Did you ever wonder if there’s more to hip-hop than just money, cars, and girls? We have created a hand-picked selection of the finest and most insightful quotes from the gods of rap themselves. And for even more iconic lyrics, be sure not to miss our collection of the most legendary rap lyrics of all time.
Since it’s early beginnings, hip-hop has brought out a multitude of intelligent rap geniuses with brilliantly profound messages in every decade. From the founding fathers of rap music like Coke La Rock and the Sugarhill Gang, rap’s Hall of Famers like Tupac and Biggie to present-day icons like Jay-Z and Kanye West, there are many deep thoughts from the prophets of hip-hop left to be discovered.
“Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.”
Jay-Z
While not every rapper is known for writing brilliant lyrics, there have been countless great artists who created rhymes that blow your mind. Even more so, many of these rappers also made a name for themselves because of their community activism, their outspokenness about social issues, and their unique ability to lift others up with their words and actions. Nipsey Hussle is a perfect example of this.
These inspirational rap quotes motivate you to pursue your dreams
Let’s celebrate those legends of hip-hop who do not only create great songs but also have a lot of meaningful things to say about life and happiness. To help you save a lot of time, we have created the selection of the finest rap quotes from the crème de la crème of hip-hop.
No matter if it’s a catchy one-liner that really makes you think or a couple of inspirational sentences that encourage you to fight hard for your dreams, we’ve got them all in the following.
161 Rap Quotes from the Kings of Rap
It’s quite amazing how rappers are able to capture our imagination and direct our attention toward specific issues with just a couple of words. Some of the statements by legends like 2Pac, KRS-One, and Lupe Fiasco have not lost any of their significance and are more powerful than ever before. Let’s have a look at these inspirational rap quotes that will blow your mind.
To give you a better overview, we have split this collection into the following categories:
- Best rap quotes ever
- Inspirational rap quotes
- Rap quotes about love
- Rap quotes about life
- Rap quotes about friends
- Rap quotes about family
- Rap song quotes
Enjoy reading!
Here’s our selection of the best rap quotes ever
1.
“You have to keep your vision clear, cause only a coward lives in fear.”
Nas
2.
“Keep on pushing the boundaries and reaching for higher heights.”
Sean Combs
3.
“You can not change the past but you can change the future.”
Immortal Technique
4.
“Live your life, live it right. Be different, do different things.”
Kendrick Lamar
5.
“Even when I was close to defeat I rose to my feet”
Dr. Dre
6.
“If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don’t back down.”
Eminem
7.
“I’ve gone seventy-nine hours without sleep, creating. When that flow is going, it’s almost like a high. You don’t want it to stop. You don’t want to go to sleep for fear of missing something.”
Dr. Dre
8.
“Remember one thing: Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out. Keep your head up, and handle it.”
Tupac
9.
“If it’s flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s, be the best hamburger flipper in the world. Whatever it is you do you have to master your craft.”
Snoop Dogg
10.
“Nothing easy is worth anything.”
Nas
11.
“Rap is something you do. Hip-hop is something you live.”
KRS-One
12.
“When the ideas are coming, I don’t stop until the ideas stop because that train doesn’t come along all the time.”
Dr. Dre
13.
“Life will put many red lights in front of you, but sometimes we must push on the gas and trust God.”
Kendrick Lamar
14.
“Stop lookin’ at what you ain’t got, and start being thankful for what you do got.”
T.I.
15.
“Stop the negativity and control our creativity.”
KRS-One
16.
“So the next time you feel like the world’s about to end, I hope you studied, because he’s testing your faith again.”
Kendrick Lamar
17.
“Life without knowledge is death in disguise.”
Talib Kweli
18.
“It’s so easy for a kid to join a gang, to do drugs… we should make it that easy to be involved in football and academics.”
Snoop Dogg
19.
“I’d rather not live like there isn’t a god, then die and find out there really is. Think about it.”
Kendrick Lamar
20.
“Educate yourself, make your world view bigger, visualize wealth, and put yourself in the picture.”
KRS-One
21.
“Don’t be afraid to close your eyes and dream but then open your eyes and see.”
Sean Combs
22.
“Your imperfections is a blessing.”
Kendrick Lamar
23.
