Quote

Being called Black in America is the struggle to keep us moving and breathing over bloody water. Being a Nig**r or [Ni**a] without the context of history is like drowning in bloody water, dragging down those yet knowing to swim.

Chuck D

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Chuck D
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 1
Composer
Journalist
Musician
Radio Personality
Rapper
Record Producer
Singer
Television Producer
Writer
New York City
New York
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour
Without
Called
Like
Knowing
Dragging
Water
Drowning
Moving
Bloody
History
Context
Black
Swim
Keep
Breathing
America
Struggle

More quotes by Chuck D

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As black people we were out to further our equality. I don't pay attention to the controversial connotations put on by media and the undermining labels they place on us. We pay attention to what our community situation is and what we need.
Chuck D
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What made me want to become a recording artist I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.
Chuck D
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All I want is peace and love on this planet. Ain't that how God planned it?
Chuck D
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Let the voice be the voice of the voiceless and let it come from the world of rap music to keep the stereotype and the peace at the same time.
Chuck D
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Today, a young person that doesn't know themselves will totally be sold some other situation. Let's do your avatar. You know? And young people are going out, spending what little they have to try to buy themselves when they don't have themselves, or they feel like they don't have themselves. To me, that's like a damn pimp tragedy.
Chuck D
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Young people are having a hard time with what's reality and what's fantasy these days...We created discussion. It wasn't to create controversy for sale's sake, but rather it was my obligation to use the medium for discussion. Nobody's discussing the grown-up topics they are faking and fronting.
Chuck D
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The truth has no form, you know. It's not like walking around trying to actually ask for favors and to be acknowledged, it is what it is.
Chuck D
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The best medicine for pain sometimes is some kind of logic and common sense from older folks. They tell you, Okay, you're not the only one who actually went through this.
Chuck D
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Comin' from the school of hard knocks, Some perpetrate...they drink Clorox. Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox.
Chuck D
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The best American is one who considers themselves as a citizen of the world.
Chuck D
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If you empty, you can be filled up with anything. It could be water or it could be gasoline.
Chuck D
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Corporations have steered the industry into what it wants, and a lot of times they will make artists record what it wants or to make songs talk to who they want to talk to. But sometimes the heart and the head have to be able to talk and deal with a situation that's evident.
Chuck D
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Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin' on, First they're guilty, now they're gone!
Chuck D
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So, rather than trying to humbly mix with the rest of the world, we are forcing ourselves upon it. We seem to create conflicts with everyone.
Chuck D
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I'm envious of the way that electronic dance music has organised itself. It has been able to understand what it ain't rather than what it is. And I think that slipped away from hip-hop as soon as the DJs lost the majority of the say so in the direction of the music.
Chuck D
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Ever since I was a teenager, I was always kind of, like, checking myself. You know, like, Come on man, don't get your head all swollen. Life and time itself will give you perspective on what you're doing. So, that's actually what's always been a reminder in my own head.
Chuck D
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Black folks are judged by quantity, not quality. It's a decimal point or figure. How different is that from slavery? There's no moral code, it's just about successful business for America.
Chuck D
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When you travel the world, you have to watch and you have to listen. We're not going to come in to Ireland without an understanding that there's a history that's very sensitive.
Chuck D
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You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.
Chuck D
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Truth is truth no matter what I think.
Chuck D