I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.
I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture.
I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Most people are dynamic. The focus is not on me though, I'm a screen. The aim is to always keep myself in the position where the screen is clear.
It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people.
I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.
You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative.
Hip-hop is the last true folk art.
Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary.
I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.
Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.
What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical.
I believe the projects were a social experiment; we were laboratory rats stacked on top of each other, and people just knew, inherently, that there was something wrong. There's not a lot of regard for the property by the residents.
I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.
With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know?
I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different.
If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio.
I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about.
You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.