Hip Hop Rap Quotes & Sayings

I'm a firm believer that we all meet up in eternity,
Just hope the Big Man show me some courtesy — Nas

I never see the whips niggas be claimin' they drivin,
I guess 'entertainment' means blatantly lyin'. — Nas

Murder isn't a crime when you just killing time. — Amir Mohamed

By denying its musical and artistic merit, hip hop's critics get to have it both ways: they can deny the legitimate artistic standing of rap while seizing on its pervasive influence as an art form to prove what a terrible effect it has on youth. — Michael Eric Dyson

I was lucky enough to see the original cast of 'In the Heights.' This one blew my mind. The infusion of Latin, hip hop and rap with musical theatre, great storytelling and talent was a powerful combination to me during a time when I'd not been moved by much! — Josh Young

Why give you the cure when the disease makes money? — Talib Kweli

Super-cali-fragalistic-expiali-docious,
Docious-ali-expi-fragalistic-cali-super.
Cancun ... catch me in the room, eatin' grouper. — Ghostface Killah

Real, rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget,
Every time I pick up the microphone, I drug it. — Jeru The Damaja

We got hookers with heaters that'll stray pop and put more shells in your top than Adidas. — Kool G Rap

You're a trivial part in a trivia game.
Now what's your aim? A presidential campaign?
Like Ross Perot? He lost it though ...
But he got a billion in tha bank fo' sho'! — Aceyalone

House, rap, R&B, disco rock, they are all part of hip-hop culture. Why you ain't playing Kraftwerk along with Jay-Z? That's hip-hop. — Afrika Bambaataa

The only good thing about the 1980s was that they invented rap, but rap didn't get good until 1992, so what does that say about the 1980s. — Drew

This one's for you, and I truly hope you hear me,
Through all your travels, I'm wishing you a peaceful journey. — Heavy D

I have to be perfectly honest:
You should have an anniversary to acknowledge the way I work the ebonics. — Big Pun

When hip-hop was born she had no commercial home, and was an invention of beautiful creativity. Born from a beautiful struggle, today she is mostly a 'ratchet' bitch spitting nonsense from her pimp's mansion. — T.F. Hodge

Ayo, shout out to Mobb Deep, the Extra P
Busta Rhymes, De La, the J Beez, so don't sleep — Q-Tip

Just because no one can understand how you speak,
Don't necessarily mean that what you be sayin is deep. — Talib Kweli

What's bad for the culture is wack rappers that get held in high regard like they're some great thing because it's the flavor of the month, but everybody knows they can't rap. I don't think it's hard, even for somebody who's not hip-hop, to know that that's not good. When you put them up against somebody that can really rhyme, you go, "Okay, I get it. This is what it should sound like." — Ice-T

I guess I was a combination of House of Pain and Bobby Brown:
I was humpin' around and jumpin' around! — The Notorious B.I.G.

You want ass? The cash is first.
You got dead presidents, baby, I got a hearse in my purse. — Roxanne Shante

Nah, I don't really have to spit nothin' too complex,
I just rep for my hood, and it sound correct. — Cappadonna

Raise your right palm: We do solemnly swear
To stack more dough more calmly this year. — Daniel Dumile

The poor get worked, the rich get richer,
The world gets worse, do you get the picture?
The poor gets dead, the rich get depressed,
The ugly get mad, the pretty get stressed.
The ugly get violent, the pretty get gone,
The old get stiff, the young get stepped on.

Whoever told you that "it was all good" lied,
So throw your fists up if you not satisfied. — J-Live

Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half. — Talib Kweli

I love Dr. King, but violence might be necessary;
Cause when you live on MLK and it gets very scary,
You might have to pull your AK, send one to the cemetery. — Killer Mike

Rap is something you do Hip Hop is something you live — KRS-One

They hope for the Apocalypse like a self-fulfilling prophecy
Tell me when do we stop it?
Do they ask you your religion before you rent an apartment?
Is the answer burning Korans so that we can defend Islamics? — Talib Kweli

All we want in this life is peace, prosperity and a little paper. — Q-Tip

He doesn't even suit ya, and he's surely not your size,
I'm surprised that you slept on a heart that's worldwide. — Slimkid3

I cannot stand no wack MC.
So step back if you please,
And don't test me, you're history. — Del Tha Funkee Homosapien

