Inspiring Words: 30 Powerful Quotes from Rappers

"Guard your heart. Protect your dreams, and be mindful of your actions."

- Tupac Shakur

"I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man."

- Jay-Z

"They say you can’t turn a bad girl good, but once a good girl’s gone bad, she’s gone forever."

- Jay-Z

"The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed."

- Eminem

"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."

- Tupac Shakur

"Love yourself and your expression, you can’t go wrong."

- Kendrick Lamar

"My mama always used to tell me: ‘If you can’t find somethin’ to live for, you best find somethin’ to die for.'"

- Tupac Shakur

"If you don’t love yourself, I’ll make you see your own heart."

- Kanye West

"Don’t let the sadness from the past and the fear of the future ruin the happiness of the present."

- Wiz Khalifa

"I’d shoot for the moon, but I’m too busy gazing at stars."

- Eminem

"I ain’t no joke, I’m on this mic to choke and provoke."

- Big L

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

- Ice Cube

"I’m a hustler, baby; I sell water to a well!"

- Jay-Z

"The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary."

- Will Smith

"Bitches ain’t shit, and they ain’t sayin’ nuthin’. A hundred muthafuckas can’t tell me nuthin’."

- Nicki Minaj

"A crown for a king, a ring for a slave."

- Kendrick Lamar

"I speak for the voiceless, the overlooked, the downtrodden."

- Public Enemy

"We may be living in a strange time, but that’s no excuse to not make art that’s ours."

- Outkast

"I’m breakin’ the rules, homie, what more can you ask?"

- Missy Elliott

"Shoot for the stars, so if you fall you land on a cloud."

- Kanye West

"My life’s a movie, but the ending is unwritten."

- Nas

"I’m grateful for the struggle, I wouldn’t be me without it."

- J. Cole

"Keep ya head up."

- Tupac Shakur

"They say I rap about violence, all I rap about is life."

- Ice Cube

"I’m livin’ the dream I used to write in my notebook."

- J. Cole

"I’m proud to be a role model, but not a perfect one."

- Nicki Minaj

"I’m black and I’m proud, I’m loud and I’m wrong."

- Public Enemy

"I used to rap for cool points, now I rap for selling points."

- Kanye West

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present."

- Inspectah Deck (Wu-Tang Clan)

"No one can tell you who you are."

- Kendrick Lamar

"Nothing lasts forever but at least we got these memories."

- J. Cole

"Before you ask why someone hates you, ask yourself why you give a fuck."

- Tupac Shakur

"Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take ten forward."

- Nipsey Hussle

"If god got us, then we gon’ be alright."

- Kendrick Lamar

"Don’t believe everything you hear. Real eyes, realize, real lies."

- 2Pac

"Be your own biggest fan, your own biggest believer, and put it on your back and carry the weight."

- Nipsey Hussle

"Girl, keep your head up."

- Tupac

"Nothing really changes until I change myself."

- Kendrick Lamar

"I write rhymes in the dark, scared to turn on the light."

- J. Cole

"I’m the king of chillin’, ain’t no need to flex."

- A$AP Rocky

"Diamonds on my wrist so cold, they could give you frostbite."

- Big Boi

"School is important, but education is key."

- Kendrick Lamar

"You have to hurt in order to know. Fall in order to grow. Lose in order to gain. Because most of life’s lessons are learned in pain."

- J. Cole

"Imma be the way i am ‘til i die and if you don’t like it, die first b*tch."

- Cardi B

"When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen."

- Drake

"Nobody on this earth is perfect. Everybody has their flaws; everybody has their dark secrets and vices."

- Juice WRLD

"Don’t let nobody who gave up on their dreams talk you outta yours."

- Rod Wave

"Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time."

- Drake

"Its fu**** up how people get judged for being real, and how people get loved for being fake."

- Tupac Shakur

"We are trying to hide our feelings, but we forgot that our eyes speak."

- Juice WRLD

"Sometimes a loss is the best thing that can happen. It teaches you what you should have done next time."

- Snoop Dogg

"People never change, they just get better at hiding who they really are."

