I'd rather die enormous than live dormant
Collection
Motivational rap quotes
Lines to read before a game, an exam or a launch. This page holds 50 quotes from 34 artists, taken from the ambition, hustle, perseverance, success and growth themes and grouped by the idea each one leans on. No artist has more than four lines here, and every quote is rated 3.5 or higher for how well it works on its own. 44 are lyrics and 6 are interview lines. The most represented artists are Drake, JAY-Z and The Notorious B.I.G.. Each card links to the page that proves the wording.
Ambition
You wanna know what scares people? Success. When you don’t make moves and you don’t climb up the ladder, everybody loves you because you’re not competition.
If they don't know your dreams, then they can't shoot 'em down
It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine
Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
One day, I'm wordless, next day, I'm a wordsmith
Close to success, but to happiness, I'm the furthest
How are you going to call it a comeback when I've been here for years, man?
Dreams stopped being dreams when I turned 'em into goals
They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor
I would be Ivy League if America played fair
Poor excuse, and so I was
I live by the beat like you live check-to-check
If it don't move your feet, then I don't eat
To all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothin'
To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of
I’ll probably self-destruct if I ever lose, but I never do
I don’t want to close any of the doors needed to create the best product possible. But my ego is my drug.
Have you ever seen a nigga who was strong in the game
Overlookin' his tomorrows, and they finally came?
Place your bets, here's a mil', I invest in the real
Went from Netflix and chill to breakfast in Brazil
Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week
It cost to be the boss, and it ain't get no cheaper
The grind
Go hard or go home
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
When you’re not fed with a silver spoon you learn to lick it off a knife.
If I wasn't in the rap game
I'd probably have a ki, knee-deep in the crack game
Because the streets is a short stop
Either you're slingin' crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot
I don't dance now, I make money moves (Ayy, ayy)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me
Because I've never known a live one that represent me
Coke like a caterpillar, I make butter fly
I used to sell dope, nigga, now I can't vote (Vote)
Gettin' bread every day, I graduated from biscuits
I don't do karate, so why lil' shawty wanna kick it?
Why is the industry designed to keep the artist in debt?
Oh well, guess you lose some and win some
Long as the outcome is income
The more you sweat in training, less you bleed in combat
Black entrepreneur, nobody did us no favors
Nobody gave us shit, we made us
I'm not gon' lie and portray, um, this ultimate poise
Like I been had it figured out
Nah, I just didn't quit
I told him, "Give up the dough, before you get smoked"
Oh you're broke? *gunshots* Now you're dead broke
Being a feminist is being equal to do what a man do. Niggas hustle, and I hustle niggas.
Perseverance
Swear I should be locked up for stupid
that I did
But I'm a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph (Uh-huh! Yeah!)
Make music that's fire, spit my soul through the wire (Woo!)
Knock me down nine times but I get up ten
Yeah, life's short, don't ever question the length
It's cool to cry, don't ever question your strength
The scene turned on me, people tryna ruin me
Where most would see a problem, I'm seein' an opportunity
To drop a freestyle and kill them niggas that were booin' me
Everything that I am
You called me names till I became a name
Winning
I guess it took ten years for me to be an overnight success
'Cause if you go platinum, it's got nothing to do with luck
It just means that a million people are stupid as fuck
House on both coasts, but I live on the charts
We don't like to do too much explainin'
Story stayed the same, I never changed it
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this
Growth
You can pay for school, but you can't buy class
You keep using the same recipe, You’re gonna keep baking the same cake.
Know the wolves that hunt you
In time, they will be the dogs that bring your slippers
Love them right and you will feel them kiss you when they come to bite
I was taught to act my shoe size, never my age
Ones that hate us, handcuff us and mace us
Call us dumb niggas 'cause our culture is contagious
Third-generation South Central gangbangers
That lived long enough to see it changin'
Far from the rest, but I’m far from my best
Life is a lesson, I'm passin' a test