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The Reason I've Been Groundedand Able To Make Albums, Is Because I've Allowed My Friends To Come With Me And Voice An Opinion. That's Who Keeps You Grounded, The People Who Have Known You Longest.

-Jay-Z

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The Reason I've Been

Jay-Z

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The Reason I've Been Groundedand Able To Make Albums, Is Because I've Allowed My Friends To Come With Me And Voice An Opinion. That's Who Keeps You Grounded, The People Who Have Known You Longest.

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The Genius Thing That We Did Was, We Didn't Give Up.

Which Is The Other Reason Hip-hop Is Controversial: People Don't Bother Trying To Get It. The Problem Isn't In The Rap Or The Rapper Or The Culture. The Problem Is That So Many People Don't Even Know How To Listen To The Music.

Used To Rock A Throwback Ballin On The Corner, Now I Rock Tailored Suit Lookin' Like A Owner.

Electing A Black Man Named Barack Obama President In The Same Country That Elected George W. Bush - Twice! - Is As Far-fetched As A Hustler From Marcy Performing At That President's Inauguration. But It Happened.

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I Seen The Worst Of The Worst. I Deserve Every Blessing I Receive I'm From The Dirt.

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We Create Music To Express Ourselves And When The World Relates, That's A Beautiful Thing. We're All Trading Off Each Other's Culture, So No Matter What Lines You Put--country Indie Rock, Rap, We're All Somehow Gonna Find A Way To Come Together.

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My Brands Are An Extension Of Me. They're Close To Me. It's Not Like Running Gm, Where There's No Emotional Attachment.

It's Always Been Most Important For Me To Figure Out "my Space" Rather Than Trying To Check Out What Everyone Else Is Up To, Minute By Minute. Technology Is Making It Easier To Connect To Other People, But Maybe Harder To Keep Connected To Yourself-- And That's Essential For Any Artist, I Think.

Difficult Takes A Day Impossible Takes A Week I Do This In My Sleep

I Grew Up In Marcy Projects In Brooklyn, And My Mom And Pop Had An Extensive Record Collection, So Michael Jackson And Stevie Wonder And All Of Those Sounds And Souls Of Motown Filled The House.

I Look In The Mirror, My Only Opponent

I'm Hungry For Knowledge. The Whole Thing Is To Learn Every Day, To Get Brighter And Brighter.

Hungry For Success

Hungry For Knowledge

I Dumb Down For My Audience And Double My Dollars...

I Collect Art, And I Drink Wine... Things That I Like That I Had Never Been Exposed To. But I Never Said, 'i'm Going To Buy Art To Impress This Crowd.' That's Just Ridiculous To Me. I Don't Live My Life Like That, Because How Could You Be Happy With Yourself?

As Sure As This Earth Is Turnin, Souls Burnin / In Search Of Higher Learnin, Turnin In Every Direction Seeking Direction / My Moms Cryin Cause Her Insides Are Dyin / Her Son Tryin Her Patience, Keep Her Heart Racin / A Million Beats A Minute, I Know I Push You To Your Limit / But It's This Game, Love—i'm Caught Up All In It / They Make It So You Can't Prevent It, Never Give It / You Gotta Take It, Can't Fake It, I Keep It Authentic

I Love That Because That's What I'm Supposed To Be Doing - Whether It's Accepted B Everybody Or Not. I'm Supposed To Be Pushing That Envelope And Trying New Things. And People Are Supposed To Say, Hov, You Might Have Went Too Far.

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Successful People Have A Bigger Fear Of Failure Than People Who've Never Done Anything Because If You Haven't Been Successful, Then You Don't Know How It Feels To Lose It All.

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Identity Is A Prison You Can Never Escape, But The Way To Redeem Your Past Is Not To Run From It, But To Try To Understand It, And Use It As A Foundation To Grow.

Only He Without Sin Can Tell Me If My Means Justify My Ends.

