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Page 1 of 4 Due to work obligations and other priorities, I have not had the chance to compile a "They Say" feature in a while. I've been earmarking material for several "They Say" features, but it turns out I've accumulated so much stuff that I'm better off dumping it and starting fresh. Nonetheless, I've kept a few items that resonated the most to me. I hope you'll enjoy the junk. I'm sure it'll hold you over while we implement a few ideas.
Preach!!!!
These are just a few smart observations from the people in the spotlight. It's quite easy to get quotes to ridicule them. But you don't get to the top without some smarts and awareness. To start off, a few comments on the "decline" of New York rap...
 I think it’s simple, man. If we just do what we do, then everything will be good. That’s what makes the Down South artists successful. That’s what makes the Midwest artists successful. That’s what makes the California artists successful. They do what they do. They bring theyselves to the table. The world is intrigued by seeing what they do down in Texas. The way they dress their cars up, what they drinkin’, the way they dancing. Just like they was intrigued by the movement that we was bringing to the table. But now I think some of the artists figure that we have to kind of change our sound to fit different markets. I think if everybody just stick to they guns, it will be beautiful. Without the market being big and blowing up, it’d still be backyard hip-hop. We gotta take advantage of the marketing being so big, but we have to know how to capitalize off it without giving up too much of the original New York sound. We can touch the Down South market, we can touch the West Coast as long as we make sure we give them something that they can relate to.
- Rakim
Rakim: That's Me (Part I) by Brendan Frederick
XXLMag.com | March 22nd, 2006
New York will never fall off. We're the makers and the owners. We started it and we'll finish it. A lot of the artists in the south do money deals. A lot of them have bullshit deals and all they needed was distribution and they got it popping. A lot of them have gone gold, sold 800,000, or gone platinum. You can take 50 Cent and sell five-million copies and take five big artists from the south and they won't sell as much as 50 Cent. The biggest seller in rap right now is 50 Cent and he's in New York. I don't understand. The south is getting more airplay in the clubs and the radio, but how can you say New York fell off? Jay-Z is a mogul in the industry and Rick Ross and Young Jeezy are on Def Jam. He assists southern rap. How did we fall off? Young Buck went platinum and he's signed to 50 Cent. When they say New York fell off, it kind of confuses me. There aren't many hip-hop artists in New York who have released albums. Busta Rhymes is the only one to release an album recently and that's the biggest album in the country right now. Maybe people are looking for too much from us. [...] It looks like we're not there, but we're standing strong. Sooner or later, they're going to see we didn't go nowhere and it's the way the industry is pushing these artists that make it seem that way.
- DJ Kay Slay
DJ Kay Slay Interview by Brian Kayser
HipHopGame.com | July 10th, 2006
In 2005, anybody can rap. What separates MC so-and-so from everybody else? People aren't just buyin' music anymore; they're buyin' into lifestyles. [...] People who are doin' things that the average person can't do - like survive nine gunshots or go to prison for sellin' drugs and come back out and make somethin' of yourself - those are larger-than-life stories, and people tend to gravitate towards that. [...] I don't believe that everybody's gonna have to be a gangsta to sell records. Everybody's not a gangsta, and somebody has to please those people. Kanye West and Common are prime examples. They been around gangstas and grew up in the hood, so they can speak with a certain sensitivity towards those topics. But they can speak from a broader perspective, 'cause they're not tryin' to be gangsta. You just need to stay in your element. [...] If you get in this rap game and you're relyin' on your street cred to walk you through, do all the gangsta stuff that you need to do before you come out. [...] I think the trap is when people think they can be 50 percent corporate and 50 percent street. [...] Guns and bullets come with cases. [...] Cats just need to be realistic about where they're at, what they're doing. Beware of the consequences.
- Bun B
"The Truth: Bun B - Rep Grows Bigga" by Justin Monroe
XXL | September 2005 I can give you the four points of every rapper coming up. One is how much time I've been in jal. The second is how much I bust my gun. The third is how much drugs I sell. The fourth is how dangerous the hood I come from is. If you tell a rapper, "Look, I'll give $500,000 if you can rhyme without using any of those elements," they'd be lost. If you can do records without touching any of those elements, that's a gift from God.
- DJ Kay Slay
DJ Kay Slay Interview by Brian Kayser
HipHopGame.com | July 10th, 2006 Selling out is doing something you don't really want to do for money. That's what selling out is. We asked to be in the [iPod] ad. We could see where rock music is, fighting for relevance next to hip-hop. And I love hip-hop. It's the new black entrepreneur. It's about being out there, loud and proud about what you're doing. Selling it on the street corner if you have to. From pent-house to pavement. Advertising the new song in another song. Taking on the world. Meanwhile, a bunch of white, middle-class kids are practicing in Daddy's garage, saying , "No, man, that is just so un-cool." As hard as it is, as ghetto as it is, hip-hop is pop music. It's the sound of music getting out of the ghetto, while rock is looking for a ghetto. We never wanted to be a garage band. We wanted to get as quick as we could out of the garage. The people who say they like the garage usually have two or three cars parked outside.
- Bono
Bono: We Need To Talk by Greg Kot
Chicago Tribune | May 22nd, 2005 I think we owe Africa. We take their diamonds, we take their resources. We may be richer in economics, but they are richer in their strength. America would not be able to handle what they're handling.
- Beyoncé Knowles
For Destiny's Child, The Reason For Live 8 Is Crystal Clear by Jennifer Vineyard
MTV News | June 29th, 2005 Look at life. Take all the rappers out of the equation and look at your local news wherever you at. Don't look at rappers like, "Why is this happening to rappers?" This is happening to 13-year-old kids, 15 year-old kids. ... This is what's happening in the streets. That's what's happening in every neighborhood. I don't care if you from Detroit, Philly, Atlanta — it's out there. It's epidemic. ... Our situation is sensitive. It gets blown up because we're on TV.
- Beanie Sigel
Beanie Sigel Calls Gun Violence 'Epidemic' — But It's Not Just A Rap Problem by Shaheem Reid
MTV News | June 22nd, 2006
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