Cordae

Nas, Big L, Rakim, Jay-Z, Eminem, those was all my influences, but I didn't start recording until I was 16.

— Cordae

I always wanted to be a Freshman because XXL is really important in the history of hip-hop. It embodies the culture.

— Cordae

At a festival, the people there are not all your fans, and this gives me a chance to win over new people.…

— Cordae

I've been through college, and I lived in a trailer park for five years. I've lived in the trenches of Maryland, and…

— Cordae

I'm politically incorrect. I don't get into politics like that. I speak about what I know and what effects me personally, and…

— Cordae

For a lot of artists in the entertainment industry, we can't become too jaded with what's going on with our personal lives…

— Cordae

I don't know, I really try not to pay attention to comparisons, 'cause I'm my own artist. I try to build my…

— Cordae

In YBN, we all have our own lanes. We're not necessarily a group. We're more of a collective - it's like a…

— Cordae

I always say I am myself unapologetically.

— Cordae

Hip-hop has always been evolving.

— Cordae

I study all the greats.

— Cordae

Nahmir got smash hits.

— Cordae

Hell yea bro I love Puma.

— Cordae

I was on the debate team.

— Cordae

Nahmir is just an idiot. He just glorifies street life. He idolizes it.

— Cordae

We all take life for granted, one way or another.

— Cordae

XXL is the embodiment of hip-hop... Eminem even shouted it out in a song.

— Cordae

I don't wear jewelry. It's not really my thing.

— Cordae

I liked Big L's wordplay with the multi-syllable rhymes he hit so clean.

— Cordae

If you're thinking about your brand over your people, you've lost yourself.

— Cordae

Longevity always come from lyricism. From the people who can actually rap.

— Cordae

I don't even really try to do something different. I just do what's authentic to me.

— Cordae

I'm very protective of my energy. You have to protect your energy around outside sources because your positive energy can be canceled…

— Cordae

I'm just trying to get better as an artist and as a human being. I feel like that's mad important.

— Cordae

The last thing I want to do with my platform is bash another young black man who is getting money.

— Cordae

The artists with lyrical content and who say something seem to outlast the fad rappers - I always noticed that.

— Cordae

People compare me to Kendrick. I've seen comparisons with Jay-Z, with Nas, with Chance The Rapper. I get a lot of Eminem…

— Cordae

If you can do something that's authentic to yourself, how you feel as a person, then it's gonna be different than everybody…

— Cordae

I'm perfecting my craft as an artist and as a performer, and my shows are getting better each time.

— Cordae

Puma just, they really rock with me the long way. They've been rockin with me for a while.

— Cordae

I'm really grateful for my mom. And my mom always raised me being a single mother. Being a single mother, a lot…

— Cordae

My creativeness stems from my love of music. Music is pure emotion. Music is the infinity sign. Music is self-expression in its…

— Cordae

I don't try to portray some lifestyle that I'm not living.

— Cordae

I just always wear Pumas. I like the work they do in local communities, worldwide.

— Cordae

With my fan base, I'm just vulnerable. I'm very transparent and vulnerable.

— Cordae

My grandmother was a sharecropper. That wasn't even that long ago! My grandma was a sharecropper.

— Cordae

I bought an audio technician mic and Pro Tools SE, the demo version and was recording in the basement.

— Cordae

I want my music to make you reminiscent or nostalgic of your childhood, or take you back to a better place.

— Cordae

Washington D.C. and the entire DMV area are very dope places because they're such musically-inclined areas.

— Cordae

Sometimes as friends, you grow apart and you have different visions for what you wanna do and that's OK, there's no love…

— Cordae