“I’m capable of anything; my imagination can give me wings.”
Nas
24.
“Kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent.
KRS-One
25.
“Sometimes a loss is the best thing that can happen. It teaches you what you should have done next time.”
Snoop Dogg
26.
“Take advantage. Do your best, don’t stress. You was granted everything inside this planet, anything you imagine, you possess.”
Kendrick Lamar
27.
“Sunny days wouldn’t be so special, if it wasn’t for rain. Joy wouldn’t feel so good, if it wasn’t for pain.”
50 Cent
28.
“When you shine bright, some won’t enjoy the shadow you cast.”
Talib Kweli
29.
“I’d rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately try to be something I’m really not; just to fit in.”
Immortal Technique
30.
“No matter where you’re from, we’re all distant relatives.”
Nas
31.
“If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.”
Sean Combs
32.
“Failure is not an option, and I always felt like I’m a man who doesn’t have regrets, and I don’t live with excuses. I can’t take excuses.”
Nas
33.
“Life without dreaming is a life without meaning.”
Wale
34.
“Don’t speak to fools, they scorn the wisdom of your words.”
Nas
35.
“I came in to win, you know. This is why I stay up late while other people are sleeping.”
Sean Combs
36.
“If you’re scared to take chances, you’ll never have the answers.”
Nas
37.
“Take the first chance that you get, because you may never get another one.”
Lil Wayne
38.
“We can’t change the world until we change ourselves.”
Biggie Smalls
39.
“Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction.”
Talib Kweli
40.
“What do you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper? That means you’re inferior, not major.”
Nas
41.
“If you’re chasing your dream, you’re not running fast enough. Run faster.”
Sean Combs
42.
“He who has begun is half done.”
Nas
43.
“Don’t let the sadness from the past and the fear of the future ruin the happiness of the present.”
Wiz Khalifa
44.
“If talk is cheap, then my silence is diamonds.”
Lupe Fiasco
45.
“You cannot achieve success without failure.”
Sean Combs
46.
“Why do we try so hard to fit in, when we were born to stand out?”
Machine Gun Kelly
47.
“Living well eliminates the need for revenge.”
Kanye West
48.
“Everyone has challenges and lessons to learn. We wouldn’t be who we are without them.”
Sean Combs
49.
“True wealth is having your health, and knowledge of self.”
Immortal Technique
50.
“I’d rather make one righteous dollar on my level
Than make a million dollars spittin’ rhymes for the devil.”
KRS-One
Inspirational rap quotes
51.
“We can’t do nothing about the past, but we can do something about the future that we have.”
Lupe Fiasco
52.
“Life is a wheel of fortune and it’s my turn to spin it.”
Tupac
53.
“I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence”
Lupe Fiasco
54.
“God will take you through hell, just to get to heaven.”
T.I.
55.
“You see my tears, in the rain underneath it all, we’re just the same.”
Machine Gun Kelly
56.
“My greatest enemy at one point was myself, and so now once I got over the fear of myself I don’t fear any man. I never have.”
Lupe Fiasco
57.
“Whatever you love can be taken away, so live like it’s your dying day.”
Machine Gun Kelly
58.
“Sometimes it’s hard to pick right from wrong. The best thing we can do is go with our heart, and hope it all goes well.”
Mac Miller
59.
“Worrying is stupid. It’s like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain.”
Wiz Khalifa
60.
“The message I’m sending to myself – I can’t change the world until I change myself first.”
Kendrick Lamar
61.
“Every great person educates themselves.”
Nas
62.
“If you can’t do what you imagine, then what is imagination to you?”
Kid Cudi
63.
“A pretty face can capture my attention but only a beautiful mind can hold it.”
Immortal Technique
64.
“Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal,
MC’s spit rhymes to uplift their people.”
KRS-One
65.
“A flower that grow in the ghetto know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows.”
Talib Kweli
66.
“You’ve got to always go back in time if you want to move forward.”
Snoop Dogg
67.
“Being positive doesn’t mean ignoring the negative. Being positive means overcoming the negative.”
Kid Ink
68.
“I said, ‘What you wanna be?’ She said, ‘Alive.’
It made me think for a minute, then looked in her eyes…
I coulda died.”
