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

More quotes by Chuck D

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Maybe we need to look upon technologies and social networks as things that come out of us, not things that lead us. We can be on top of these things instead of them bein' on top of us as human beings.
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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Music and art and culture is escapism, and escapism sometimes is healthy for people to get away from reality. The problem is when they stay there.
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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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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Rappers should just be able to perform what they create and satisfy the people that like and love them.
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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I think right about now we have to beware of marketed Malcolms and Martins. Real people do real things.
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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I totally hate when somebody takes a classic and desecrates it. I like Jimmy Page and P. Diddy, but what they did to 'Kashmir' was a debacle.
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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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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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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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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To live a life you love, you must Love the life you live.
Chuck D
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You can actually take your pain and processes it into some kind of form of art. So I mean, I've easily always been able to do that, but also I've always been able to give myself perspective - or, you know, older people always give you perspective.
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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If you want to be an artist, truly try to write what you believe, and if you write when you don't believe then you should try to become an actor.
Chuck D
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Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding don't come out of the microwave. You got to keep moving forward because the evil doesn't sleep.
Chuck D
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Culture is this thing that we can exchange among ourselves as human beings to knock aside our differences and build upon our similarities. Cultural exchange is the ultimate exchange.
Chuck D