May The Best Of Your Today's Be The Worst Of Your Tomorrow's

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If Skills Sold Truth Be Told I'd Probably Be Lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I Want To Rhyme Like Common Sense (but I Did Five Mil) I Ain't Been Rhyming Like Common Since.

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I Believe Excellence Is Being Able To Perform At A High Level Over And Over.

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I Noticed That Difference Early On, Like If You Were Successful In Rock 'n' Roll, That Was A Really Bad Thing, You Almost Had To Hide It. You Had These Guys Selling 200 Million Records With Dirty T-shirts On. I Was Like, 'come On, Man. Come On. We Know You're Successful.' Hip-hop Is More About Attaining Wealth. People Respect Success. They Respect Big. They Don't Even Have To Like Your Music. If You're Big Enough, People Are Drawn To You.

I'm Gonna Fight, And I'm Gonna Make Something Out Of Nothing. That's Pretty Much The American Dream. So, For Me, The Realization That I Could Speak To People Like That Came First On A Small Scale. Then It Just Started Happening. I Started Having This Vibration.

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I Have Inherited Two Of The Most Important Brands In Hip-hop, Def Jam And Roc-a-fella. Reid And Universal Music Group Have Given Me The Opportunity To Manage The Companies I Have Contributed To My Whole Career. I Feel This Is A Giant Step For Me And The Entire Artist Community.

I Will Not Lose, For Even In Defeat/there's A Valuable Lesson Learned, So It Evens Up For Me

When I Listen To Great Music, The First Thing I Wonder Is What People Were Saying When This Came Out Of The Speakers In The Studio. I Want To Know What Happened When They Played It And Said, "this Is The One!"

I Got Mouths To Feed Til They Put Flowers On Me.

Leave A Mark They Can't Erase, Neither Space Nor Time.

I Get My By Any Means On, Whenever There's A Drought Get Your Umbrellas Out Because That's When I Brainstorm.

By The Time I Got To Record My First Album, I Was 26, I Didn't Need Pen Or Paper - My Memory Had Been Trained Just To Listen To A Song, Think Of The Words, And Lay Them To Tape.

You Ain't Gotta Go To Church To Find Your God.

You Learn More In Failure Than You Ever Do In Success

Artists Can Have Greater Access To Reality; They Can See Patterns And Details And Connections That Other People, Distracted By The Blur Of Life, Might Miss. Just Sharing That Truth Can Be A Very Powerful Thing.

The Burden Of Poverty Isn't Just That You Don't Always Have The Things You Need, It's The Feeling Of Being Embarrassed Every Day Of Your Life, And You'd Do Anything To Lift That Burden.

Don't Make Decisions Based On The Fear.

Everyone Needs A Chance To Evolve.

The Most Amazing Feeling I Feel Words Can't Describe What I'm Feeling For Real Maybe I Paint The Sky Blue My Greatest Creation Was You.

I've Never Looked At Myself And Said That I Need To Be A Certain Way To Be Around A Certain Sort Of People. I've Always Wanted To Stay True To Myself, And I've Managed To Do That. People Have To Accept That.

People Really Feel Like Music Is Free, But Will Pay $6 For Water. You Can Drink Water Free Out Of The Tap And It's Good Water. But They're Okay Paying For It. It's Just The Mindset Right Now.

When People Say Stuff Like, "oh, That's Soft Rock. I Don't Listen To That," I Find That Elitist. It's Music-racist.

I'm Not Saying I'm God. But As Far As Lyrics, I'm God Mc.

Everyone Who Makes Music Is A Good Collaborator At Their Foundation Because In Order To Make Music, You Have To Connect To It In A Way That Other People Can't.

But This Is One Of The Things That Makes Rap At Its Best So Human. It Doesn't Force You To Pretend To Be Only One Thing Or Another, To Be A Saint Or A Sinner. It Recognizes That You Can Be True To Yourself And Still Have Unexpected Dimensions And Opposing Ideas. Having A Devil On One Shoulder And An Angel On The Other Is The Most Common Thing In The World. The Real Bullshit Is When You Act Like You Don't Have Contradictions Inside You, That You're So Dull And Unimaginative That Your Mind Never Changes Or Wanders Into Strange, Unexpected Places.

