200+ Best Jay-Z Quotes of All Time

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Here is an ultimate collection of the 200+ best Jay-Z quotes of all time. Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, businessman, and record producer. Jay-Z is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide. Aside from music Jay-Z also turned his attention…

Best Jay Z Quotes min

Here is an ultimate collection of the 200+ best Jay-Z quotes of all time.

Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, businessman, and record producer. Jay-Z is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide.

Aside from music Jay-Z also turned his attention to business and other ventures. In 2017, Jay-Z is the first rapper to be included into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Below are some of Jay-Z’s quotes that will inspire you towards success.

Best Jay-Z quotes of all time

“I’m not a ‘Business-Man’! I’m a Business… man! Let me handle my business, damn!” – Jay-Z

“Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don’t even have to like your music. If you’re big enough, people are drawn to you.” – Jay-Z

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – Jay-Z

“I’m hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. That’s what this world is about.” – Jay-Z

“I went through hell, I’m expecting heaven.” – Jay-Z

“I believe everyone in the world is born with genius-level talent. Apply yourself to whatever you’re genius at, and you can do anything in the world.” – Jay-Z

“It’s hilarious a lot of times. You have a conversation with someone, and he’s like, ‘You speak so well!’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? Do you understand that’s an insult?” – Jay-Z

“I would run into the corner store, the bodega, and just grab a paper bag or buy juice – anything just to get a paper bag. And I’d write the words on the paper bag and stuff these ideas in my pocket until I got back. Then I would transfer them into the notebook.” – Jay-Z

“Racism is taught in the home. We agree on that? Well, it’s very hard to teach racism to a teenager who’s listening to rap music and who idolizes, say, Snoop Dogg. It’s hard to say, ‘That guy is less than you.’ The kid is like, ‘I like that guy, he’s cool. How is he less than me?” – Jay-Z

“Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way. And I grew up in rap and movies the same way.” – Jay-Z

“I come from a place where you had to keep your word, where people would stick with you no matter what…I just tried to be a man of my word.” – Jay-Z

“Belief in oneself and knowing who you are, I mean, that’s the foundation for everything great.” – Jay-Z

“I believe you can speak things into existence.” – Jay-Z

“May the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows.” – Jay-Z

“Everyone needs a chance to evolve.” – Jay-Z

“The genius thing we did was, we didn’t give up.” Jay-Z

“You have to take your craft seriously every day.” Jay-Z

“With education comes refinement.” – Jay-Z

“I’m not concerned with noise because I’m playing the long game.” – Jay-Z

“This is black superhero music right here, baby!” – Jay-Z

WATCH THIS EVERYDAY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE - Jay Z Motivational Speech 2023

Jay-Z motivational quotes

Best Jay Z motivational quotes min

“I try to work with brands that have some sort of partnerships there. I don’t do one off deals but try to work on partnerships as opposed to one off endorsement deals.” – Jay-Z

“If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it. The beat is everywhere, but every life has to find its own flow.” – Jay-Z

“A wise man once told me luck isn’t some mystical energy that dances around the universe randomly bestowing people with satisfaction and joy, you create your own luck.” – Jay-Z

“When the TV version of Annie came on, I was drawn to it. It was the struggle of this poor kid in this environment and how her life changed. It immediately resonated.” – Jay-Z

“The more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make ’relieving’ the suffering of the addicts.” – Jay-Z

“The truth about talent is first, that it’s G-d Given. When you want to unleash that talent, your mind lets it go. Because it’s there. You have to have that belief that when you draw from that well of talent that it’s going to be there.” – Jay-Z

“I believe that the energy you put out in the world; you get back.” – Jay-Z

“Growing up, politics never trickled down to the areas we come from. But people from Obama’s camp, and Obama himself, reached out to me and asked for my help on the campaign. We’ve sat and had dinner, and we’ve spoken on the phone. He’s a very sharp guy. Very charming. Very cool.” – Jay-Z

“The record company would be my bridge to those people I could connect with, but they didn’t give me that bridge, so it was a very important part of my career that we didn’t give up right there. That belief in myself, and belief that I had something to offer, so we built our own bridge, and I started my own record company.” – Jay-Z

“Everyday hit every wave, like I’m Hawaiian. I don’t surf the net, no I’ve never been on MySpace, too busy letting my voice vibrate, carving out my space in this world.” – Jay-Z

