A lot of artists have a lot of different ventures, I think it's typical for a hip hop artist, at this point, to have a bunch of different ventures.
I'm the No. 1 artist in the world right now ... I am the No. 1 human being in music.
I guess I cringe, because sometimes I don't even watch my live performances back. When I edit, it's this feeling of seeing my mistakes. It's always a mixture of loving characters, but being the artist that created it and not trying to go too deep in criticizing myself.
I realized that was what was happening in my work already. I think that's where, as artists, we begin to master our craft: when we're able to step back and understand things.
What really made me a performance artist was that I was able to step back and assess. I've always had [that ability], but it was coming to an understanding.
As artists, sometimes our work is chaotic; we don't easily communicate our needs to other people in a way that they understand.
Every artist's world is an individual experience and no one thing can prepare you. You have to go in and go where those roles lead you - just allow it to happen and follow your path.
I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m not obstructing anyone’s access. When I have a crowd I make sure that the crowd makes room for people. I’m an artist who cares about the cultural fabric of New York City. I care about New York as a harbor for street culture - and I care about street culture as a base-level populist diffusion of ideas. And I believe in making those ideas accessible to everyone.
It was not my dream to be an artist. How could it have been? I thought, artist, much like a leader, was something you either were or weren't. Never something you set out to be.
We were really poor when I was growing up; my parents, both artists, were bohemians. Life was a desperate struggle, but in service of a high ideal, which is exactly what my photographs are about.
I think that it's the job of the artist to be in transition and constantly learn more.
New York has always had a love for Southern artists. There's no place else that makes me feel like the city does. I just love the immediate nature of the city, you can get whatever you want whenever you want it and do whatever you want whenever you want to.
I think the best thing an artist can do is not hang out with other artists. I really dislike hanging out with musicians, for the most part, except for a few select friends, because I don't like to talk about music all the time.
I think that watching artists, soulful artists, they get into it. It's always the way I perform, so when I'm on stage I just try to get into it - I'm in my own world. That's the whole thing about the stage, it's like a sacred place. They're [the audience] watching into the different world, right, so it's like you see performers and they're in the same room, so it's a different vibe. Sometimes it's great, but I try to separate it, you know, I wanna separate it 'cos otherwise I feel naked. It just feels natural.
Ultimately I live in the now with artistic creation, not what could or could not be in the future, if a creation appears timeless in somebody's opinion, it won't in others, that's not for me to guess.
Justin Broadrick has stated that the drum machine sound was heavily influenced by hip hop artists in the late 80s, particularly the beat on “Christbait Rising” which Broadrick was quoted as saying, “It was my attempt at copying the rhythm sample on 'Microphone Fiend' by Eric B & Rakim”.
I've got such great people around me. They don't really care if they make me angry. A lot of teams, they're afraid to make the artist angry, because they don't want to get fired and all that stuff. My team's pretty good about letting me know when to get in line.
I mean, I’m an artist by nature, no one considers what I do and no one knows who the heck I am, but that anybody does - it is astonishing.
As an artist you're on a journey of discovery and sometimes that journey takes a long time, doesn't subscribe to [a] train schedule, to the punch-clock. And I need to read a lot to make my pages happen.
I really am a believer that 99.99% of all the stories we need, not only as artists but as human beings, not only as writers but as readers, haven't been written yet. Certainly haven't been published yet.
I can't imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn't pass through a time of geekiness.
As artists we are here to make you uncomfortable with the complexity of your reality.
In minority communities there's a sensitivity, often a knee-jerk reaction, to critical representations. There's a misunderstanding of what an artist does.
I discovered early that as an artist there was absolutely nothing wrong with being surrounded by people who were not dedicated to your field.
I just want to work forever. I absolutely love what I'm doing. I learn all the time from all these amazing artists.