I'm Not Afraid Of Dying I'm Afraid Of Not Trying

Young Entrepreneurs

Can I Hit It In The Morning With Out Giving You Have Of My Dough?

I'm A Person That Works Off Of Music. I Let The Music Dictate The Direction.

Personal Growth

Nine To Five Is How Ya Survive, I Ain't Trying To Survive I'm Trying To Live It To The Limit And Love It Alive

I Smoked Some Weed, And That's How I Finished 'izzo.'

No One's Walking Around Here Perfect. Everyone's Gonna Make Mistakes. That's Part Of How You Learn.

Making Mistakes

The Fans Get To See You, And You Can Do Great By Your Record If You Have A Great Performance Or A Great Night There. That's All Part Of The Business. But At Their Core, Awards Shows Are Not Really A Sincere Thing. For A Lot Of Years, The Artists Had To Pay To Play Their Own Set.

It's Hilarious A Lot Of Times. You Have A Conversation With Someone, And He's Like, 'you Speak So Well!' I'm Like, 'what Do You Mean? Do You Understand That's An Insult?

Only God Can Judge Me So I'm Gone, Either Love Me Or Leave Me Alone.

I Don't Even Like The Word Politics. It Implies Something Underhanded And I Think We Need Less Government.

Is To Have Had And Lost/better Than Not Having At All?

As Fate Would Have It, Jay's Status Appears To Be At An All-time High, Perfect Time To Say Goodbye When I Come Back Like Jordan, Wearing The 4-5.

Got Some, Dirt On My Shoulder, Could You Brush It Off For Me?

You Put The Right Artist On The Right Track In The Studio And Leave The Door Open To Let God In.

Gotta Keep It Peace Like A Buddhist Nobody Gonna Wesley Snipe Me It's Less Than Likely, Move Back, Let I Breathe Jedi Knight, The More Space I Get The Better I Write, (oh) Never I Write, But, If, Ever I Write, I Need The Space To Say Whatever I Like.

Treat My First Like My Last And The Last Like My First And My Thirst Is The Same As- When I Came.

Ex-d-boy, Used To Park My Beamer Now Look At Me, I Can Park In My Own Arena

Everybody Look At You Strange, Say You Changed Like You Work That Hard To Stay The Same.

Kurt Cobain Od'd On Heroin Before Committing Suicide, But He Also Od'd On Fame. Cobain Was Like Basquiat: They Both Wanted To Be Famous, And Were Brilliant Enough To Make It Happen. But Then What? Drug Addicts Kill Themselves Trying To Get That Feeling They Got From Their First High, Looking For An Experience They'll Never Get Again. In His Suicide Note, Cobain Asked Himself, "why Don't You Just Enjoy It?" And Then Answered, "i Don't Know!" It's Amazing How Much Of A Mindfuck Success Can Be.

Racism Is Taught In The Home. We Agree On That? Well, It's Very Hard To Teach Racism To A Teenager Who's Listening To Rap Music And Who Idolizes, Say, Snoop Dogg. It's Hard To Say, 'that Guy Is Less Than You.' The Kid Is Like, 'i Like That Guy, He's Cool. How Is He Less Than Me?

A Wise Man Told Me Don't Argue With Fools. Cause People From A Distance Can't Tell Who Is Who.

You Can Put A New Shirt On Your Back, Slide A Fresh Chain Around Your Neck, And Accumulate All The Money And Power In The World, But At The End Of The Day Those Are Just Layers. Money And Power Don't Change You, They Just Further Expose Your True Self.

The End Of The Day

I Think Lil Wayne Is Extremely Talented. I Think He's One Of The Most Talented Ones Out There.

You Not Feeling Me, Fine. It Costs You Nothing, Pay Me No Mind.

I'm A Hustler, Baby; I Sell Water To A Well!

