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Jay-Z Quotes

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Famous Jay-Z Quotes

“The art of rap is deceptive. It seems so straightforward and personal and real that people read it completely literally, as raw testimony or autobiography. And sometimes the words we use, nigga, bitch, motherfucker, and the violence of the images overwhelms some listeners. It's all white noise to them till they hear a bitch or a nigga and then they run off yelling "See!" and feel vindicated in their narrow conception of what the music is about.”

RapBitchNiggaMotherfuckerNigger
Book:Decoded
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“My life after childhood has two main stories: the story of the hustler and the story of the rapper, and the two overlap as much as they diverge. I was on the streets for more than half of my life from the time I was thirteen years old. People sometimes say that now I'm so far away from that life - now that I've got businesses and Grammys and magazine covers - that I have no right to rap about it. But how distant is the story of your own life ever going to be? The feelings I had during that part of my life were burned into me like a brand. It was life during wartime.”

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Author:Jay-Z
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“But this is one of the things that makes rap at its best so human. It doesn't force you to pretend to be only one thing or another, to be a saint or a sinner. It recognizes that you can be true to yourself and still have unexpected dimensions and opposing ideas. Having a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other is the most common thing in the world. The real bullshit is when you act like you don't have contradictions inside you, that you're so dull and unimaginative that your mind never changes or wanders into strange, unexpected places.”

WorldMindHumansStillsIdeasRealForceCommonOne ThingStrangeLike YouDevilAngelSaintRapShouldersBeing TrueWanderDullDimensionsUnexpectedContradictionSinnerBullshitNever ChangeOpposingBe True To YourselfTrue To YourselfCommon ThingsUnexpected PlacesOpposing Ideas
Author:Jay-Z
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