When the ideas are coming, I don't stop until the ideas stop because that train doesn't come along all the time.
If you're not sincere with it, you shouldn't say anything at all.
You got to realise that when I was 20 years old, I had a house, a Mercedes, a Corvette and a million dollars in the bank before I could buy alcohol legally.
One of the first people that believed in me, the first person to invest in my talent, me and this guy used to argue all the time in the studio, but at the end of the day, we both realized that we were after the same goal, and that was to make great music. And I'm talking about Eazy-E.
I've gone seventy-nine hours without sleep, creating. When that flow is going, it's almost like a high. You don't want it to stop. You don't want to go to sleep for fear of missing something.
Eminem is just incredible. That's the word that comes to mind: 'incredible.'
I would go to sleep with headphones on. My mom and pop - they would have music loud enough to shake the walls.
I'm so secluded, and I'm so private.
You just have to find that thing that's special about you that distinguishes you from all the others, and through true talent, hard work, and passion, anything can happen.
The only two things that scare me are God and the IRS.
I have tons of music stashed.
No matter what type of equipment you have, you still have to have a certain talent to be able to make a good record.
I can take a three-year-old and make a hit record.
I had between 20 and 40 songs for 'Detox,' and I just couldn't feel it. Usually, I can hear the sequence of an album as I'm going, but I wasn't able to do that. I wasn't feeling it in my gut.
When I'm sitting in the studio, a mix isn't done till I feel it in my gut.
Black women are the strongest most hardworking people on earth.
I realized at a young age that sequence in an album is almost as important as the songs that are on the album.
It's a very interesting thing because I can start mixing a song and leave the room and come back and maybe just slide one lever to a certain point, and it just - it's a certain feeling that it gives you when you know it's right.
The reason 'Detox' didn't come out was because I didn't like it.
I don't take any shorts. I don't say, 'Okay, it's good enough.' I try to get exactly what I'm hearing in my head to the tape, and I won't let it move until then.
Mission accomplished, we didn't have any problems as far as violence goes.
It's always been difficult to make a good record. To be perfectly honest with you, it's really about the person that's pushing the buttons. No matter what type of equipment you have, you still have to have a certain talent to be able to make a good record.
I work hard making music - that's how I earn a living.
'Straight Outta Compton' is the album I'm least happy with. I threw it together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of the trunk.
I'm not no egotistical person. I just want what I'm supposed to get. Not a penny more, not a penny less.
I don't even listen to the records after they come out. It's outlawed in my house. My wife and my kids can't play any of my music around me. Once it comes out, for me, it's just business. Numbers.
I just want people to hear the music the way it's suppose to sound, the way we meant for them to hear it. You sit in the studio all this time and make the music, tweak it, try to get it perfect. They should be able to hear it that way.
I've gotten my personal life all the way intact and made sure that it's straight. Without that, you have no foundation. Your building is going to crumble.
I have a high tolerance for pain - both physical and mental.
Kendrick Lamar is the real deal. He's a real artist, and he's gonna be here for awhile because this guy is seriously talented.
I did record 'The Chronic' in 1992. The year was not a total loss.
The actual making of a record is the most exciting part of this business.
I've been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet.
I'm gonna try and change the course of hip hop again.
Everything that I do is for sound goals. It comes from my gut. When I'm sitting in the studio, a mix isn't done till I feel it in my gut.
I'd really like to do a movie, either as a producer or director. My ultimate fantasy would be to direct a movie and produce the entire soundtrack. I don't really see myself acting.
Wreckin' Cru was a DJ crew. They used to call it that because it was the guys that came in after the party was over and broke down the equipment. We eventually made a record, and we had the costumes on and what have you. Back then, everybody had their little getups, you know, like SoulSonic Force, UTFO.
In fact, I would advise against anyone doing reality shows. I won't be doing 'X Factor' just yet.
In L.A., we listen to everything. If it's banging, it's banging - we don't care where it's from.
Before now, I've always taken my mixes out to the car and listened to them in the parking lot. I still do that, but more so now I'm listening to it on the Beat box, and I think people should give it at least a listen and check it out and see what it is.
The original version of 'Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang' was made to a Boz Scaggs song; I can't remember the name of the song.
I sequence during the entire recording process. The sequencing changes as I'm recording and as I'm listening. From when I'm, like, four songs in, I start trying to figure out which song should come after which. Which is important, and it changes as the album goes.
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs is a hustler. In fact, he's what I call an extreme hustler.
I'm never gonna stop music, it's like air to me.
Every person walking has some kind of talent that they can get on tape.
I always loved the way music made me feel. I did sports at school and all, but when I got home, it was just music. Everybody in my neighborhood loved music. I could jump the back fence and be in the park where there were ghetto blasters everywhere.
If you know anything about me and my history, you know I'm very particular about my projects.
I have social anxiety.
