No I.D. Quotes

No I.D.

Profession : Musician

Birth : June 28, 1971

Wine gets better with time. So does art.

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Nas' longevity comes from him having strong lyrical value in his songs, him being more like a poet and improving over time.

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I've won; I've lost. I'm at the point where I do what I believe in and, win or lose, believe in what I do.

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If you look before the '90s, you might not find many - if any - albums with multiple producers. It just didn't exist in the history of music. That would have been like Michael Jackson telling Quincy Jones, 'Look man, I know we did well on 'Off The Wall,' but I'm hot now, and I need to see some other producers for 'Thriller.''

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Don't ever judge anybody. You don't know who anybody is, period... You gotta humble yourself. Just because you are where you are, it doesn't mean you aren't talking to someone great.

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I hate filming in the studio.

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I come from a very specific love of hip-hop. I'm saying hip-hop, not rap. That's what saved my life. I carry that badge with a lot of pride and honor, and I really enjoy trying to raise the perception and the bar of what we do.

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Trophies or no trophies, we are all just striving to do some really good art and help people's lives with it.

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I've got a philosophy I call 'no dancing in the end zone.' You score, get back, and run another play.

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Honesty, vulnerability, pain - these are things that always supersede the trends of the day.

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Hit records create slang, and if you create slang, you get into a broader conversation level.

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There's this concept in urban music and lifestyle that money is everything, and I'm just not with it. If it makes money, it doesn't make it good. If it's good, it's good.

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I don't care whether something makes one dollar or a trillion because guess what? I don't know many happy rich people. And I know a lot of rich people.

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A lot of my favorite artists didn't sell much out the gate. I didn't with Common at first. Neither did first albums from Outkast, Nas, or Jay Z. It doesn't scare me.

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For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad.

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My entire approach is built on the idea that things can be commercial and artistic.

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I just want to work on music and make some new stars. I'm not interested in being a star.

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I've never been a mega-star. I'm more of a tastemaker of hip-hop. I try to be more of an ambassador for the era of hip-hop that I came in.

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I believe that when you really make the best music you can make from your heart, it will transcend all of those stereotypes, color issues, everything, because music is really made for human beings.

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There's not too many one-producer rap albums. There are lot of one-producer rock albums... and country albums.

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