Conscious Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Being called a conscious rapper is quite a compliment. It's a great thing to be. But as an artist, my nature is to not…

— Talib Kweli

The problem is that rap is so often a caricature of its own image. Nobody comes to the table with the seriousness of the…

— K'naan

I never liked socially conscious rap. I like rap that's physical, that's about a beat and bass and repetition.

— Harmony Korine

I think that's what made rap such a stable footprint in culture, that it's so honest.

— Russell Simmons

The roots of rap are originally ghetto-ised or extremely working class. So when you're an artist who's making something which isn't how its mainstream…

— Zadie Smith

Rap is just somebody getting something off his chest. That's all it is.

— Ice Cube

When you talk about rap you have to understand that rap is part of the Hip-Hop culture.

— Afrika Bambaataa

Why shouldn't rap be esoteric, able to take in current events, history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that…

— Saul Williams

Rap has so many possibilities that need to be explored. There are different factions of rap, but some are in a rut. Rap doesn't…

— Michael Franti

Rap is really just too conventional. Everybody does the same thing. No one ever pushes the box.

— Tyler, The Creator

Rap is just a movement within the larger culture of hip-hop.

— Cornel West

I'm not more or less conscious than any other rapper out there.

— Macklemore