I know sound, and this is what I'm going to stick to: what I know.
I'd rather deal with Tipper than Bush. He's trying to kill everybody in jail.
Kids are the ultimate form of motivation. They're watching. They're mimicking. They're an extension of you. So you have to win.
I'm always going to talent scout and try to find new artists to work with.
When we started Aftermath, we had something like 20 artists, and it was driving me crazy. I couldn't sit down and focus on any of it. Plus, it was doubly hard because you ended up crushing these people's dreams when you had to let them go.
Engineering and mixing are absolutely key. Once a song is done, for me personally, it's usually two or three days to get the mix down.
The race factor was just a minuscule part of what I was doing with Eminem. It was really about the music and how well we worked together.
I was the biggest Public Enemy fan - I think it's what inspired the aggression of N.W.A. We just took a different route lyrically.
I've always hated authority from an early age. And authority have always hated me.
I don't make records so I can sit down afterward and listen to them. I make them so other people can sit down and listen to them.
There's never been any bad vibes between me and Snoop.
I just make the music feel the way I want it to feel, and I don't put it out until I'm totally happy with it.
No matter where you are or what you're doing, it's always great if you don't have to get up and physically change the song that plays next.
I believe in reincarnation, and I believe I've lived quite a few lives.
I'm a fan of J. Cole.
I've never considered myself a rapper. I know how to do it. I know how to make my voice project, and I know how to stay on beat and what have you, but I've never considered myself a rapper.
My father is the oldest of seven boys.
It's always been difficult to make a good record.
Everything in my life has been about sound and making music, so Beats represents just that - the improvement of sound and the dedication to everything I've been doing from the day I started.
There's actually a lot of producers that I like to listen to.
I don't think I would go back and change anything that's happened in my career, because maybe those things were steppingstones to where I am now.
Anyone that's trying to do something to improve sound... that's all good.
I love the new technology. New things give you a reason to want to go to the studio. New challenges mean you have to keep up, you know?
I got Ice Cube his start. I also launched Eazy-E.
I can remember when I was just, like, about four years old in Compton, and my mother would have me stack 45s, stack about ten of them, and when one would finish, the next record would drop. It was like I was DJ'ing for the house, picking out certain songs and so this song would go after that song.
I've looked at pictures that my mom has of me, from when I was four years old at the turntable. I'm there, reaching up to play the records. I feel like I was bred to do what I do. I've been into music, and listening to music and critiquing it, my whole life.
I've always been a lunatic.
I just want to get my music out and make sure that it's heard in the right way.
I can't see myself ever spending hundreds of thousands on anything that doesn't come with a toilet.
There is some sampling on my records and a lot of what I call replays, where I'd have musicians come in the studio and replay the sample from the original record. But mainly, we'd come up with our own music.
A lot of times when I'm at home kickin' it, I don't even listen to hip hop. I listen to all types of music.
I had fun doing it, but acting ain't really my thing. I am more of a production/director type. I would rather be behind the scenes and organizing and putting things together like that.
It's entertaining to watch somebody break my music down or explain what he thinks I was thinking during the process of making these records. Because... he has no idea.
It's always weird when people approach me to make an investment. I tell them, 'I don't need any more money. I'm good.' Then I wait for their expression. That part is entertaining, because people look at you like you're crazy when you say you don't need any more money. Who says that?
People are always coming up to me, thinking I've got some magic wand that can make them a star and I want to tell them that no one can do that. Making hit records is not that easy. But it took me time to realize that myself.
The difference between the headphones and making music, it's like, okay, I have a new business here that I'm proud of, but my soul still remains in the music-making process.
I am never going to give music up.
An instrumental album is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.
I don't ever see myself retiring totally from music, because I have a genuine love and passion for it.
I like working with new artists.
My mother got pregnant with me at the age of fifteen. This was '64, and unheard of at that time.
I think it's incredible what I've done. A lot of sweat. But as an innovator, I look back and can't help but go, 'Damn, there's things I could've done better, you know?'
In my opinion, some of the hip-hop records that come out, people are willing to compromise. I'm not.
I'm going to record forever.
I'm a producer at heart. I like being in the control room and directing people. That's what I do. But I've gotten on the mic a few times in my career; people seem to like it, so I'll do it again here and there. But that's really not my thing.
I've sold a lot of records. Did I keep other artists from eating?
I'm not a big spender. I don't get into all the jewelry and all that.
Once a song is done, for me, personally, it's usually two or three days to get the mixdown.
Somebody approached me about working with Michael Jackson, and I did say no because I like working with new artists or people that I've worked with in the past. I can develop them from the ground up. There's no set standard that I have to live up to or anything like that.
I've been living the American Dream for over 25 years - just being able to do what I do, be creative, and make money out of it. It's incredible.
I get butterflies every time a record comes out. I'm like, 'I hope people like it. I hope people buy it.'