Now Success Was Like Lust, She's Good To The Touch, She's Good For The Moment, But She's Never Enough

I Really Just Like Breaking Down The Barriers, Whether It Means Doing An Album With Linkin Park, An Album With R. Kelly, Or Playing At The Brandenburg Gate With Bono.

No Matter Where You Go, You Are What You Are Playa.

It Was A Weird Mix Of Emotions. One Day, Your Best Friend Could Be Killed. The Day Before, You Could Be Celebrating Him Getting A Brand-new Bike.

You Know The Type: Loud As A Motorbike But Wouldn't Bust A Grape In A Fruit Fight.

Everybody Can Tell You How To Do It But They Never Done It

New York Has A Thousand Universes In It That Don't Always Connect But We Do All Walk The Same Streets, Hear The Same Sirens, Ride The Same Subways, See The Same Headlines In The Post, Read The Same Writings On The Walls. That Shared Landscape Gets Inside Of All Of Us And, In Some Small Way, Unites Us, Makes Us Think We Know Each Other Even When We Don't.

Driving Benzes With No Benefits, Not Bad Huh, For Some Immigrants?

When You Listen To An Album, It Shouldn't Feel Like, "that's The Girl Song," "that's The Club Song." I Shouldn't Know What You're Thinking While You're Making The Song. I Don't Want To Know What The Artist Is Thinking.

So Many People That I've Seen Can't Get Clean Water. It's A Crime.

I Jack, I Rob, I Sin. Aw Man, I'm Jackie Robinson 'cept When I Run Base, I Dodge The Pen

Everything Evens Up, You Just Wait, Even A Garbage Can Gets A Steak, You Ain't Even A Garbage Can, You Have Faith!

I Couldn't Even Think About Wanting To Be Something Else; I Wouldn't Let Myself Visualize Another Life. But I Wrote Because I Couldn't Stop. It Was A Release, A Mental Exercise, A Way Of Keeping Sane.

You Shared One Of The Most Intimate Things That Ever Happened To You - Falling In Love With Someone Who Wasn't Brave Enough To Love You Back. Your Relieving Yourself Of Your 'secret' Is As Much About Wanting To Honestly Connect As It Is About Exhibition. We Are All Made Better By Your Decision To Share Publicly.

Falling In Love

I'd Rather Die Enormous Than Live Dormant.

Just When I Thought I Had Everything, I Lost It All

I Can Think Of No One More Relevant And Credible In The Hip-hop Community To Build Upon Def Jam's Fantastic Legacy And Move The Company Into Its Next Groundbreaking Era.

You Can Want Success All You Want, But To Get It, You Can’t Falter. You Can’t Slip. You Can’t Sleep. One Eye Open, For Real, And Forever.

Never Prayed To God, I Prayed To Gotti, That's Right It's Wicked, That's Life I Live It. Ain't Askin' For Forgiveness For My Sins. I Gotta Get My Soul Right, I Gotta Get These Devils Out My Life. Lord Forgive Him, He Got Them Dark Forces In. Connected To The High Power. 666. I Can Introduce You To Evil.

In Trouble Waters I Had To Learn How To Float

Jealousy’s A Weak Emotion.

No Matter Where You Go You Are What You Are Player And You Can Try To Change But That's Just The Top Layer Man You Was Who You Was Before You Got Here

Don't Ever Go With The Flow. Be The Flow.

I Was Forced To Be An Artist And A Ceo From The Beginning, So I Was Forced To Be Like A Businessman Because When I Was Trying To Get A Record Deal, It Was So Hard To Get A Record Deal On My Own That It Was Either Give Up Or Create My Own Company.

Wherever I Go, I Bring The Culture With Me, So That They Can Understand That It's Attainable. I Didn't Do It Any Other Way Than Through Hip-hop.

I'm Not Concerned With Noise Because I'm Playing The Long Game.

If You Want The Old Me, Go Buy My Old Albums.

Their Gunnin' For Me, Want To See Me Fall, You Know My Story, Been Through It All, Times I Felt Like Dyin', But I Ain't Cryin', What Didn't Kill Me, Makes Me Strong As Iron.

