It seem we livin' the American Dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self-esteem
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Rap Quotes About Fame & the Industry
Being known is framed as a problem. Of 88 lines, 56 are lyrics and 32 are interviews, spread across 58 artists. Big K.R.I.T., Cardi B, and Drake have 4 each. All three of Kendrick Lamar's lines come from the XXL cover story "Writer At War" (Winter 2014). He calls "not knowing how famous I am" an asset. Lauryn Hill's "Rolling Stone (2021)" supplies three. Benny the Butcher's "Famous" (2020) and Big K.R.I.T.'s "The Vent" have two each. Cardi B's four include "Vogue (2019)," about attention that arrived by talking. A year is on 56 lines, 31 in the 2010s and 8 in the 1990s.
Friends tell her, "He could be another Malcolm, he could be another Martin"
She told her partner, "I need a husband more than the world need another martyr"
I chose money over fame, how I end up with 'em both?
I think one of my biggest assets is not knowing how famous I am.
House on both coasts, but I live on the charts
Hero worship can be an excuse for not taking care of your own sh#t.
Music never felt like a job. Now it’s just like people waiting to see if I fail.
My sixth sense is kickin' in 'cause all I hear is people that are dead to me
And that's why I'm turnin' on my read receipts
Too much shine can dull the soul
You can be next in line and signed and still be writing rhymes and broke
I never seen a star on a red rug
If I wanna see stars, I just look above
Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m the prettiest, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m on top, and when I hear ‘Bodak Yellow’ again, I’m like, ‘Yeah! I’m that bitch!’
Nerve bad like I'm back to sellin' crack again
Fame and money brought some factors I didn't factor in
I’ve reached a point in my life where my Truman Show boat has hit the painting.
when you get success and you get fame and money, it makes you be you times ten.
I got love for the game but ay I'm not in love with all of it
You can’t be a role model and do shit that I love to do, so I don’t want to be one.
We saw something that works and everybody jumps on that bandwagon. We stopped being creative and started being manufacturers.
You never lost 'til you lose your crown
And they don't love you till you're under ground
I was Murda, P. Diddy made me pretty
It's like I'm happy for a second then I'm sad again
And to my fans, the reason I could get to this
You're my drug, the instrumental my therapist
With so much drama in the L-B-C
It's kind of hard bein' Snoop D-O-double-G
You know you famous when the niggas that's around you switch
Still rolling weed on my XXL
Only difference is that's me on the cover
Will I die slain like my king by a terrorist?
Will my woman be Coretta, take my name and cherish it?
But these scriptures are sculptures for crews of dead rappers, the words hover above like vultures
She don't got fans, she just got bots
It didn't get easier as I got bigger. I just got tougher skin
I signed up for greatness. This comes with it.
The industry is force-feeding us this music and I'm like, "Nah, I'll go listen to this Outkast or something else." I am on a global mission to make good music and bring that feel back.
Being His Excellency gets to be exhausting
Yeah, hold on, just hear me out
They tell me I'ma be a legend, I don't want that title now
'Cause all the legends seem to die out, what the fuck is this 'bout?
It’s better to throw away your attachment to the situation, because the situation doesn’t really care about you, to be honest.
LA be bright but still a dark city
So come get your happy and your new titties
Nobody is special. We are all the public. It’s a fucking conversation
It's harder to love myself when all these people compliment me
Somehow it just remind me what I don't got
Pain runnin' through my veins
I don't want the fame, I just wanna eat (Ooh)
Rolling Stones of the rap game, not bragging
Lips bigger than Jagger, not saggin'
The world is full of seduction and if they can’t seduce you, they go after the people you love or depend on in some way.
I lost my dawg to the fame, I charge it all to the game
I been havin' trouble sleepin', battlin' these demons
Wondering what's the thing that keeps me breathin': is it money, fame or neither?
And I never think I'd make it out the hood
And it don't feel how I thought it would
One thing that I've learnt all of these years
Is to block devils off of my ears
'Cause fairytales don't end well
When the fame and fortune not here
Whenever people push me to be that kind of red carpet It-boy, I shy away from it every time. Even when I won the Mercury, I can see in my face that I didn’t want to be that guy, because you only fall down from there, innit?
What happened to Drake from 2009
When all of the moments was intimate?
What happened to Drake with the innocence?
I don't think we'll be seein' him again
When Banksy put the vest on me
Felt like God was testin' me
Mom is getting jealous, I see my manager more than I see her
Before I go on tour, and it hurts (Yeah)
I miss the days when this was fun, but now, it turned into work
Social media really made me. Before I got on Love & Hip Hop, I had millions of followers just off the way I speak. Just me talking.
It’s definitely a gift and a curse when you make music as personal as I make it.
I'm in a iron chair, where people who care don't get the lion's share
Since the face been revealed, game got real
Most hated, baby they don't love the clique
I thought they love you when you make it
Don't nobody want to be great
Everybody want to be seen
And nobody want to be quiet
I can't compete with a Wiz Khalifa for the attention of a 12-year old
I have trust issues. With women, friends, whatever. You always wonder what their real motives are.
For the pain for the gain
For the love of money fuck the fame
At least if you lose your 9-to-5 you don't got millions of people judging you and talking shit while you lost your job.
I create at the speed and flow of my inspiration, which doesn’t always work in a traditional system.
You said you hate me, but you love to watch me
Shit, remember Will Smith won the first Grammy?
And they ain't even recognize Hov until "Annie"