Sometime I rap for the house. Sometime I rap live.

House, rap, R&B, disco rock, they are all part of hip-hop culture. Why you ain't playing Kraftwerk along with Jay-Z? That's hip-hop.

— Afrika Bambaataa

Rap is something you live; hip hop is something you do.

— KRS-One

One of my homeboys from my neighborhood had actually taught me how to rap. He was the rapper and we would all go over…

— Yo Gotti

Feed me hip-hop and I start tremblin'

— Rakim

I believe gangsta rap, as such, in its foundation is simply anti-systemic and transgressive.

— Bocafloja

I love songwriting, and rap is part of my songwriting, but I'm not a rapper.

— Amber Liu

It's not that you don't make any money doing conscious rap music. You make a lot of money doing this, but if you're greedy…

— KRS-One

Public Enemy started out as a benchmark in rap music in the mid-1980s. We felt there was a need to actually progress the music…

— Chuck D

My rap comes from a sociological standpoint rather than picking a particular side or dogma or ideology. I just want people to be free…

— Killer Mike

Young kids out here see what's on TV and feel like they can start rapping. They think rappers are rich and really have their…

— Rahki

Rapping and singing are not two polar opposites. There's so much middle ground. And I think there's a lot of people who find that…

— Ezra Koenig

Call me the rap assassinator / rhymes rugged and built like Schwarzenegger

— Raekwon

Learning how to rap actually improved my English, because it forced me to talk fast, and I used to suck at that.

— Rich Brian

I know that in the rap game you've got a lot of people, that come from poverty, was born in poverty and if it…

— Jon Connor

I rap when I'm rich. I rap when I'm broke. I rap when I'm bullshit in the street. I rap about only having one…

— Killer Mike