Andre 3000
69.
“I think that you have to believe. That’s one of my biggest mantras, is believe. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in myself.”
Sean Combs
70.
“You would never know if you could ever be, if you never try, you would never see.”
Lupe Fiasco
71.
“You have an opportunity to be in control of your life for yourself by the decisions that you make.”
Sean Combs
72.
“It’s better to speak your mind and tell the truth, than to stay silent and lie to yourself.”
Kid Ink
73.
“The truth is limitless in its range. If you drop a ‘T’ and look at it in reverse it could hurt.”
Lupe Fiasco
74.
“Success doesn’t just land on your lap. You have to work, work, work, work, and work some more.”
Sean Combs
75.
“Success is a very dangerous thing and I think we have to be very careful about when we dictate what success is for somebody else. Because you don’t know what it’s like.”
Lupe Fiasco
76.
“I don’t believe in fear, I live my life without regrets.”
Sean Combs
77.
“When I started making my own music, I was more about recreating what I was hearing. I noticed that I had some control over what I was saying, and the effects that it’s going to have on people. I wanted to focus more on the positive side of things, which are more in tune with my morals and ethics.”
Lupe Fiasco
78.
“Just because no one can understand how you speak, don’t necessarily mean that what you be sayin’ is deep.”
Talib Kweli
79.
“Mistakes make masterful teachers.”
Nas
80.
“A man who walks with God, can walk anywhere. Hence, I fear nothing.”
Immortal Technique
81.
“Love yourself and your expression, you can’t go wrong.”
KRS-One
Rap quotes about love
82.
“One day you’re gonna remember me and how much I love you… then you’re gonna hate yourself for letting me go.”
Drake
83.
“Rather lose love than to move on never knowing what it felt like.”
Wale
84.
“Just be yourself and one day you will find someone who loves you for everything you are, flaws or no flaws.”
Lupe Fiasco
85.
“Love… doesn’t need a complicated metaphor And sometimes nothing needs to be said at all.”
Immortal Technique
86.
“Kept breaking promises you said you would keep, so you can leave a message at the beep.”
Mac Miller
87.
“I like the person that you are, but I’m in love with the person that you have potential to be.”
Wale
88.
“We always ignore the ones who adore us, and adore the ones who ignore us.”
Drake
89.
“If you don’t love me somebody else will.”
Lil Wayne
90.
“A man who treats his woman like a princess is proof that he has been born and raised in the arms of a queen.”
Wiz Khalifa
91.
“Sometimes if you’re lucky, someone comes into your life who’ll take up a place in your heart that no one else can fill.”
Snoop Dogg
92.
“Love always shines, that’s how I’ll find you. In case you forgot, I hope this reminds you.”
Lupe Fiasco
Rap quotes about life
93.
“The purpose of life is a life with a purpose. So I’d rather die for a cause, than live a life that is worthless.”
Immortal Technique
94.
“Take the craziest dream you ever had and go after it. Make it a reality. I don’t want you to dream, I want you to do.”
Sean Combs
95.
“Everything will eventually come to an end. So try to savor the moments, cuz time flies, don’t it? The beauty of life is to make it last for the better. Cuz nothing lasts forever.”
Nas
96.
“Don’t ever give up on yourself. Keep pushing because the change of guards is what life’s all about. You’ve always got to stick with whatever you’re into because your day is going to come. Your day is destined. If you walk away from that, whether it be from fear or whether you’re just giving up. The greatest sin is fear and giving up.”
Nas
97.
“In a world of regret, sacrifice and hardship, laughter and music are medicine.”
Immortal Technique
98.
“You can make something of your life, it just depends on your drive.”
Eminem
99.
“That should be the measure of success for everyone. It’s not money, it’s not fame, it’s not celebrity; my index of success is happiness.”
Lupe Fiasco
100.
“The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride and nothing is guaranteed.”
Eminem
101.
“Everything will eventually come to an end. So try to savor the moments, cuz time flies, don’t it? The beauty of life is to make it last for the better. Cuz nothing lasts forever.”
Nas
102.
“Initiative is key. Anybody who wants to be somebody is going to work as hard as they can to fulfill that dream.”
Sean Combs
103.
