No I.D. Quotes

No I.D.

Profession : Musician

Birth : June 28, 1971

When you really make things that really challenge the status quo or challenge issues, and you do it artistically, and you do it with no fear, people are listening.

No I.D.

As much as you act like everything is programmed or calculated or researched or numbers, spins, radio, and clubs, it's still human beings out here you can reach with music.

No I.D.

I tried to embrace the concept of the sampler as an instrument, looking at how to take it artistically to another place where it can be appreciated, more than just taking someone's song and doing a 4-bar loop.

No I.D.

I have a Chicago personality, which means that just because I'm friends with one person, I don't assume I'm friends with his friends.

No I.D.

I take a lot of pride in helping people become great. I think that's an element of being a producer that people don't always take in: They want to be great for themselves, whereas I'd like to be recognized as having helped the most people get over the hump.

No I.D.

There's the way modern music is produced, which is, 'Here's a piece of music, and I'm the producer, so pay me and make sure my credit is right and get me my splits.' But I'm trying to go backward. Now, it's more like 'What's the texture? What's the over-arching story?' There are more things to pay attention to than 'Is this the right snare?'

No I.D.

If you think about 2Pac, Biggie, and Nas, all of those guys were teenagers or in their early 20s when they got started. Everybody acts like young people have to be silly and lack perspective. Those guys had incredible perspective, and everything that they said was before 25 years old.

No I.D.

I'm not going to put my music up on some little corner of the Internet or give it away for free. What does that do? That's just giving up. I'm not giving up, ever.

No I.D.

I was a rapper. The reason I stopped rapping was because I realized that people wanted guys like Puff Daddy. That's not what I do. I quit. That was it. I had to sacrifice for my choice. I said, 'Forget it. I'll be a producer.' Nobody was going to make me do anything.

No I.D.

I'm not here to put my music out on the Internet with no support and then say I got creative freedom. I've got creative freedom wherever I go: I don't create anything that I don't want to create. That's freedom. Since when does a company force you to make something that you don't want to make? If they do that, you leave.

No I.D.

Sometimes I think albums are so ambitious, they don't stand as bodies of work because you try to achieve so much, and sometimes we need to do less. Say less.

No I.D.

The effect that 'Illmatic' had on us at that moment was serious.

No I.D.

'Take It EZ' was actually the first video I ever produced for.

No I.D.

'I Used To Love H.E.R.,' from a production standpoint, was a brainchild of the style I developed on 'Soul By The Pound.'

No I.D.

When I do music, I have a hard time experiencing it like everyone else, because there's so much thought that goes into it. You can sometimes fool yourself into thinking it's better than what it is, which stops me from being creative on the next thing I do.

No I.D.

Ghostface, when it comes to hip-hop, was one of my favorite rappers and definitely one of my favorites in the Wu-Tang. He's also a really cool dude.

No I.D.

The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did.

No I.D.

If you want to make money, that's great, but if you make great music, you're going to make money anyway. Keep your eyes on making a great product. You don't even have to promote it.

No I.D.

You make some good music, people are gonna find you.

No I.D.

I'm not interested in anything besides making some good music, helping some artists, being an executive. I'm pretty happy with that.

No I.D.