Chuck D Quotes

#1. No matter what the name, we're all the same pieces in one big chess game.

Chuck D

#2. Most artists are always fighting for their fame. They have that fear, like the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind." They need to keep themselves out there. I have never had that fear. If I have any fear, it's not doing enough to reach people.

Chuck D

#3. I think the Internet was the saving grace for Public Enemy. Before that, travelling the world saved Public Enemy.

Chuck D

#4. Ever since I was a teenager, I was always kind of, like, checking myself. You know, like, "Come on man, don't get your head all swollen. Life and time itself will give you perspective on what you're doing." So, that's actually what's always been a reminder in my own head.

Chuck D

#5. Public Enemy is the security of the hip-hop party.

Chuck D

#6. I want to always move forward with everything I am doing. So, I do the radio show, speak at universities and other social institutions all around the world, appear on TV, and continue to create music all in the hope to keep the struggle alive.

Chuck D

#7. You know, I've written many of my songs while driving - which is against the law in many cases.

Chuck D

#8. Reflect each day on all you have to be grateful for and you will receive more to be grateful for.

Chuck D

#9. When somebody greedily comes along and thinks that they gonna snatch everything, and you have so many people that have not, the passion that drives me is trying to make them understand that they have to share. So, my art reflects that; the whole reason I do what I do reflects that.

Chuck D

#10. Slavery was incredibly prosperous for some people, at that time. It was not a bad business plan, but it was terrible and inhumane. But as a business it worked.

Chuck D

#11. Minds are the real estate of the millenium

Chuck D

#12. Try to master technology instead of it mastering you.

Chuck D

#13. I know I am judged unfairly by my physical characteristics and ostracized because of that so I say, "Yes, I'm a black man."

Chuck D

#14. Eminem has talent, and his talent is the thing that influences many young people who would have never gone anywhere near rap. White kids in different parts of the world use him as a barometer and the standard to live up to. In some ways, Eminem is an artist who has ushered in a new movement.

Chuck D

#15. Corporations have steered the industry into what it wants, and a lot of times they will make artists record what it wants or to make songs talk to who they want to talk to. But sometimes the heart and the head have to be able to talk and deal with a situation that's evident.

Chuck D

#16. I'm not a firm believer of "mo' money mo' problems" - I think that's stupid. I think it's that problems are already there that can be exacerbated by more things you don't understand.

Chuck D

#17. The biggest thing that has happened to hip-hop is the clinging on to the corporation as the all-mighty hub of the music.

Chuck D

#18. You know, you should start to be in plays and things like that. Write some scripts. If you're an artist and you truly don't believe what you're spittin' then you need to really seriously be an actor then.

Chuck D

#19. I got a letter from the government the other day
I opened and read it ... it said they were suckers.

Chuck D

#20. Maybe we need to look upon technologies and social networks as things that come out of us, not things that lead us. We can be on top of these things instead of them bein' on top of us as human beings.

Chuck D

#21. Truth is truth no matter what I think.

Chuck D

#22. Cause I'm Black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps

Chuck D

#23. There are too many leaders anointed because they have a public voice - television, radio, or record, or whatever. That even includes myself. In the past, I'd say, 'Don't anoint me when you can anoint yourself.'

Chuck D

#24. You have to wait for people to program you. The only difference is the amount of people that you're going to reach but that's going to even out in the next two or three years anyway. Computers are being bought faster than televisions right now.

Chuck D

#25. Minds are the real estate of the 21st century.

Chuck D

#26. Culture is this thing that we can exchange among ourselves as human beings to knock aside our differences and build upon our similarities. Cultural exchange is the ultimate exchange.

Chuck D

#27. I adhere to the philosophy, "I don't care who writes the laws, let me write the songs."

Chuck D

#28. I never live alone,
I never walk alone.
My posse's always ready
And they're waitin' in my zone.

Chuck D

#29. When you travel the world, you have to watch and you have to listen. We're not going to come in to Ireland without an understanding that there's a history that's very sensitive.

Chuck D

#30. I was inspired by the classic rock radio of the Seventies. They separated Chuck Berry and the Beatles from the Led Zeppelins and Bostons and Peter Framptons of the time. In many ways, classic rock became bigger than mainstream rock.

Chuck D

#31. Share and enjoy the fruits of this planet.

Chuck D

#32. If I can't change the people around me, I change the people around me.