“I’m feeling like the worlds against me Lord, call me crazy, cuz strangely I love the odds – they gunning for me, they want to see me fall, they know my story, I been through it all, nights I felt like dying, but I ain’t crying, what didn’t kill me, made me strong as I am. I am. I am.” – Jay-Z

“Some said ‘how’d you fly?’ I said from not being afraid of trying to fly” – Jay-Z

“Next time you see the homie and his rims spinnin’, just know my mind is workin’ just like them…the rims that is.” – Jay-Z

“We all have the same fear, the fear of failure. We all have the fear of failure…as someone successful the weight of all that you’ve done is on you.” – Jay-Z, No Hustling Backwards

“The responsibility is to keep pushing it forward, and not relying on the same old gimmicks. You have to push it forward.” – Jay-Z

“I grew up in Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and my mom and pop had an extensive record collection, so Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and all of those sounds and souls of Motown filled the house.” – Jay-Z

“The average rap life is two or three albums. You’re lucky to get to your second album in rap!” – Jay-Z

“Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can’t.” – Jay-Z

“Everything evens up, you just wait. Even a garage can gets a steak. You are not even a garbage can, you have faith!” – Jay-Z

“We hustle out of a sense of hopelessness. Sort of a desperation. Through that desperation, we become addicted. But we feel we have nothing to list. So we offer you, well, we offer our lives. What do you bring to the table?” – Jay-Z

Jay Z Leaves the Audience SPEECHLESS | One of the Best Motivational Speeches Ever

Jay-Z inspirational quotes

“Do things that are true to you. Most things that I’m involved with is being creative and things that I like. Get involved with things that you love and be sure to have a standard and integrity with what you’re doing.” – Jay-Z

“Told me don’t wait on nobody, go get your own, so it’s me, myself, and my Microphone.” – Jay-Z

“Only thing that’s on my mind, is who’s gonna run this town tonight.” – Jay-Z

“There are 2 possibilities: 1 is that there’s more to life than the physical life, that our souls ‘will find and even higher place to dwell’ when this life is over. It that’s true, there’s no reason to fear failure or death. The other possibility is that this life is all there is. And if that’s true, then we have to really live it- we have to take it for everything it has and ‘die enormous’ instead of ‘living dormant’, as I said way back on ‘can I live’. Either way, fear is a waste of time.” – Jay-Z

“Only two things can get you through this: that’s patience and persistence.” – Jay-Z

“They say you put the right artist with the right track in the studio, leave the door cracked, and let G-d in.” – Jay-Z

“I’d rather live enormous than live dormant.” – Jay-Z

“I see I said, jealousy I said, got the whole world mad at me, I said to my one of a kind self.” – Jay-Z

“It just got to a point where it was, like, “Make this decision, because this is something you really love and you love to do. It’s time to really focus on and then get serious about it, give it your all.” And once I did that, it was no looking back from there.” – Jay-Z

“The thing that distinguished (Michael) Jordan wasn’t his talent, but his discipline, his laser-like commitment to excellence. That’s something I always respect, especially in people who have great natural talents already.” – Jay-Z

“There are a lot of things that I lived in the street that helped me in the music business… I knew what characters not to have around me.” – Jay-Z

“What you see is what you reflect. If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve done something.” – Jay-Z

“Then ask: ‘Why is life worth livin’?’ Is it to gun for the sh*t that you want? To receive is great, but I lust givin’” – Jay-Z

“It’s always been most important for me to figure out ‘my space’ rather than trying to check out what everyone else is up to, minute by minute. Technology is making it easier to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to yourself – and that’s essential for any artists, I think.” – Jay-Z

“When you step outside of school and have to teach yourself about life, you develop a different relationship to information. I’ve never been a purely linear thinker. You can see it in my rhymes. My mind is always jumping around, restless, making connections, mixing and matching ideas, rather than marching in a straight line. That’s why I’m always stressing focus.” – Jay-Z

“It’s a brand new world. Let me show you.” – Jay-Z

“If ya’ll can’t already see, I ain’t worried about ya’ll, ‘cause I’m already me. “ – Jay-Z

“If it’s you and me against the world, then so be it.” – Jay-Z

“Photoshoot fresh looking like wealth, I’m about to call the paparazzi on myself.” – Jay-Z

“A man who doesn’t take care of his family, can’t be rich.” Jay-Z

“One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That’s the American ideal. Poor people don’t like talking about poverty because even though they might live in the projects surrounded by other poor people and have, like, ten dollars in the bank, they don’t like to think of themselves as poor.” Jay-Z