Niggas Pray And Pray On My Downfall, But Every Time I Hit The Ground I Bounce Up Like Round Ball

My Tears Is Tatted, My Rag In My Pocket / Im Just Looking For Love, I Know Somebody Got It

I Am Not A Businessman. I Am A Business, Man.

As Kids We Didn't Complain About Being Poor; We Talked About How Rich We Were Going To Be And Made Moves To Get The Lifestyle We Aspired To By Any Means We Could. And As Soon As We Had A Little Money, We Were Eager To Show It.

We'll Have A Baby Who Stutters Repeatedly We'll Name Him History

The Nets' A Stone Throw From Where I Used To Throw Bricks ...so It's Only Right I'm Still Tossing 'round Knicks.

Life Is A Gift, Love Opens It Up.

Without The Work, The Magic Won’t Come.

I Use A Lot Of Double Meanings. I Hide 'em Like Easter Eggs.

A Poet's Mission Is To Make Words Do More Work Than They Normally Do, To Make Them Work On More Than One Level.

[t]he Truth Is That Drug Addicts Have A Disease. It Only Takes A Short Time In The Streets To Realize That Out-of-control Addiction Is A Medical Problem, Not A Form Of Recreational Or Criminal Behavior. And The More Society Treats Drug Addiction As A Crime, The More Money Drug Dealers Will Make "relieving" The Suffering Of The Addicts.

Medical Problems

Rap Has Been A Path Between Cultures In The Best Tradition Of Popular Music.

I Think The Consumption Of Music Is At An All-time High. But I Think The Ways That Record Companies Are Trying To Monetize It Is Just All Over The Place. At The End Of The Day, Music Is In The Clouds. Before, You Could Hold It, Look At It, Turn It Around. Now, It's Just In The Air.

When You're Growing Up, Your Dad Is Your Superhero. Once You've Let Yourself Fall That In Love With Someone, Once You Put Him On Such A High Pedestal And He Lets You Down, You Never Want To Experience That Pain Again.

Males Shouldnt Be Jealous. Thats A Female Trait.

If I Was To Stop Making Music Tomorrow Doesn't Mean Suddenly There Is This Gap. You Don't Get Elected. The People Decide Where You Are. Whether I'm Here Or Not, If They Want You To Be At The Top Then The People Will Move Me Out The Way.

There's The Gift, There's The Spirit, And There's The Work-all Three Have To Come Together. If One Of Those Things Is Off, It Can Stop You From Becoming Who You Were Meant To Be.

Were Meant To Be

I Believe You Can Speak Things Into Existence.

Little Brothers Ring Fingers Get Cut Up To Show Mothers They Really Got Em.

I Would Run Into The Corner Store, The Bodega, And Just Grab A Paper Bag Or Buy Juice - Anything Just To Get A Paper Bag. And I'd Write The Words On The Paper Bag And Stuff These Ideas In My Pocket Until I Got Back. Then I Would Transfer Them Into The Notebook.

Remind Your Self. Nobody Constructed Like You, You Style Your Self.

Be True To Yourself- And Keep Things Simple. People Complicate Things

Be True To Yourself

Screamin' 'carpe Diem!' Until I'm A Dead Poet.

I Spring Train In The Winter, Around Early December...

Hip-hop Has Done So Much For Racial Relations, And I Don't Think It's Given The Proper Credit. It Has Changed America Immensely. I'm Going To Make A Very Bold Statement: Hip-hop Has Done More Than Any Leader, Politician, Or Anyone To Improve Race Relations.

I Ain't Lookin' At You Dudes -i'm Lookin' Past You.

The Day Obama Got Elected, The Gangsta Became Less Relevant.

It Was A Very Intense And Stressful Situation. There Was Playing In The Johnny-pump (an Opened Fire Hydrant) And The Ice-cream Man Coming Around And All Of These Games That We'd Play, And Suddenly It Would Turn Just Violent And There Would Be Shootings At 12 In The Afternoon On Any Given Day.

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Richard Carmona

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