Chuck D

#33. You can't take anything with you. So I don't understand this whole psychotic area of greed, I don't get it ...

Chuck D

#34. Excuse us for the news,
You might not be amused;
But did you know White comes from Black?
No need to be confused.

Chuck D

#35. I like to drive and I like to travel. When I drive on the open road, it's like sometimes the car turns into a pen and the road is a piece of paper.

Chuck D

#36. If you have no soul you can gut it out. You know, like a marionette, you'll just follow what seems to actually give you whatever you ain't got.

Chuck D

#37. I'd rather be hated for what I am than to be loved for what I'm not.

Chuck D

#38. They [US Administration] have exploited hip-hop and some of the culture around it - magazines, videos, etc. - to recruit people into the military. The Army says it will give out Hummers, platinum teeth, or whatever to those that actually join.

Chuck D

#39. We didn't invent music, so it's been here for a reason, and it has powers for a reason. So we should pay attention to it, because we might not know the clear answers but we should at least acknowledge that it is something there. To not be playin around with it.

Chuck D

#40. What made me want to become a recording artist; I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.

Chuck D

#41. I'd rather have a hundred thousand or a million people saying I'm nuts and I'm crazy for my musical choices and what I've said lyrically, than a million people all raising their hand on the first day.

Chuck D

#42. My mother went to university, my father didn't. But they are very educated, very wise people. My father went to the military, so he's worldly.

Chuck D

#43. I'm recording freely, and if I make a song, I release it immediately, so I'm more likely to believe in one song at a time as opposed to albums.

Chuck D

#44. Comin' from the school of hard knocks,
Some perpetrate ... they drink Clorox.
Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox.

Chuck D

#45. To live a life you love, you must Love the life you live.

Chuck D

#46. Our freedom of speech is freedom or death,
We got to fight the powers that be!

Chuck D

#47. If you empty, you can be filled up with anything. It could be water or it could be gasoline.

Chuck D

#48. The truth has no form, you know. It's not like walking around trying to actually ask for favors and to be acknowledged, it is what it is.

Chuck D

#49. Rappers should just be able to perform what they create and satisfy the people that like and love them.

Chuck D

#50. The real thing is the heart, you know the heart shouldn't be covered with concrete.

Chuck D

#51. Real people do real things. A collective of a whole bunch of people who do things in their own locale, in their own neighborhoods - the sum is bigger than the parts, and the parts will grow.

Chuck D

#52. I like Rick Ross as a person. I like Jay-Z and Kanye West as people. But I hate the companies that they record for.

Chuck D

#53. Downloadable music is the biggest musical phenomenon since the Beatles, and the music industry is slow to come to grips with that.

Chuck D

#54. One side of the street is a Church; across the road is a liquor store. Both of 'em keepin us poor.

Chuck D

#55. Never try to make the same record twice, even when people are screaming for the same sound.

Chuck D

#56. If you want to be an artist, truly try to write what you believe, and if you write when you don't believe then you should try to become an actor.

Chuck D

#57. Bigger doesn't mean better unless you really understand what bigger is.

Chuck D

#58. Someone like Jay-Z does have a timeless quality, but it's much different than ours. You can look back at something like "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors or the music that was on American Bandstand in the 1950s-'60s.

Chuck D

#59. Being positive is like going up a mountain. Being negative is like sliding down a hill. A lot of times, people want to take the easy way out, because it's basically what they've understood throughout their lives.

Chuck D

#60. The minute I get swelled up about something, something has always brought me back down to earth ...

Chuck D

#61. You should be a person inside the world with knowledge of your terrain. And if you lock yourself into the 2,000-by-3,000-square-mile, lower-48 box of the United States, you're going to be frustrated by its limitations. You gotta think outside the box.

Chuck D

#62. Where else can you go with respect to the work, lyrics, and message of the music? If you are past high school age, you can get by with saying very little the first or second time around. However, after a while you know you are going to have to say something beyond high school stuff.

Chuck D

#63. You know, it's nothin' quick overnight. If anything happens to you quick, you need to start questioning that. You know, you hear young people go, aw, I'm gonna blow up. You gonna blow up but with a controlled explosion. Don't just blow up all over the place.

Chuck D

#64. Rap comes from the humble beginnings of rebelling against the status quo. Now, rappers have become the status quo themselves. You can't rebel against the Queen and then become the Queen yourself. I attribute much of the blame to testosterone-male dominance and patriarchy.