“Living life is a choice. Making a difference in someone else’s isn’t.”
Kid Cudi
104.
“Some of y’all are not where you want to be in life. Yet you party every weekend. What exactly are you celebrating?”
T.I.
105.
“Life is too short to live the same day twice. So each new day make sure you live your life.”
Machine Gun Kelly
106.
“If you feel comfortable, and you feel happy, and successful at your job, then that’s success. You define that as success, then that’s success. Success is not a general thing. It’s a personal thing. It’s a personal attribute.”
Lupe Fiasco
107.
“With age comes common sense and wisdom.”
Nas
108.
“You make knowledge relevant to life and you make it important for children to learn things that will really relate to things going on in their lives, and not abstract.”
Talib Kweli
109.
“I […] use my arrogance as a steam to power my dreams.”
Kanye West
110.
“No matter where life takes me. Find me with a smile.”
Mac Miller
111.
“I’ve never really taken more than four days off, so it was a lot for me to go away for three-and-a-half months. I went all over Europe. I walked on a whole bunch of beaches and I did a lot of thinking.”
Sean Combs
112.
“The sooner you realize things will never be the same, the sooner you can move on.”
Kid Cudi
113.
“My life, my choices, my mistakes, my lessons, not your business.”
Kid Cudi
114.
“Forget yesterday, live for today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Rick Ross
115.
“A lot of the stuff people hate, they really don’t. They only look at the outer shell. They don’t really get into it.”
Lupe Fiasco
116.
“You only have one first chance to make one first impression that lasts a lifetime.”
Nas
117.
“My problem is I’m peaceful, and I believe in the people.”
Lupe Fiasco
118.
“You know, there’s a lot of activism that doesn’t deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.”
Talib Kweli
119.
“Working with great people makes you great; you learn a lot and it also gives you the experience and confidence to move on with your own career.”
Nas
120.
“You can make the future, but it starts with leaving the past.”
Immortal Technique
Rap quotes about friends
121.
“You don’t need too many people to be happy. Just a few real ones who appreciate you for who you are.”
Wiz Khalifa
122.
“I don’t regret my past. I just regret the time I’ve wasted on the wrong people.”
Kid Ink
123.
“People don’t understand that where I come from, everyone is either a convict, been in jail, been in a gang, is a hooligan of some sorts. But those are my brothers, my family and the people I travel with. Those are the people that I roll with.”
Lupe Fiasco
124.
“Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from people… if they care, they’ll notice. If they don’t, you know where you stand.”
Kendrick Lamar
125.
“Never apologize for being real… reality is the enemy of fakes, frauds, liars, and protectors of ignorance. It scares them.”
Lupe Fiasco
126.
“My success symbolizes loyalty, great friends, dedication, hard work, routine builds character. In a world full of snakes, rats, and scavengers.”
Nas
127.
“There comes a time in every man’s life when he’s gotta handle up on his own.
Can’t depend on friends to help you in a squeeze,
Please… they got problems of their own.”
Slim Kid Tre
128.
“How long before they split like atoms?
Don’t ask me, but what I do stand behind
Is someone havin’ your back seems hard to find.”
Posdnous
129.
“They smile in my face, behind my back they talk trash,
Mad and stuff because they don’t have cash.”
Erick Sermon
130.
“I feel like friends been overrated,
I feel like the family been faking,
I feel like the feelings are changing,
Feel like my daughter compromised and jaded,
Feel like you wanna scrutinize how I made it.”
Kendrick Lamar
Rap quotes about family
131.
“My mother was always working for a job, so I guess I was always trained that I should have multiple jobs, multiple aspirations. And I remember she had multiple aspirations, always hearing about her dreams and things she did in the past and things she wanted to do.”
Sean Combs
132.
“I don’t need to put jewels on to make myself feel important. I’d rather drop them for the benefit of less fortunate people. I don’t need to put gold on my body, and I’m not criticizing people who do, but for me, I’d rather be around my family and see them be happy because that’s worth more to me than gold.”
Immortal Technique
133.
“Some people are so poor, only they have is money.”
Chance the Rapper
134.
“I didn’t grow up in the projects. I grew up in a single-family home in a middle-class suburb. That doesn’t mean I didn’t experience hardship, but to me, it’s not about that, it’s about the future and where we are trying to take it.”