“This communist talk is so confusing” – Jay-Z

“Allow me to re-introduce myself .. I am the jabroni-beating, pie-eating, trail-blazing, eyebrow-raising.” – Jay-Z

Jay Z Life Advice Will Leave You SPEECHLESS (ft. Will Smith) | Eye Opening Speeches

Jay-Z quotes on success

“Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who’ve never done anything because if you haven’t been successful, then you don’t know how it feels to lose it all.” – Jay-Z

“Those who are successful overcome their fears and take action. Those who aren’t submit to their fears and live with regrets.” – Jay-Z

“You learn more in failure than you ever do in success.” – Jay-Z

“You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip, you can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.” – Jay-Z

“That’s why this generation is the least racist generation ever. You see it all the time. Go to any club. People are intermingling, hanging out, having fun, enjoying the same music. Hip-hop is not just in the Bronx anymore. It’s worldwide. Everywhere you go, people are listening to hip-hop and partying together. Hip-hop has done that.” – Jay-Z

“Leave a mark they can’t erase, neither space nor time.” – Jay-Z

“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.” – Jay-Z

“They say a midget standing on a giant’s shoulders can see much further than the giant. So I got the whole rap world on my shoulders, they are trying to see further than I am.” – Jay-Z

“All I got is dreams. Nobody else believes. Nobody else can see. Nobody else but me.” – Jay-Z

“If people don’t hate you, you’re probably not doing very big things.” – Jay-Z

“People look at you strange, say you changed. Like you worked that hard to stay the same.”– Jay-Z

“I’m a hustler baby; I sell water to a well.” – Jay-Z

“I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.” – Jay-Z

“I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over.” – Jay-Z

“Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week.” – Jay-Z

“By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn’t need a pen or paper – my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.” – Jay-Z

“I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me.” – Jay-Z

Jay Z FINALLY Reveals His Secret To Success [EYE-OPENING]

Jay-Z quotes on hard work

“A poet’s mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.” – Jay-Z

“If you look at my career and you look at the span of my work and the things I have done, as far as to garner fame, you’ll see that I have turned down more interviews than I do. Or I turn down more things than I do.” – Jay-Z

“I think it’s very important for hip-hop, when an artist reaches a certain level, to ascend to executive work.” – Jay-Z

“I’m just saying the producers and people who work on music are getting left out – that’s when it starts getting criminal. It’s like you’re working hard, and you’re not receiving. In any other business, people would be standing before Congress. They have antitrust laws against this kind of behavior.” – Jay-Z

“I’m far from being god, but I work god damn hard.” – Jay-Z

Jay Z Life Advice Will Leave You SPEECHLESS (ft. Kanye West) | Eye Opening Speeches

Jay-Z quotes on songs & hip-hop

“Put me anywhere on God’s green earth, I’ll triple my worth. Motherf–. I, will, not, lose.” – Jay-Z

“Hip-hop has done so much for racial relations, and I don’t think it’s given the proper credit. It has changed America immensely. I’m going to make a very bold statement: Hip-hop has done more than any leader, politician, or anyone to improve race relations.” – Jay-Z

“Hip-hop gave a generation a common ground that didn’t require either race to lose anything; everyone gained.” – Jay-Z

“Far from a Harvard student, just had the balls to do it.” – Jay-Z

“And through our travels we get separated, never forget: In order to survive, got to learn to live with regrets.” – Jay-Z

“Screamin’ ‘Carpe Diem!’ until I’m a Dead Poet.” – Jay-Z

“The Nets’ a stone throw from where I used to throw bricks…So it’s only right I’m still tossing ’round Knicks.” – Jay-Z

“As fate would have it, Jay’s status appears to be at an all-time high, perfect time to say goodbye when I come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5.” – Jay-Z

“I got this black chick, she doesn’t know how to act, always talkin’ out her neck, makin’ her fingers snap she like, “Listen Jigga Man, I don’t care if you rap you better – R-E-S-P-E-C-T me.” – Jay-Z

“Got some dirt on my shoulder, could you brush it off for me?” – Jay-Z

“Ex-D-boy, used to park my Beamer Now look at me, I can park in my own arena.” – Jay-Z

“I gave you prophecy on my first joint, and y’all lamed out. Didn’t really appreciate it, ’til the second one came out” – Jay-Z

“Can I hit it in the morning without giving you my dough?” – Jay-Z

“Now success was like lust, she’s good to the touch, She’s good for the moment, but she’s never enough.” – Jay-Z

