Nipsey Hussle Quotes

“When you talk about black entrepreneurship, you're talking about addressing the foundation of what's going on with our people when we don't have any financial power. There's no way we're going to be able to tap into our potential until we address those bottom-level base needs.”

“People from the struggle, immigrants: there's no generational wealth that we are attached to, so we are tasked to create, in one generation, closing the gap. That's why we're so serious about getting to the check: 'cause it's life or death for real.”

“I think that every artist, or anybody that's in business, could benefit from a direct-to-consumer strategy.”

“I believe that economics is based on scarcity of markets. And it's possible to monetise your art without compromising the integrity of it for commerce.”

“As is the case with most people in this game, I am driven by financial motives and creative motives; the question I had to answer is which motive I will give priority to.”

“Doing music to pay bills is an uncomfortable situation. I never wanted to be in that situation.”

“I got an album concept called "Exit Strategy." It's a term they use in business when you build companies. You don't wait till you're five years in it; you create an exit strategy as you make the company.”

“As an artist, as a brand, as a rapper, even an athlete, you got a window, and a lot of people don't have no exit strategy. It's just living in the false reality that it's going to be like this forever.”

“It's not called quitting if you quit while you're ahead. It's about being aware and being strategic enough to know that you got to get out the pool at some point.”

“The artist part of me always wants to be appreciated. I read every review. But I never wanted to seek validation by awards or anything controlled by politics.”

“I always wanted to do things right and represent myself as somebody that took the art serious and someone that took the business serious also.”

“I always wanted to operate at the highest altitude, just in terms of hip-hop and the music.”

“I realised the power of hip-hop. I realised how influential this music and this culture are.”

“I get a more passionate delivery when I just go in the booth and let the music talk.”

“One of my mentors schooled me on branding before it was a cliché term in the game.”

“I say that in the most humble way: I always knew that I could perform with the best of 'em and I could deliver with the best of 'em.”

“It was always a plan that we were going to have a retail side with what we were doing musically, like an Apple store or Nike Town. Especially with what Crenshaw and Slauson meant to my story.”

“At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.”

“My experience with power: you can maintain it, or you get it taken from you. You get some newfound power and go crazy, and it gets taken from you quick.”

“If you don't know your full-throttle history, the whole story of how you came to where you are, it's kind of hard to put things together.”

“As much as I'm a black person from America, I'm a black person from Africa, too.”

“As I got older, my pops tried to keep me involved with the culture by telling me the stories of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, how he came to America, and about our family back home.”

“I checked into college for a little bit. I took classes at a community college in West L.A. I took psychology, English, and philosophy.”

“None of my peers avoided prison. None of 'em.”

“If I inspire you, pay for it, period.”