Lyrical Content Quotes

People underestimate the hip-hop audience and the capacity to understand politics when it's part of music.

Songwriting is such a personal thing and it's hard to be in a room with somebody you don't know and trust.

B.G. was just like his lyrics.

I have been skeptical, sometimes, about the importance of rap music, which I think is a capitalistic project to make money.

Without me, rap is just a bunch of orphans.

I would say that I'm more moved by melody, even though I love to rap.

I'm the greatest game-spitter of all time. I talk about the swell, the block, the 'hood. I'm a street commentator. I narrate how people live. That's E-40.

Popular music is one endless love song that, I suspect, the basically solitary Ella Fitzgerald approached much as the basically solitary Marianne Moore approached poetry: reading it with a certain contempt for it, Moore said, you could find a place in it for the genuine.

My songwriting process is based on a formula: Color, tone, words. When I hear production, I initially identify the color that resonates with me. From there, I am able to translate the color into tone or emotion, which may depend on a number of things.

I never thought 'Stairway to Heaven' was a long song. I loved how there was this part and then there was another part that was completely different.

If you look at the content of songs people write, it's usually about the things they know best.

To me, the lyrics of the song define the kind of style it is.

When I was signed to Quincy Jones before I went independent, he told me to rap what you know, and people will forever feel you. And I stuck to that, no matter how many people called me a devil worshiper, no matter how many people call me a cult leader. I stuck with rapping about what I know.

The vocal arrangements are a big part of the formula for a Bad Religion song - layered harmonies and background vocals. So when I start to describe the elements of Bad Religion's sound, it starts to sound like a Christmas choir.

I want to make an album with just great beats and big vocals and just amazing lyrics.

Hip-hop's always reached out to kids. If you look at the last 10 big albums it might seem ironic. But when I look at the history of this music it's always had a lot of positivity.

I think my music has connected with the audience because I always have a clear vision about my songs.

With rap, it's a funny thing. You can say things, and people can take 'em the way they wanna take 'em.

I didn't realize how much harm I was doing back then and I think a lot of rap artists probably don't realize it now. I said a lot of stuff fooling around back then, and I saw it do a lot of harm.

My favorite music is when the sound is supplementing the message. I don't think it's dramatic; it's cinematic.

Oh, God. Mate, I've written about 800 songs, and that's no exaggeration!

We were always scientifical in our raps.

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.

I'm usually bored with both gangsta rappers and underground ones, too.

I don't like political rappers.