Kanye, straight from the 'Go Kanye, Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye, I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye, The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye...

I can't drown my demons. They know how to swim.

You always wrestle with depression, you always wrestle with those things, because the events and the experiences are still there, and the things that take place are still happening.