It was Saturday night and I was feelin kinda funny,
Gold around my neck, pockets full of money. — Schoolly D

Styles be fat like Jackie Gleason, the rest be Art Carney. — Phife Dawg

The motto goes: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll.
I prefer: Love, Hugs and Hip-Hop Soul. — Daniel Dumile

Wake up: all of that 'crack in the street' talk?
It's made up, like 'Jack and the Beanstalk.' — Sean Price

I'm cold gettin' paid cause Rick said so. — LL Cool J

These days you can't see who's in cahoots,
Cause now the KKK wears three-piece suits. — Chuck D

Screamin' 'Carpe Diem!' until I'm a Dead Poet. — Jay-Z

To me, it isn't tight sweaters. That's not what rap is. That's not hip-hop at all. Every phase went through changing up their dress styles and all that, but since Run DMC came out, it's been baggy jeans. — DMX

You can be the ugliest man in the world but once you got money, you can have all the women in the world. — Jonathan Anthony Burkett

God gave us music, so we play with our words. — Talib Kweli

Some wish that I was gone, cause they know I'ma win ... — O.C.

The Chinamen built the railroad, the Indians saved the Pilgrim,
And in return, the Pilgrim killed 'em.
They call it it Thanksgiving, I call your holiday 'hell-day.' — Nas

Don't sell yourself to fall in love,
With those things you do ... — J Dilla

If you want to speak about different ethnicities and diversity, rap and hip-hop are all over the planet. Every country, from Turkey to Australia, now has tons of hip-hop artists. The music and artistry have moved way faster than the corporatization of the music. You do need organization and opportunity for these artists to express themselves, and I don't think it has to come from a corporate co-signing. — Chuck D

A child is born with no state of mind,
Blind to the ways of mankind.
God is smilin' on you but He's frownin' too,
Because only God knows what you'll go through. — Melvin Glover

I smoked with a lot of college students ...
Most of em wasn't graduatin, and they knew it. — Redman

This is a robbery, boy, gimme them dollars.
We hit the lottery, boy, it's in ya wallets! — RZA

We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise,
Getting the big picture, and making it wallet-sized. — Kendrick Lamar

You need to sweat yourself. Don't sweat nobody else. — Busta Rhymes

And I'm telling you now the frustration
The future's facing from the anger in the nation. — C.L. Smooth

I used to roll up: this is a hold up, ain't nuthin funny.
Stop smiling, be still, don't nuthin move but the money. — Rakim

Life can change your directions, even when you ain't planned it.
All you can do is handle it, worst thing you can do is panic. — T.I.

All right, stop whatcha doin, cause I'm about to ruin
The image and the style that you're used to. — Shock G

If there's a heaven, I can't find the stairway — Black Thought

Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin' on,
First they're guilty, now they're gone! — Chuck D

I feel like your city - with hip hop in particular, because we're always beating our chest and shouting where we're from - your city is just as influential as your parents. Even the grimy, hardcore gangster rap from New York - KRS-One and Wu Tang, the stuff acknowledges it. — Talib Kweli

When I met you it was magic ...
We polar opposites, but attracted like we was magnets. — Talib Kweli

I told her, "I got the chips if you got the dip."
She said when I dip, that I better be equipped
and keep my hand on her hips ... — Ludacris

The world is full of bullshitters,
Liars, and triers and quitters,
Coulda-beens, wannabe's, thought-I-was, isn't-I-is's ...
And everybody in your business. — Aceyalone

Jazz isn't as profitable for labels like Hip hop or Rap. Jazz needs subsidies to continue, just like European classical works of Bach and Beethoven are subsidized. — Jimmy Heath

I'm givin' more flat lines to niggas than loose-leaf. — Kool G Rap

We live in a society created by an empire
That's based on terror ... welcome to the One World Era,
A complete interruption to your lil' paltry-ass life,
That you thought you was livin, and what you been given. — Coolio

For what it's worth, I've been a hip-hopper from birth.
Try to disrespect, and get your ass played up like a Smurf. — Extra P

You used to be fly, but you crashed your plane. — One Be Lo

...While many who have debated the image of female sexuality have put "explicit" and "self-objectifying" on one side and "respectable" and "covered-up" on the other, I find this a flawed means of categorization. [...] There is a creative possibility for liberatory explicitness because it may expand the confines of what women are allowed to say and do. We just need to refer to the history of blues music - one full of raunchy, irreverent, and transgressive women artists - for examples. Yet the overwhelming prevalence of the Madonna/whore dichotomy in American culture means that any woman who uses explicit language or images in her creative expression is in danger of being symbolically cast into the role of whore regardless of what liberatory intentions she may have. — Imani Perry

