I don’t have to put out another rap record. I can do it at my casual pace.

My father was a dark-skinned brother, but my mother was a very fair-skinned lady. From what I understand, she was Creole; we think her people originally came from New Orleans. She looked almost like a...

I don’t feel that rap has been respected as an art form. Because people have seen rappers rap off the top of their heads, they don’t think it is difficult.

I think that men need to have a little bit of manism. You have feminism. I don’t have a problem with that.

If somebody wants to kill people, they don’t need a gun to do it.

So from an actor’s perspective, you really have no idea how you’re acting.

I’m at a point where I don’t have to wait for the income from the record to survive, so I’m in a comfortable zone, but I’ll make rap records as long as I feel I...

I’m a big fan of all styles, even Biggie and Wu-Tang, but I gotta do my thing.

My mother passed when I was in the third grade, my father when I was in the seventh, and that’s when I was shipped to Los Angeles to live with an aunt.

When I first got into the rap game, I had an early dream of unifying rappers.

I want to be able to say that a rap career could be ten albums.

I think men, growing up, you have to go through some form of hardship. You’ve got to harden the metal.

You can’t come out on a record dissing the system and be on a label that’s connected to the system.

Any New York group can come to L.A. and sell out every show, but an L.A. group who goes to New York might not do the same because the audience hasn’t been introduced to the...

My name, my real name, is Tracy. I always thought I was like a boy named Sue. So I made my friends call me ‘Tray.’

Well, I am very happy that I was able to play a part in bringing music from the streets onto the radio and into modern culture, I worked very hard and always believed in the...

Los Angeles is a microcosm of the United States. If L.A. falls, the country falls.

I’m competitive in that I would like to outsell my last record.

An MC is somebody who can control the crowd. An MC is a master of ceremonies so not only can you say your rap, you can rock the party.

You have to come in on a professional level to make it, otherwise you just can’t get into rap.

If I do a song where I’m angry, when it’s time to perform it live I’m not mad, I’m happy. I’m at a concert. But I have to somehow drum up that rage. That’s acting.

Ultimately I am happy that everybody is embracing hip hop and the sounds from the streets.

When I was in the 12th grade, I got my girlfriend pregnant. I just got out of school, she was a 10th-grader. I’m a teen parent, and I’m at a point where I’m like, ‘Man...

I ain’t got no beef with east coast, I think it’s just being hyped up.

I’m in a very good place to make records. Needing to make money off music is very dangerous.

I make an effort to keep it as real as I possibly can.

I think when people say ‘real hip-hop,’ they want it more buried in the streets. They want it more connected to the streets and the grime and the roughness of the streets. They don’t want...

‘New Jack City’ was a perfect marriage of music and film. They used a lot of musicians: myself, Christopher Williams. People that were popular because of their music were given the chance to act. And...