Chuck D

#65. I let go usually by talking to many people in different areas, in different realms of life that make me look at what I'm dealing with as being small fries stuff, you know?

Chuck D

#66. My advice to young people is ask older people questions and don't be afraid.

Chuck D

#67. Your closest and your most dedicated fans will be your ultimate test. They will test you.

Chuck D

#68. All I want is peace and love on this planet.
Ain't that how God planned it?

Chuck D

#69. Many have forgotten what we came here for,
Never knew or had a clue, so you're on the floor.
Just growin' not known' about your past ...
Now you're lookin' pretty stupid while you're shakin' your ass.

Chuck D

#70. I don't believe that everybody is out of some kind of cookie cutter, so the thing that protects me is always being level with myself, even to myself.

Chuck D

#71. Why would twenty-six-year-old "teenagers" care about political ramifications if their backs are not up against the wall? But if their backs are against the wall they may be plucked to fight in Iraq, and all of sudden they become politicized real quick.

Chuck D

#72. My thing is, the older you get you gotta stand up for what you believe in, and keep bashin' away.

Chuck D

#73. You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.

Chuck D

#74. I don't have any exteriors that would actually put me into some kind of different air that would actually intimidate somebody to stay away from me.

Chuck D

#75. I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

Chuck D

#76. The powers that be are trying to meld, shape, and corral the culture of hip-hop into another speaking voice for the government.

Chuck D

#77. The Internet was a saving grace for promoting and exposing, and even creating. It's a parallel world to the music industry that already exists, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Chuck D

#78. I think a good thing that needs to change is that people should be at least fearless about expressin' themselves.

Chuck D

#79. Music should be some kind of nourishment.

Chuck D

#80. Of course voting is useful. But then again, I don't put a big glow to it. Voting is about as essential as washing yourself. It's something you're supposed to do. Now, you can't go around bragging, expecting to get props because you voted. That's stupid.

Chuck D

#81. I tell each artist they have to grow toward a revenue stream.

Chuck D

#82. My work throughout my life is always representative of the time we live in. It's all about keeping it in order and keeping it in gear.

Chuck D

#83. One of the problems with hip hop is lack of infrastructure and not being able to control its own course. I don't like that hip hop is full of infantile 35-year-olds. Hip hop cannot afford to be lazy.

Chuck D

#84. I wanna go to the clubs and actually have a good time too, but at the same time, when the party's over, I have to go back to the real world and try to figure out who I am.

Chuck D

#85. Black folks are judged by quantity, not quality. It's a decimal point or figure. How different is that from slavery? There's no moral code, it's just about successful business for America.

Chuck D

#86. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and when people start getting it confused, that means they need to sit down with some real people.

Chuck D

#87. There's nothing worse than a good video and good song, and you see a band and hate them because they can't perform. That's wack.

Chuck D

#88. Men have periods; they're called wars.

Chuck D

#89. Try to do your best to look people in the eye and talk to them without a gadget being in between you all the time.

Chuck D

#90. Once you think bigger than yourself then the cause becomes the issue if you think on a higher plain you can come together to work on our problems.

Chuck D

#91. I think hip hop should be a living word. And what I mean by the living word is like yo, you gotta have the words that provide life.

Chuck D

#92. So, rather than trying to humbly mix with the rest of the world, we are forcing ourselves upon it. We seem to create conflicts with everyone.

Chuck D

#93. Being called Black in America is the struggle to keep us moving and breathing over bloody water. Being a Nig**r or [Ni**a] without the context of history is like drowning in bloody water, dragging down those yet knowing to swim.

Chuck D

#94. The United States is like one big jail for Black people, because we're locked into a mentality and a mindset that limits our potential. It has us against us.

Chuck D

#95. Music used to cause revolutions and I'm not seeing much revolution anymore.

Chuck D

#96. The best medicine for pain sometimes is some kind of logic and common sense from older folks. They tell you, "Okay, you're not the only one who actually went through this."

Chuck D

#97. A lot of the post-1977 dancefloor disco sounds had their place at one time, but you can't bring them back unless you bring back a floor.

Chuck D

#98. I totally hate when somebody takes a classic and desecrates it. I like Jimmy Page and P. Diddy, but what they did to 'Kashmir' was a debacle.

Chuck D

#99. I think right about now we have to beware of marketed Malcolms and Martins. Real people do real things.

Chuck D

#100. People aren't going to support an artist just because they have an audio file. They have to feel a real connection.

Chuck D