Emcee Quotes

• I think all those artists are artists who are appreciated because you believe their words and you appreciate their honesty in their music. If you don't appreciate the honesty in the music, the beat can be fly as hell but you'll never give an emcee props.

  Talib Kweli

  Honesty, Believe, Artist

  92 Copy quote

• A good emcee will rhyme a lot of different ways. Don't limit yourself.

  Ice T

  Different, Way, Limits

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• To me, part of being an emcee is dedicated to speaking out about what's going on around us.

  Lazarus of Bethany

  Dedicated, Speaking Out

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• Food for thought, eat my words with your mind:
  Emcees are grapes, and grapes are crushed to wine.

  MF Grimm

  Rap, Wine, Hip Hop

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• One of the things I think you need to be a good emcee is silliness. And I'm basically a silly guy.

  Doug Davidson

  Silly, Thinking, Guy

  25 Copy quote

• Too many MC's take that word 'emcee' lightly;
  They can't Move a Crowd, not even slightly.

  KRS-One

  Rap, Moving, Hip Hop

  Song: MC's Act Like They Don't Know, Album: KRS-One

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• Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal,
  MC's spit rhymes to uplift their people.

  KRS-One

  Uplifting, Rap, People

  180 Copy quote

• If you can perfect the booth, the stage and just your persona, like maybe in interviews and when people talk to you, then you're a full well-rounded emcee in my opinion.

  Joell Ortiz

  People, Perfect, Interviews

  Source: thecomeupshow.com

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• An emcee is a Master of Ceremonies. If you're an emcee, and I am an emcee... I rhyme, you know what I mean? I do things for my fans that still appreciate me, let them know what's coming.

  Styles P

  Mean, Appreciate, Fans

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

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• He was not hip-hop's most gifted emcee. Still, Shakur may be the most influential and compelling rapper of them all, he was more than the sum of his artistic parts.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Rap, Hip Hop, May

  33 Copy quote

• I emcee how I feel for the moment. I'll always be influenced by Tribe, but my EP and LP have a lot of different flavors! I'll keep it vintage Tribe if Tribe decides to do another LP... which, in my heart, I'd love to do for the fans.

  Phife Dawg

  Heart, Vintage, Fans

  21 Copy quote

• The best way to compliment an emcee is to say his lyrics. That's how you say, "Hello."

  Ice T

  Way, Hello, Compliment

  "Ice-T focuses on hip-hop craft in 'The Art of Rap'". Interview With Jonathan Landrum Jr., www.sandiegouniontribune.com. June 15, 2012.

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• What if you believed that everything in life was like a prize? What if you thought of the world as a big random drawing, and you were always winning things, the world offering them up with a big grin, like an emcee's: Here you go, Hollis. Here is a motorcycle. Here is a little boy who loves you. Here is a weird experience, here is something bad that you should mull over because it will make you a better person. What if you could think that life was this free vacation you'd won, and you won just because you happened to be alive?

  Dan Chaon

  Love You, Thinking, Vacation

  Dan Chaon (2001). “Among the Missing”

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• I didn't know at the time that the energy that I was giving off was like a battle Emcee.

  Kool Moe Dee

  Giving, Battle, Energy

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• When I worked for Entertainment Tonight I got to emcee Paul McCartneys press conference.

  Nina Blackwood

  Tonight, Entertainment, Conferences

  18 Copy quote

• It was funny to be an emcee, because you're so at the mercy of the club. You can show up for the weekend hoping to get the $400 - and get fired. I had to prank whoever they told me to prank.

  John Mulaney

  Weekend, Clubs, Mercy

  "Interview: Comedian John Mulaney". Interview with Katherine Coplen, www.nuvo.net. April 16, 2015.

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• You can have a phenomenal booth artist and he can get in there and be a technician in the booth and it won't translate on the stage. I think that's what makes emcees emcees. Some rapper dudes are great rappers but it don't translate on stage.

  Joell Ortiz

  Artist, Thinking, Rapper

  Source: thecomeupshow.com

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• Maybe he was more than the sum of his broken parts.

  Dave Eggers

  Broken

  Dave Eggers (2012). “A Hologram for the King”, p.247, Vintage

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• Take 7 emcees put em in a line
  And add 7 more brothers who think they can rhyme
  It'll take 7 more before I go for mine
  And that's 21 emcees ate up at the same time.

  Rakim

  Brother, Rap, Thinking

  173 Copy quote

• I've got to show at all times that I'm willing to tear any emcee a new asshole, at any given moment.

  Styles P

  Tears, Moments, Given

  Source: www.hiphopcanada.com

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• People didn't really take white rappers seriously until Eminem, because he was better than everybody. Like female emcees, you need to be like Lauryn Hill or Nicki Minaj or killing everything before somebody takes you seriously.

  Talib Kweli

  Rapper, White, People

  "Talib Kweli Stands His Ground". Interview with AJ Vicens, www.motherjones.com. August 26, 2013.

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• I'm sautéing emcees with fried rice up in the wok without the MSG and chopped celery.

  Redman

  Rap, Msg, Hip Hop

  29 Copy quote

• Back in the days the great emcees made singles, had great shows, won battles, had all the girls and dressed fly. That¹s what I'm about...the total package emcees.

  Joell Ortiz

  Girl, Battle, Singles

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• Legions of young hip-hop fans are as against this as hip-hop's most fierce critics. There is a huge underground movement within hip-hop circles that against these representation. You can hear this message on tons of lyrics and rap songs produced by independent emcees. But they are fighting against a well-oiled and well-financed machine.

  Bakari Kitwana

  Song, Rap, Independent

  9 Copy quote

• A lot of the old-school artists didn’t even respect what’s being called freestyle now... any emcee coming off the top of the head wasn’t really respected. The sentiment was emcees only did that if they couldn’t write. The coming off the top of the head rhymer had a built-in excuse to not be critiqued as hard

  Kool Moe Dee

  Writing, School, Artist

  7 Copy quote