Freddie Gibbs Quotes

Ninety percent of the general public aren’t gangstas, so all of the rappers aren’t going to be gangstas.

I’m a common dude.

I just want to put my stamp on all kinds of music. Everything I do is going to be gangsta rap, street-based, street-oriented.

I feel like some artists need a record label, and some don’t.

I always feel like the underdog.

A lot of improvisation and freedom went into ‘Pinata.’

I never write a song before I get the track because I just feel that I have to make a marriage with that track with my raps. And if it’s something that’s already there, it ain’t gone really fit, I don’t think.

I went to a Bulls game when it was still in Chicago Stadium before they built the United Center.

I like A$AP Rocky and his stuff – Kendrick too.

I don’t like pre-written raps; I think it makes the song better if you listen to the beat first. In a sense, you have to make a marriage with the beat. I ride the beat, hear the flow of the drums, get the melody of my flow, and then from that point, it’s a process of what I want to say.

Just give me a mic, and I’ll rock it.

I love Lil Wayne. I grew up on the Hot Boyz.

I’m trying to bring gangster rap back to the forefront, like in the early ’90s.

I’m not trying to obey the rules of radio.

I don’t ever really plan my sets. I just get out there and feel the energy of the crowd.

I had a nightmare that I was mopping floors and that this Freddie Gibbs thing was all a dream.

Probably dancing to Cassie’s ‘Me & U’ – That’s my guilty pleasure.

I’ve always played that role in my family: the breadwinner.

Every project might only sell like 30 to 50,000, but I mean, I’m getting seven, eight dollars every CD. I make more money per record than an artist on a major label – I can definitely say that.

I ain’t never detached myself from Gary.

I don’t like rap that doesn’t have a story behind it.

I look at some of my fans at my show, and a lot of them look like they’re straight out of a punk rock show. They like what I’m coming across with. I had seen them same thing when I went to this Scarface show, so it lets me know that I’m on the right track.

My TV stays locked at ‘SportsCenter.’ That and ‘Pardon the Interruption.’

I don’t mind travelling. I’m independent, so I gotta get on the grind.

Sports is one of the keys to my life. It definitely kept me out of a lot of trouble and gave me a lot of discipline.

I started hustling in early adolescence.

I wanted to be a gangsta from birth, not because of the music but moreso what I was seeing, what my uncles were doing. I was just fascinated with the street lifestyle from a young age.

I’m cool with doing shows with 2,000 people. I don’t have to rap in a stadium. As long as I can provide for my family and my art and live comfortably and live well, then I’m good.

I still bump ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ I used to listen to it before all my football games.

Gary is a really impoverished town; it’s in industrial decay. There’s low employment and things of that nature.

Ain’t nothin’ changed with me. I’m Eastside Gary til I die.

I have a respect for Young Jeezy. But the reason things didn’t work out for me and Young Jeezy was because our approach to the industry… My approach to the industry was a tad bit different than his. I wanted to approach my career a different way; he wanted to go a different way.

When I first came in the game, I had a bunch of homies that rapped that was hanging around me just because I was getting the rap attention, and they felt they could feed off of that.

Jeezy just recognized my grind, and I jumped on board with him to enhance it. Artistically, we’re in the same mind frame. We come from very similar backgrounds – poverty. That’s something that we can both relate to, something that we can convey in our music.

Scarface is my favorite rapper.

I’d be a liar if I didn’t say I learned things from Jeezy. Hell yeah, I took some things, some pluses and some minuses, do’s and don’ts.

‘Pinata’ is a great rap record for jazz fans.

I’m just glad we get to see old records being broken. That’s what sports is all about.

If you say your product is the best, back that up.

I ain’t on no major. Everything independent. Either way it goes, I am doing me, and I am doing Freddie Gibbs.

My father took me to a lot of sports events as a child, and our TV stayed on ESPN.

My mom had me at a young age, like 20, and she was the oldest child. All her brothers were seven and 10, so I was like a younger brother more so than the oldest child. I was the younger brother to all my uncles, so they were going through their childhood and their teenage years, and I was right there.

We have good, neighborly people in Gary.

Different rappers got different talents. It’s like X-Men.

I feel like with a lot of Madlib’s beats, they are made for storytelling. I feel like when I’m working on stuff with him, I can really get into the storytelling aspect mode of my flow.

I’m not a big video game dude though, but I like ‘Madden.’

After I got dropped by Interscope, I knew in my heart that I had to fight back some way or not rap at all. I just took it upon myself to get myself where I needed to be.

I’m like LeBron, man. I’m like a smaller LeBron. That’s why I’m not in the NBA. If I had about five, six more inches, I’d be in the league.

I’m an educated individual.

I never took a dollar from Young Jeezy. No advance, nothing.

Lil Wayne makes good music. He’s one of the best rappers.

My core thing is gangster rap, but a lot of my music is melodic and carries a message of survival.

I’m not really comfortable with being on songs with cats I don’t really know.

I’m a loyal dude.

I grew up on N.W.A., Geto Boys. My dad was listening to that.

I don’t really know what a debut album is no more. As long as you got music on the streets, you’ve debuted.

There’s some dudes that did Gangsta Grillz tapes who probably weren’t worthy of it – their label just put up the bread, or they did a favor.

Coming up in America in the ’80s and ’90s, we were not too far removed from slavery. People forget that.

When you go to places like Gary and Detroit, you see the economic problem in this country and who it’s really affecting.

Tupac is definitely an icon. There’ll never be another Tupac, so I’m not gonna ever, ever try to fill those shoes. I’m just gonna stay in my lane and be the best me that I can be.