Consequence is no coincidence. — Lauryn Hill

All I want is peace and love on this planet.
Ain't that how God planned it? — Chuck D

Laugh now, cry later: this is the karma.
Hip-hop never died, it's just sick of the drama. — Cormega

The Devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th,
The New World Order was born on September 11. — Immortal Technique

You're living up in Heaven, but I know you're mad as Hell. — MF Grimm

I've been out there 3 days and I got shot at 3 times,
Felt like every bullet hit me when they flew out each 9.
I'll be happy when I wake up and I have a free mind. — Lil Herb

I got mouths to feed,
Unnecessary beef is more cows to breed. — GZA

MC's they retreat cause they know I can beat 'em,
And eat 'em in a battle and the ref won't cheat 'em.
I'm the best takin' out all rookies,
So forget Oreos ... eat Cool J cookies. — LL Cool J

You've got to realize that the world's a test,
You can only do your best and let Him do the rest.
You've got your life, and got your health,
So quit procrastinating and push it yourself. — Cee Lo Green

A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level. — Jay-Z

Yo, you 14-carat gold slum computer wizard,
Tappin' inside my rap vein causes blizzards! — Ghostface Killah

We went from candy bars, to handle bars, to hangin' in bars, to being behind bars — MF Grimm

Havin' cash is highly addictive, especially when you're used to havin' money to live with. — Prodigy

I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when rap was inspirational. Public Enemy were awesome. But it's all about status and bling now, and it doesn't say anything to me. — Noel Gallagher

I use a pick in my hair without force.
You use a lawn mower-you got peat moss. — Extra P

You ask me, "Did I like Arsenio?"
About as much as the Bicentennial. — Ice Cube

To be hip-hop is much more than just rapping in the production. It is more in the attitude. — Questlove

I call wild niggas together like Cyrus,
And knock off more birds than the West Nile Virus. — Bumpy Knuckles

I own the night ... the heat's my receipt. — Ka

Rhymes more fresher than a virgin in a 'frigerator. — Lord Finesse

This country of ours was built on violence;
If your ass got in the way, you was killed in silence.
And these been the ways since back in the days:
Just ask the Indians or the African slaves. — Masta Ace

I believe hip hop's characteristic beliefs as a whole are misunderstood, underappreciated and highly underestimated. — Carlos Wallace

These ante meridiem cats, insomniacs ...
Four in the mornin' we throwin back some Cognac juice. — Prodigy

I don't know what's better: getting laid or getting paid.
I just know when I'm getting one, the other's getting away. — Kanye West

This treadmill lifestyle ain't workin for me ...
It's from ya crib to ya lab to ya job to make a profit,
And at the day's end you still got nothing accomplished. — Phonte

Hip-hop was a big part of my life growing up, especially West Coast gangster rap. The reason I was able to listen to it so freely was that my mom couldn't hear any of it, so we would be driving along just blaring Too $hort's horrible misogynistic stuff, and my mom would just turn to us and say, "This is great. I can feel the bass. It sounds so nice." And we're like, "Yeah, mom. We can feel the bass, too." — Moshe Kasher

Commercial rap get the gun clap, day after day. — Buckshot

That old ball and chain had me chained up for weeks,
So of course I'm off the chain as soon as I hit the streets. — Consequence

Braniac dumb-dumbs, bust the scientifical,
Approach to the course and the force is centrifugal.
Can you find your way through the lyrics that be catchin' 'em?
Throw another rhyme across the room, they be fetchin' 'em. — Masta Ace

Damn right I like the life I live,
Cause I went from negative to positive. — The Notorious B.I.G.

I can't relate to livin' less than great. — Extra P

I got niggaz lookin' for Websters like George Papadopolis' — Ras Kass

I never fronted, you can get it if you want it ...
Won't say I'm the best, but I'm not that far from it. — Lord Finesse

God's the seamstress that tailor-fitted my pain. — Curtis Jackson

Linguine linguistics that left my verbal essence saucy,
Send a message, leave you sleepin' next to headless horsey. — Action Bronson