Quote

I think hip hop should be a living word. And what I mean by the living word is like yo, you gotta have the words that provide life.

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
Word
Words
Living
Mean
Think
Hops
Thinking
Hips
Life
Gotta
Like
Provide

More quotes by Chuck D

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Don't anoint me when you can anoint yourself.
Chuck D
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Rap comes from the humble beginnings of rebelling against the status quo. Now, rappers have become the status quo themselves. You can't rebel against the Queen and then become the Queen yourself. I attribute much of the blame to testosterone-male dominance and patriarchy.
Chuck D
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Every time something tries to create respect with a machine it crumbles!
Chuck D
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As a late teenager, the punk movement pushed me further. In particular, the Clash, which happened to leak through the time of disco, showed me that there was this cross-cultural sound that could cut across genres and audiences. Like punk was to disco, rap music was a rebellion against R&B, which had adopted disco and made it worse.
Chuck D
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I always remain optimistic.
Chuck D
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You know, it's nothin' quick overnight. If anything happens to you quick, you need to start questioning that. You know, you hear young people go, aw, I'm gonna blow up. You gonna blow up but with a controlled explosion. Don't just blow up all over the place.
Chuck D
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In the past, people were going to record stores and buying albums or CDs. And the label was exposing their artist as much as possible and maybe getting them picked up by a major. Now I tell people to cut a good tune and have it up in the marketplace the next day. You better be prepared to give it away, and people will come pay to see you.
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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When culture is created in boardrooms with a panel of six or seven strategists for the masses to follow, to me that is no different than an aristocracy. It's not created from the people in the middle of the streets, so to speak. It is created from a petri dish for the sake of making money, and it is undermining the longevity of the culture.
Chuck D
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I was inspired by the classic rock radio of the Seventies. They separated Chuck Berry and the Beatles from the Led Zeppelins and Bostons and Peter Framptons of the time. In many ways, classic rock became bigger than mainstream rock.
Chuck D
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I'm not a firm believer of mo' money mo' problems - I think that's stupid. I think it's that problems are already there that can be exacerbated by more things you don't understand.
Chuck D
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We don't see the people who are doing real things getting enough props. We often see politicians who are everywhere but nowhere at the same goddamn time. You know the kind of person: You see them everywhere on television but nowhere in front of your face.
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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I never live alone, I never walk alone. My posse's always ready And they're waitin' in my zone.
Chuck D
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Find like-minded people and try not to be individualized to the point where you try to fight it all and think about it all on your own.
Chuck D
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Try to find like-minded people. Don't choose your friends based on the outside, choose your friends based on your similar views or something that you can learn from.
Chuck D
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The Internet was a saving grace for promoting and exposing, and even creating. It's a parallel world to the music industry that already exists, and I'm glad to be a part of it.
Chuck D
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If I can't change the people around me, I change the people around me.
Chuck D
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I encourage more blacks and people of color to get a passport. That's one way to help put people on an equal platform.
Chuck D
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We didn't invent music, so it's been here for a reason, and it has powers for a reason. So we should pay attention to it, because we might not know the clear answers but we should at least acknowledge that it is something there. To not be playin around with it.
Chuck D