KRS One

“Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal, MC’s spit rhymes to uplift their people.”

— KRS One

“I make intelligence cool. I make spirituality cool. If we can make one’s devotion to God cool, then I think I did a great thing. I can rest in peace.”

— KRS One

“Rap is something you do Hip Hop is something you live”

— KRS One

“Hip-hoppers are not interpreting what hip-hop is, and when we do interpret it, we interpret it as something immature, unorganized, and outlaw.”

— KRS One

“No [other rappers are on my level], none of them. Here, let me put it like this in the sky, there are a million stars, but when the sun appears, you see none of them. I am the sun.”

— KRS One

“I think that all journalists, specifically print journalists, have a responsibility to educate the public. When you handle a culture’s intellectual property, like journalists do, you have a responsibility not to tear it down, but to raise it up. The depiction of rap and of hip-hop culture in the media, I think, is one that needs more of a responsible approach from journalists.”

— KRS One

“If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt young minds, it also has the ability to Uplift them.”

— KRS One

“When I say hip-hoppers, I mean black, white, Asian, Latino, Chicano, everybody. Everybody. Hip-hop has united all races. Hip-hop has formed a platform for all people, religions, and occupations to meet on something. We all have a platform to meet on now, due to hip-hop. That, to me, is beyond music. That is just a brilliant, brilliant thing.”

— KRS One

“Trust in God, that’s where the crown is at. It’s not in what you get, it’s what happens after that.”

— KRS One

“I think that hip-hop should be spelled with a capital “H,” and as one word. It’s the name of our [black people] culture, and it’s the name of our identity and consciousness. I think hip-hop is not a product, but a culture. I think rap is a product, but when hip-hop becomes a product, that’s slavery, because you’re talking about people’s souls. To me, that’s the biggest problem.”

— KRS One

“I’d rather make one righteous dollar on my level Than make a million dollars spittin’ rhymes for the devil.”

— KRS One

“We [black people] don’t respect our elders. Besides artists, we don’t respect Frederick Douglass. We don’t respect Martin Luther King. You look at every Martin Luther King Boulevard out here, and it’s a crack block. That’s not because of white people. That’s because of black leadership. We just have that problem, and it’s something that I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to conquer.”

— KRS One