Questlove Quotes
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There's no such thing as success on an isolated level.
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Switching off perfection switched on the human quality
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I don't bask in the awards I've won, read my bank statements, I refuse. To me, that's how you start losing the hunger.
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Every time a new record started, people exhaled with pleasure, or their bodies moved automatically. I really started getting high off of the euphoric exclamations. Every record I put on was like a baptism.
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I think the music comes first, then comes the fashion, and thus, the lifestyle. I believe it starts with music, and then the person delivering it delivers the lifestyle, the fashion. Madonna is a great example of that.
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At the end of the day, I don't release any records that I'm not proud to put my name on. I never got to that point.
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It's funny, I can see the science in how music is made with other artists, but it's hard for me to dissect my own thing.
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Half the time, my job is basically to talk people off the ledge. It's more psychological than just me picking up some sticks and counting, "1, 2, 3, 4."
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When you live your life through records, the records are a record of your life.
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The president is just the coach of a football team. You need the right support, the right stadium, the right players, the right staff. An excellent coach is not going to win games.
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I believe that the only people who really, truly benefit from any of the policies of Republicans are the wealthy. I'm in that 1 percent tax bracket, but I'm not a man of wealth.
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You can't live off of just greasy fatty foods and stayin' up till six in the mornin' just partyin'. You gotta take care of yourself.
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It's a funny word, persistence. It means not giving up, but it also means just passing on through time.
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I prefer to unwind by DJing. I learned that from Mike D from the Beastie Boys. After a show, he would DJ. Once I saw that, I wanted to do that. And now DJing is like my lifeline. I love the power it represents.
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I don't believe in good music and bad music anymore. I'm through with that phase of my life. Sometimes I just wanna feel good, so I put on a good record. But mostly I'm more of a businessman than a music fan, so I'm listening to music in terms of, is this effective or not effective?
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I love traveling the States no matter what. I love traveling abroad, going to Japan and Australia. I love it. I never get tired of it.
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Funk never dies. It is eternal. It just smells a little different from time to time.
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The Chronic represented everything that I hated about hip-hop as a fan, but then later represented everything that I stood for as a musician and engineer.
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I cannot keep a girlfriend longer than seven months. I have 12 jobs. I don't have time for my personal life. I'm fully aware that this is the sacrifice.
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Music has the power to stop time. But music also keeps time.
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For anyone that's ever had a musical breakthrough in their career, it's always followed by the departure period right after.
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When you first start off, you see what other people have and quietly say, "I want that."
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Highlight reels are about that one person. After a barrage of highlight reels, you get the sense that you can do it without a team. But music thrived the most when groups were involved. People lose sight of that - that community makes the world run.
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At 25, my idea of success may have been more vain, like, "I'll be good the day that there's $20 million in my account and I have this particular house and the wife and 2.5 kids." But at 40 - and I know it's kind of silly telling you guys this - but as long as my Metacritic rating stays above 80, that's all I care about.
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How do you plan a rebirth? I'm not sure you do. You just stand in the darkness until you can't endure it any long, and then you move forward until you're standing in the light.
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I think all of this—The Roots and DJing included—was meant to prepare me for The Tonight Show.
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Hip-hop is an instant gratification, winners and losers circle, and often those who are losing give up after three or four, five years.
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My theory is that nine times out of ten, if there's a depression, more a social depression than anything, it brings out the best art in black people. The best example is, Reagan and Bush gave us the best years of hiphop.
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I hate videos. I'm meticulous on everything from cover art, fonts, productions, mixing. But when it comes to videos, I just feel so defeated.
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Meaninglessness takes hold because meaninglessness is addictive.
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