“Hip-hop is a perfect mix between poetry and boxing.” – Jay-Z

“Which is the other reason hip-hop is controversial: People don’t bother trying to get it. The problem isn’t in the rap or the rapper or the culture. The problem is that so many people don’t even know how to listen to the music.” – Jay-Z

“Wherever I go, I bring the culture with me, so that they can understand that it’s attainable. I didn’t do it any other way than through hip-hop.” – Jay-Z

“I can think of no one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon Def Jam’s fantastic legacy and move the company into its next groundbreaking era.” – Jay-Z

“I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. Reid and Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community.” – Jay-Z

“I noticed that difference early on, like if you were successful in rock ‘n’ roll, that was a really bad thing, you almost had to hide it. You had these guys selling 200 million records with dirty T-shirts on. I was like, ‘Come on, man. Come on. We know you’re successful.’ Hip-hop is more about attaining wealth. People respect success. They respect big. They don’t even have to like your music. If you’re big enough, people are drawn to you.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z quotes about hustling

 “You have to find your genius level talent, and then to apply it in a way that supports that genius level talent.” – Jay-Z

“A wise man once told me don’t argue with fools, because from a distance you can’t tell who is who.” – Jay-Z

“I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that. I collect art, and I drink wine… Things that I like that I had never been exposed to. But I never said ‘I’m going to buy art to impress this crowd’. That’s just ridiculous to me. I don’t like my life like that, because how could you be happy with yourself?” – Jay-Z

“Always be inspired.” – Jay-Z

“By far for me the most important thing is inspiration.” – Jay-Z

“I couldn’t even think about wanting to be something else: I wouldn’t let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn’t stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.” – Jay-Z

 “Whenever inspiration won’t find you, you have to find it.” – Jay-Z

“It was drive: we toured the whole eastern seaboard…we would just drive ourselves and do a show with just 20 people in the show.” – Full Video Jay-Z on Law of attraction part 2 of 2

“You have to realize what’s behind it (criticism), because I don’t know these guys (critics), but I know it’s more of a competitive thing, and it just comes with the job.” – Jay-Z

“It’s the discipline to not get caught up in the moment (fads), people tend to get caught up in emotions and jump on the next hot thing. So for me just to have the discipline and the confidence in who I am, and if I go into a studio and I find my truth for the moment, there are a number of people who can relate to what I’m saying, and what I’m doing. Not because it’s the new thing, but because it’s my genuine emotion, and how I articulate the world.” – Jay-Z

“I’m inspired by life, and all sorts of things. You could say something right now and it would inspire me to write a song.” – Jay-Z

“I have a lot of happiness, but that doesn’t mean that the two (money and happiness) equate to each other…they’re not tied to each other…”- Jay-Z

“Life is about balance, you have to have time for work, and time for play. If you don’t allow these two things to co-exist you have an imbalance.” – Jay-Z

“The genius thing that we did was we didn’t give up, we didn’t say ‘Because these guys…’ we used that ‘What do they know’ approach, and didn’t give up.” – Jay-Z

“Instincts are really important in business. I didn’t go to any business school 101 or anything like that, I pretty much just followed my instincts.” – Jay-Z

“Most people that were successful growing up where I was from never came back. So there was never a dialogue on ‘how did you do it’ ‘what happened’ there was no mentoring program…no going back teaching a person a trade or what you do…so that’s why I figured I’d started the school, because education is the answer.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z quotes on money

“Money and power don’t change you; they just further expose your true self.” – Jay-Z

“The truth is you don’t need some external demon to take control of you to turn you into a raging, money-obsessed sociopath, you only need to let loose the demons you already have inside of you.” – Jay-Z

“The truth is that drug addicts have a disease. It only takes a short time in the streets to realize that out-of-control addiction is a medical problem, not a form of recreational or criminal behavior. And the more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make “relieving” the suffering of the addicts.” – Jay-Z

“You can put a new shirt on your back, slide a fresh chain around your neck, and accumulate all the money and power in the world, but at the end of the day those are just layers. Money and power don’t change you, they just further expose your true self.” – Jay-Z

“You make your first album, you make some money, and you feel like you still have to show face, like ‘I still go to the projects.’ I’m like, why? Your job is to inspire people from your neighborhood to get out. You grew up there. What makes you think it’s so cool?” – Jay-Z

