Hip-Hop Revival Quotes

'Stillmatic' is the rebirth of 'Illmatic,' my first debut album to come out in 1994. 'Stillmatic' is me coming full circle in my career and with everything, and just bringing pure hip-hop back.

Hip-hop ain't died because of the South, that's retarded. When I named the album originally, I thought I bit off more than I could chew but you'd be an idiot to think I'm talking about how the South killed hip-hop or how New York isn't where it should be or where it once was. It was like, "Damn, I need to explain this?" But I thought, "Nah, the proof is right there. We should know what it is." I expect the hip-hop audience to be avant garde. I want them to be where I'm at or beyond where I'm at.

We're trying to plug a void and bring what's been missing back to hip-hop.

I think that people have been claiming hip-hop as being dead since the moment it started.

Everyone's been on the "hip-hop is dead" campaign for years, and now it's the most unsure-of-itself genre ever.

As much as I would like to be the one who saved hip-hop culture, it's pretty much nigh-on impossible.

When I say 'hip-hop is dead,' basically, America is dead. There is no political voice. Music is dead.

I know I'm going to be the next big hip-hop artist. I just want to save hip-hop... that's my job.

I'm trying to bring gangster rap back to the forefront, like in the early '90s.

I feel like I'm living in the dead weeds of hip-hop. I live in the graveyard of what went wrong with hip-hop.

We put out real hip-hop at a time when it was turning into pop or R&B ... We brought the focus back to the music in its rawest form, without studio polish or radio hooks. ... People want something that gives them an adrenaline rush. We're here to supply that fix.