Kid Cudi
135.
“I’ve got friends and family that I respect.
When I think I’m too good, they put me in check.
So believe when I say I’m no better than you,
Except when I rap, so I guess it ain’t true.”
The Beastie Boys
136.
“When you put your family on, you can have all of this.”
Wiz Khalifa
137.
“The only luxury is time. The time you get to spend with your family.”
Kanye West
138.
“If the game shakes me or breaks me
I hope it makes me a better man,
Take a better stand,
Put money in my mom’s hand,
Get my daughter this college plan so she don’t need no man.”
The Notorious B.I.G.
Rap song quotes
139.
“Ice melts into rain, love turns into pain. Here I go again, falling in love again.”
Wale
140.
“They’re gonna try to tell you no, shatter all your dreams. But you gotta get up and go and think of better things.”
Mac Miller
141.
“The most important time in history is – NOW – the present,
So count your blessings cause time can’t define the essence.”
Talib Kweli
142.
“You need to git up, git out and git something…
How will you make it if you never even try?”
Andre 3000
143.
“I’m on the pursuit of happiness. I know everything that shines ain’t always gold. I’ll be fine once I get it, I’ll be good.”
Kid Cudi
144.
“If you ain’t using all the talents God provided you with
For the betterment of Man, understand,
You ain’t nothing but a waste.”
Talib Kweli
145.
“Holy apartments in the gardens in which the rivers flow. Thank you for all your blessings and all of your miracles.”
Lupe Fiasco
146.
“Tell ’em the truth and they call you a traitor,
Talk to ’em honestly and they call you a hater.”
Immortal Technique
147.
“Only God can judge me, so I’m gone, either love me or leave me alone.”
Jay Z
148.
“Everybody’s got opinions on the way you’re livin’,
But see, they can’t fill your shoes.”
Andre 3000
149.
“Ignorance is venomous and it murders the soul, spreading like a virus, running rampant, out of control.”
Immortal Technique
150.
“Some seek fame cause they need validation
Some say hating is confused admiration”
Nas
151.
“If I speak the good into existence, that instant my dreams will unlock, money flow like water, I’ll just wait at the dock.”
Kendrick Lamar
152.
“I am the manifestation of study,
NOT the manifestation of money.
Therefore, I advance through thought,
NOT what’s manufactured and bought.”
KRS-One
153.
“How can land be owned by another man? Warns one can not steal what was given as a gift. Is the sky owned by birds and the river owned by fish?”
Lupe Fiasco
154.
“Funny how the love be fake, but I ain’t stressing. Thankful for the love that’s genuine, appreciate the blessing.”
Busta Rhymes
155.
“I don’t know about you but I’m living in the moment. You can hate if you want, but I’ma keep it rolling.”
Kid Ink
156.
“You know, you don’t see with your eyes
You see with your brain
And the more words your brain has
The more things you can see. „
KRS-One
157.
“I live by the beat like you live check to check. If you don’t move your feet then I don’t eat, so we like neck to neck.”
Andre 3000
158.
“Things are getting out of control, feel like I’m running out of soul. You are getting too heavy to hold, think I’ll be letting you go.”
Lupe Fiasco
159.
“When I met you it was magic…
We polar opposites, but attracted like we was magnets.”
Talib Kweli
160.
“You know, you don’t see with your eyes
You see with your brain
And the more words your brain has
The more things you can see.”
KRS-One
161.
“I walk alone with a cross and a diamond stone. I’m a diamond inside the rough, that’s too mighty for maricons.”
Kendrick Lamar
We hope you enjoyed this collection of rap quotes and inspirational hip-hop quotes.
While reading through our list, you may have noticed how many brilliant thoughts rap artists have shared with the world. Some of their words lift you up when you are down, others motivate you to push your life to the next level.
No matter what situation you find yourself in, there’s always a rapper who have some encouraging words for you. Feel free to revisit this collection whenever you are in need of a quick boost of motivation or some courage to keep on fighting for your dreams.
What are your favorite rap quotes?
Are there some particular quotes that always seem to do the trick for you? Let us know in the comment section below.
Stay victorious!