“The experiences that I’ve had growing up with music, you know, I couldn’t trade them for any money in the world. Dancing in the living room to enjoy myself. ‘Enjoy Yourself,’ Michael Jackson.” – Jay-Z

“Do you know how many athletes go broke three years after they stop playing? I want to help them hold on to their money. I mean, I know about budgets.” – Jay-Z

“I don’t sit around with my friends and talk about money, ever. On a record, that’s different.” – Jay-Z

“Hip-hop from the beginning has always been aspirational. It always broke that notion that an artist can’t think about money as well. Just so long as you separate the two and you’re not making music with business in mind. At some point, it has to be real when they touch it, when they listen to it. Something has to resonate with them that’s real.” – Jay-Z

“That was the greatest trick in music that people ever pulled off, to convince artists that you can’t be an artist and make money. I think the people that were making the millions said that. It was almost shameful, especially in rock n’ roll.” – Jay-Z

“I never wanted to just glamorize the playa lifestyle and not touch on the down side. I wanted everyone who’s in a desperate situation to know that, if they wanna choose that kinda lifestyle, they gotta be aware of everything that comes with it! It’s not just about the cars, the ladies and the money.” – Jay-Z

“I think in London – and I don’t wanna offend anybody in America, but this is a real statement – they still have the right approach to making music. In the U.S., people see it as a way to make money; they see it as a means to get out. It’s a hustle, which is great – any way you can provide for your family that’s legal is fantastic.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z quotes on love

“When you’re truly in love. You will never have anything to hide.” – Jay-Z

“When you’re growing up, your dad is your superhero. Once you’ve let yourself fall in love with someone, once you put him on such a high pedestal and he lets you down, you never want to experience that pain again.” – Jay-Z

“Either love me or leave me alone.” – Jay-Z

“We change people through conversation, not through censorship.” – 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

“Jealousy is a weak emotion.” – Jay-Z

“Males shouldn’t be jealous. That’s a female trait.” – Jay-Z

“Without the work, the magic won’t come.” – Jay-Z

“Life is a gift, love opens it up.” – Jay-Z

“Nine to five is how ya survive, I ain’t trying to survive. I’m trying to live it to the limit and love it alive.” – Jay-Z

“Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be and so I put this on my life. Nobody or nothing will ever come between us and I promise I’ll give my life.” – Jay-Z

“I like a girl who spends a little cash for her shoes.” – Jay-Z

“My tears is tatted, my rag in my pocket / Im just looking for love, I know somebody got it.” – Jay-Z

“You shared one of the most intimate things that ever happened to you – falling in love with someone who wasn’t brave enough to love you back. Your relieving yourself of your ‘secret’ is as much about wanting to honestly connect as it is about exhibition. We are all made better by your decision to share publicly.” – Jay-Z

“I love you so, But why I love you, I’ll never know.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z quotes on loyalty

“I never ask for nothin’ I don’t demand of myself. Honesty, loyalty, friends and then wealth.” – Jay-Z

“It’s not about who is real in your face. It’s about who stays loyal behind your back.” – Jay-Z

“Hustle, Loyalty, Respect.” – Jay-Z

“Don’t tell me what was said about me… Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.” – Jay-Z

“Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.” – Jay-Z

“Never keep company you can’t learn from.” – Jay-Z

“A man who gives consistency will never have to complain about loyalty.” – Jay-Z

“Loyalty is rare. If you find it. Keep it.” – Jay-Z

“Respect is earned, Honesty is appreciated, Love is gained, and Loyalty is returned.

Jay-Z quotes about Beyonce

“She’s beautiful. Who wouldn’t wish she was their girlfriend? Maybe one day [smiles].” – Jay-Z

“Sleeping every night next to Mona Lisa / The modern day version with better features.” – Jay-Z

“You know, I felt dismissive about it, but you’ve got to feel for her. I mean, we’ve got a really charmed life, so how can we complain? But when you think about it, we’re still human beings.” – Jay-Z

“Became my best friend… 20 years old, it was time… before you knew it she made me swallow my pride and my own words… “forever mackin” – 8 years later, married, one kid, She saved me.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z quotes on family

“I thought I would be more inspired to have all these new feelings to talk about, but I really just want to hang out with my daughter.” – Jay-Z

“We were kids without fathers, so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves.” – Jay-Z

“The most amazing feeling I feel. Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real. Maybe I paint the sky blue. My greatest creation was you.” – Jay-Z

