I'm a thug. And my thug comes from... my definition of thug comes from half of the street element. Straight street hustling.
Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I'd be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that's all.
Watching daring, high-tech criminals in action, I have the same thought that probably occurs to other moviegoers: if these guys just held on to some of the money they spend on equipment, they wouldn't have to turn to a life of crime.
I turn to a life of crime cause I came from a broken family.
I decided to be what crime made of me.
Either you were a hoodlum, or you were a puddle on the sidewalk.
Maybe I could survive in one of those resort prisons where they house white-collar criminals. I've always wanted to get better at tennis.
Crime to many is not crime but simply a way of life. If laws are inconvenient, ignore them, they don't apply to you.
Drug dealers live vicariously through me
I'm slamming n***as like Shaquille, s**t is real When it's time to eat a meal, I rob and steal
We still wading in the water... Cocaine, blunts, marinating in the water. Lean and took a puff, and then she gave it to my father, Used to take the bullets out so I could play with the revolver. Satan serenading ever since I was a toddler, Tell 'em talk is cheap...niggas living for the dollar.
My dad wasn't a gangster, and he wasn't a criminal, but he sure liked to rub padded shoulders with them.
I always felt, you don’t have a good time doin crime, you may as well find a job.
A lot of people have that story that they used to sell crack or shoot people; that's nothing new. But honestly, if that was me, I probably still wouldn't be doing that because it's so many people that's doing that. It just gets old when you hear a million raps about how many ways I could shoot you. So I just try to be more creative and come with something new because I actually care about the music.
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.
I personally think 'Power' is much more similar to 'The Sopranos' in that it deals with a character who is leading a double life and wants to become legitimate.
Let me tell you something. When I was young, I was an armed robber. I did robberies. And there's no adrenaline rush like that. When you're using drugs and doing robberies, it's hard to distinguish whether you're doing robberies to support your drug habit, or doing drugs to support your robbery habit.
Props is a true thug's wife.
If being a gangster were a prerequisite to being a musician, there'd be a lot less cello music, for example.
If I hadn't made it as an actor, I might have wound up a hood.
Basically, the last 30 minutes of 'Goodfellas,' that was my neighborhood... literally. There were people on my street who did nothing but just wash their car all day and wait for a package, and that's what I thought being an adult was.
I spent most of the eighties, most of my life, riding around in somebody else's car, in possession of, or ingested of, something illegal, on my way from something illegal to something illegal with many illegal things happening all around me
I knew I wanted to be successful in some form or fashion. My first dreams and aspirations of being successful was probably that I wanted to be a successful drug dealer. I wanted to be Nino Brown. That was my first dream.
It's funny how the ruthless, murderous gangster has really been romanticized by the media. I mean, I grew up watching the 'Godfathers' and 'Scarface,' and they were the coolest. They're just really interesting stories with great characters. They're rock stars.
