The genres of rap and hip hop have been demonized by their association with gang violence and have often been represented by questionable characters. But we can’t overlook the fact that there are a lot of rappers out there who inspire and motivate us every day with their powerful lyrics and hypnotizing beats.
Just like any other form of art, rap is a representation of the artist’s personal experiences and emotions. A representation of what living in a rough environment really means and an expression of the grit that a tough life demands. They speak from life experience.
Maybe not all rappers make for excellent role models, but a lot of them deliver valuable life lessons through their songs. Besides, the confidence and boldness of these artists is infectious. Whether you are a fan of this music genre or not, you’ll definitely find a lot of wisdom and inspiration behind the following rapper quotes.
Here are 25 rapper quotes about life to motivate you to keep grinding:
Goalcast
Even though you’re fed up, you got to keep ya head up.
TUPAC SHAKUR (more Tupac Shakur quotes)
Trust your own judgement, live with it and love it.
NAS
Forget yesterday, live for today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.
RICK ROSS
You’ve got enemies? Good, that means you actually stood up for something.
EMINEM (more Eminem quotes)
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
Next time you see a brother down, stop and pick him up, Cause you might be the next one stuck.
GRAND PUBA
Never become so involved with something that it blinds you. Never forget where you from; someone will remind you.
DMX
Living well eliminates the need for revenge.
KANYE WEST
People will love you and support you when it’s beneficial.
NICKI MINAJ (more Nicki Minaj quotes)
Pay attention to whom your energy increases and decreases around. That’s the universe giving you a hint of who you should embrace and who you should keep away from.
P. DIDDY
Behind me is infinite power. Before me is endless possibility, around me is boundless opportunity. My strength is mental, physical and spiritual.
50 CENT
Take the first chance that you get, because you may never get another one.
LIL WAYNE
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
Goalcast
Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself.
JAY-Z (more Jay-Z quotes)
Something I try to instill in others is to just be a good person. It’s a decision you make a million times a day. But if you just keep trying, good stuff comes to you in an ordained way.
CHANCE THE RAPPER (more Chance the Rapper quotes)
My making it is a combination of grinding, grinding, grinding, and being lucky enough to finally get a shot.
BUSTA RHYMES
You might not have a car or big gold chain, stay true to yourself and things will change.
SNOOP DOGG
We ain’t picture perfect but we worth the picture still.
J. COLE
I’m too loyal and too focused to be losing and be hopeless.
TYGA
Nothing can stop me, I’m all the way up.
FAT JOE
I’m my own competition, I’m competing with myself.
CARDI B.
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
Damn right I like the life I live because I went from negative to positive.
BIGGIE SMALLS
Speak the truth even if your voice shakes.
IGGY AZALEA
Learn life, before life learn you.
JADAKISS
What are some positive quotes from music artists?
Looking for more? To keep the good vibes flowing, check out these music quotes that celebrate the magic of sound and rhythm. Then get inspired with 27 Beethoven quotes about music, art, and life itself. Then have a look at the words of wisdom from Billie Eilish on embracing your authentic self.
You Are Love: Reclaiming the Force and Beauty of Your Vulnerability
The truth of love lies in its purity and limitlessness. Love in its highest octave is a surging wave of strength; an undisguised energy that wears no masks, sees no barriers, and runs toward a call of need while everything else runs away. This is the love that is finely woven within us all. Every cell of our being is forged with a deep-seated urge to feel and give love, from our birth to death. Love shapes our entire spiritual and physical design; it is undeniable and fortuitous -- a chemistry of hope, creativity, acceptance and great passion.
Love illustrates to us the depth of who we are at our most fragile yet fearless. Love says that we are stronger and not weaker through her light. We can only love others with the same fibres of love that we have nurtured heroically from within, and so our love for self inspires us to love others with the same wholeheartedness. Hearts connect through an open dialogue of truth and authenticity, and we can only ask of love no more or less than we are first willing to give.
You Are Love: Reclaiming the Force and Beauty of Your Vulnerability
Love uncovers what fear attempts to hide away. Its essence resides in the distinct openness and giving space of our vulnerability -- the site of our most intrinsic strength. When we deny our vulnerability, we forsake ourselves. When we hide from love, we ultimately mask ourselves, and in that same obscurity inadvertently suppress all our gifts and inner treasures. Love needs an illuminating nakedness, a total stripping away of every fearful layer and veil of faintheartedness. How can we ask that love wraps us in her arms when we do not at first dare to expose her from our own darkness and fear to be seen? When we reveal ourselves to love, love unconditionally shows up.
The mechanics of our heart
Our hearts are configured to our own electro-magnetic rhythm and resonance. Hearts collide, feel and connect through an honest and tenacious exchange of higher love. Some may say that to love so openly is to show weakness, yet the infinite depth of a boundless love is the greatest measure of strength. Our elemental fragility is a bestowal we all carry -- it is the trademark of our humanity. When we shut down that inner brilliance as if it were a broken piece of our heart's engine, we lock ourselves out of life and every worthwhile experience that stems from it.
A locked out heart does not take chances, fight for dreams, or breathe in the wonders of living. Life essentially comes to a half-hearted halt. Fear casts an anxious shadow over our heart-space while love beams its amorous rays, and trust guides us through while suspicion keeps us asking questions. When we realize the capacity of our heart's true call, then we gain an idea of our vital inner strength and unique impression on all that we touch... and all that has the courage to touch us back.
Attachments to past wounds and old hurts
We deny our heart when we hold on to past wounds and the specters of old pain, some of which we may have never really recovered from. That inner pain erects another layer over the source of our vulnerability; it creates a sharper edge over what was once softer and imbued with love. The fears that we all feel at being exposed arise like scaffolding from the base of our being and cut right through the center of our heart. We allow fears and old ghosts to set up home in our space that was always intended as love's abundant abode.
We lose the truth of love when we encourage what has hurt us to overstay its welcome. When we cling to historic pain, it only tightens its grip on our heart. Our pain does not need our protection, it simply needs our love. When we patiently sift through inner anguish and weeping wounds, we can direct them to an exit point of rest and release. We move back to the nakedness of our soul when we can begin to peel back each layer of upset from every sword that left its mark. Liberating old wounds helps us find a pathway back to our heart's true north.
Being a heart-led human
Our mind will always channel fear and foreboding into our mind-space as a means of protection from us disclosing too much of our heart. Yet to refind the reality of love, we can swim towards an openness that we experienced before we felt heartbreak, betrayal, manipulation, and emotional weariness. We can reach that place of valiant vulnerability when we revert back to the loving intention we hold within; one that is resilient and mighty; electric and compelling.
We find revelation when we strip back our fears and tainted illusions. We are guided by our heart-led compass when we consciously rediscover each part of our intuitive tenderness. It is the love within us that flows like water, breathes in the newest air, and embraces each nuance and seemingly imperfect part of who we are. To know love, we must first be love -- unafraid, devoted and assured.
The beauty of vulnerability
As adventure-driven children, we innately knew love's value, and loved fearlessly, with our hearts wide open. We understood that its magic is free and expansive, with an all-consuming yearning that remains tucked away within us all; our fine blueprint.
Search for the blueprint by first acknowledging that it exists. We redefine love by being the most authentic expression and mirror of it -- propelled from within, with a velvety warmth that is intensely strong, yet exquisitely soft.
For more inspirational messages, check out theselove quotes