- Kanye West

"No matter how hard it gets, stick to your chest out, keep your head up and handle it."

- Tupac

"We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves."

- Biggie Smalls

"The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment."

- Drake

"You gotta be able to smile through the bullshit."

- Tupac Shakur

"You could name practically any problem in the hood and there’d be a rap song for you."

- Nas

"Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness."

- Kanye West

"Only God can judge me."

- Tupac Shakur

"No matter where life takes me, find me with a smile."

- Mac Miller

"If you admire somebody, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them."

- Kanye West

"You can make something of your life, it just depends on your drive."

- Eminem

"Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself."

- Jay Z

"Being alone really makes you realize all you got is yourself."

- XXXTENTACION

"You are only as real as the people you surround yourself with."

- Pop Smoke

"If it’s not the right time, there will always be another time."

- Drake

"I choose me, I’m sorry."

- Kendrick Lamar

"Ain’t no way in hell somebody sorry about some shit they keep doing to you."

- Roddy Rich

"I advise you to not hide your feelings, don’t pretend to be okay when you’re not okay, don’t pretend to be happy when you’re sad, it’ll only lead to your misery."

- XXXTENTACION

"Whatever you see you gotta keep a sense of humor; you gotta be able to smile through all the bullshit."

- Tupac Shakur

"Don’t be afraid to be wrong because you can’t learn anything from a compliment."

- Kanye West

"Success is the best revenge."

- Kanye West

"Sometimes the person you’d take a bullet for ends up being the one behind the gun."

- Tupac Shakur

"You got to get rid of doubt, if you doubt what you’re doing it’s not not going to work."

- Nipsey Hussle

"For every dark night, there’s a brighter day."

- 2PAC

"The game will test you, but never fold. Stay ten toes down. It’s not on you, it’s in you, and what’s in you, they can never take away."

- Nipsey Hussle

"It seems like every time you come up something happens to bring you back down."

- Tupac Shakur

"Any friend that turns into an enemy has been hating since day one."

- 2PAC

"Can’t fake love, I just want someone who really cares."

- 21 SAVAGE

"No one in life can enjoy peace until they know the meaning of it."

- Nipsey Hussle

"Life without dreaming is a life without meaning."

- J. Cole

"I don’t sleep. I got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality."

- 50 Cent

"My rhymes are so butter, they put Crisco to shame."

- Lil Wayne

"And what goes around comes around just like the blades on the chainsaw."

- Eminem

"I’m so shy I wouldn’t hurt a fly. I take that back, I swat flies all the time."

- Busta Rhymes

"Last night I ate a whole watermelon. I regret nothing. I don’t even like watermelon that much."

- Nicki Minaj

"If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t doin’ nothin’ right."

- Kanye West

"I’m so ripped, I gotta iron my abs every morning."

- Ludacris

"I went to the bank the other day. They said ‘sorry, we don’t take Monopoly money.'"

- 50 Cent

"Sometimes I wonder if my jokes are funny, or everyone’s just scared of me."

- Snoop Dogg

"I’m worth more than a lottery ticket, but even a lottery ticket can change your life."

- LL Cool J

"I rap better than I dance. Well, actually, I don’t dance at all."

- J. Cole

"Broke is a joke, so I keep my pockets on swole."

- Trina

"I’m a lyrical genius, some might call it deranged."

- Eminem

"I’m allergic to broke. I break out in hives."

- Migos

"I’m poetic when I’m angry."

- Lauryn Hill

"They told me I couldn’t rap about money, now they asking me for features."

- Cardi B

"I’m a walking contradiction, half ambition, half vacation."

- A Tribe Called Quest

"I take pride in working very hard. You need to understand that hard work doesn’t instantly pay off. My career grew gradually and taught me a lesson every step of the way."

- Trey Songz

"Struggle and survival, losing and winning, doesn’t matter. It’s entering the race that counts. You enter, you can win, you can lose...but it’s all about entering the race."

- Pam Grier

"life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform."

- Samuel L. Jackson

"Whatever will be, will be."