Jay-Z Quotes
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I use a lot of double meanings. I hide 'em like Easter eggs.
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I'd rather die enormous than live dormant.
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As sure as this Earth is turnin, souls burnin / In search of higher learnin, turnin in every direction seeking direction / My moms cryin cause her insides are dyin / Her son tryin her patience, keep her heart racin / A million beats a minute, I know I push you to your limit / But it's this game, love—I'm caught up all in it / They make it so you can't prevent it, never give it / You gotta take it, can't fake it, I keep it authentic
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For me, the challenge is just making great albums, because talent - and writing in general - is not tangible. There's no expiration date on it. At the same time, you might wake up tomorrow and be unable to write music.
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Ex-D-boy, used to park my Beamer Now look at me, I can park in my own arena
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Whoever said that artists shouldn't pay attention to their business was probably someone w/their hand in some artist's pocket.
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How could I be out there and not do anything?
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I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over.
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Is to have had and lost/Better than not having at all?
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Don't ever go with the flow. Be the flow.
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Racism is taught in the home. We agree on that? Well, it's very hard to teach racism to a teenager who's listening to rap music and who idolizes, say, Snoop Dogg. It's hard to say, 'That guy is less than you.' The kid is like, 'I like that guy, he's cool. How is he less than me?
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The day Obama got elected, the gangsta became less relevant.
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I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.
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It was a very intense and stressful situation. There was playing in the Johnny-pump (an opened fire hydrant) and the ice-cream man coming around and all of these games that we'd play, and suddenly it would turn just violent and there would be shootings at 12 in the afternoon on any given day.
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I'm not afraid of dying I'm afraid of not trying
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People who don't know you, you don't know their motives. They smile at you all day, "Oh, that's great. You've done it again! You're the greatest!" And that's not good for an artist.
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I will not lose, for even in defeat/There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me
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My brands are an extension of me. They're close to me. It's not like running GM, where there's no emotional attachment.
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[T]he truth is that drug addicts have a disease. It only takes a short time in the streets to realize that out-of-control addiction is a medical problem, not a form of recreational or criminal behavior. And the more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make "relieving" the suffering of the addicts.
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We'll have a baby who stutters repeatedly We'll name him history
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This is why we shouldn't be afraid. There are two possibilities: One is that there's more to life than the physical life, that our souls "will find an even higher place to dwell" when this life is over. If that's true, there's no reason to fear failure or death. The other possibility is that this life is all there is. And if that's true, then we have to really live it - we have to take it for everything it has and "die enormous" instead of "living dormant," as I said way back on "Can I Live." Either way, fear is a waste of time.
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Their gunnin' for me, want to see me fall, you know my story, been through it all, times I felt like dyin', but I ain't cryin', what didn't kill me, makes me strong as iron.
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Treat my first like my last and the last like my first and my thirst is the same as- when I came.
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That's why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club. People are intermingling, hanging out, having fun, enjoying the same music. Hip-hop is not just in the Bronx anymore. It's worldwide. Everywhere you go, people are listening to hip-hop and partying together. Hip-hop has done that.
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When people say stuff like, "Oh, that's soft rock. I don't listen to that," I find that elitist. It's music-racist.
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There's the gift, there's the spirit, and there's the work-all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.
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I spring train in the winter, around early December...
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Life is for living, not living uptight, see ya somewhere up in the sky.
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Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don't even have to like your music. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you.
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I'm not saying I'm God. But as far as lyrics, I'm God MC.
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