“If your dad died before you were born, yeah, it hurts — but it’s not like you had a connection with something that was real. Not to say it’s any better — but to have that connection and then have it ripped away was, like, the worst. My dad was such a good dad that when he left, he left a huge scar. He was my superhero.” – Jay-Z

“She’s my biggest fan. If no one bought the Magna Carta[album], that fact that she loves it so much, it gives me the greatest joy.” – Jay-Z

“Look, Daddy got a gold sippy cup for you!” – Jay-Z

“Everyone imagines they’ll be a great dad until their [kids are] teenagers, saying ‘Get away from me, Dad. You’re embarrassing me,’” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z Quotes about life

“Life is for living, not living uptight. See ya somewhere up in the sky.” – Jay-Z

“As kids we didn’t complain about being poor; we talked about how rich we were going to be and made moves to get the lifestyle we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little money, we were eager to show it.” – Jay-Z

“The burden of poverty isn’t just that you don’t always have the things you need, it’s the feeling of being embarrassed every day of your life, and you’d do anything to lift that burden.” – Jay-Z

“Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself.” – Jay-Z

“My thing is related to who I am as a person. The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I’m feeling at the time, whatever direction I’m heading in. And hopefully, everyone follows.” – Jay-Z

“I’d rather die enormous than live dormant.” – Jay-Z

“Do me a favor. Don’t do me no favors. I handle mine.” – Jay-Z

“Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.” – Jay-Z

“A wise man told me don’t argue with fools. Because people from a distance can’t tell who is who.” – Jay-Z

“I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.” – Jay-Z

“I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of not trying.” – Jay-Z

“I’m like a dog. I never speak, but I understand.” – Jay-Z

“I’m a mirror. If you’re cool with me, I’m cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve done something. If I’m standoffish, that’s because you are.” – Jay-Z

“They talk. We live. Who cares what they say?” – Jay-Z

“You can pay for school but you can’t buy class.” – Jay-Z

Jay Z Interview: How To Change Your Future (EYE-OPENING)!

Famous Jay-Z quotes

“See how the universe works? It takes my hurt and help me find more of myself It’s a gift and a curse” – Jay-Z

“The music is meant to be provocative—which doesn’t mean it’s necessarily obnoxious, but it is (mostly) confrontational, and more than that, it’s dense with multiple meanings.” – Jay-Z

“Crackheads were different. They’d smoke in hallways, on playgrounds, on subway station suitcases. They got no respect. They were former neighbors, ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’, but once they started smoking, they were simply crackheads, the lowest on the food chain in the jungle, worse than prostitutes and almost as bad as snitches.” – Jay-Z

“I’d written America off, at least politically. Of course, it’s my home, and home to millions of people trying to do the right thing, not to mention the home of hip-hop, Quentin Tarantino flicks, the crossover dribble and lots of other things I couldn’t live without. But politically, its history is a travesty. A graveyard. And I knew some of the bodies it buried.” – Jay-Z

“When you reach a certain level of success, relationships between men and women can get really fucked up and start feeling like a raw transaction, with high levels of suspicion on both sides.” – Jay-Z

“Man I’m high off life. Fuck it, I’m WASTED” – Jay-Z

“Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.” – Jay-Z

“No matter where you go you are what you are player and you can try to change but that’s just the top layer man you was who you was before you got here” – Jay-Z

“And all you other cats throwin’ shots at Jigga, | You only get half a bar: fuck y’all niggaz.” – Jay-Z

“Electing a black man named Barack Obama President in the same country that elected George W. Bush – twice! – is as far-fetched as a hustler from Marcy performing at that President’s inauguration. But it happened.” – Jay-Z

“New York has a thousand universes in it that don’t always connect but we do all walk the same streets, hear the same sirens, ride the same subways, see the same headlines in the Post, read the same writings on the walls. That shared landscape gets inside of all of us and, in some small way, unites us, makes us think we know each other even when we don’t.” – Jay-Z

“In the end, you can’t censor the truth, especially when it comes packaged in hot music.” – Jay-Z

“To me, its just a word, a word whose power is owned by the user and his or her intention. People give words power, so banning a word is futile, really. ‘Nigga’ becomes ‘porch monkey’ becomes ‘coon’ and so on if that’s what’s in a person’s heart. They key is to change the person. And we change people through conversation, not through censorship.” – Jay-Z

“Housing projects can seem like labyrinths to outsiders, as complicated and intimidating as a Moroccan bazaar. But we knew our way around.” – Jay-Z

“We give violent movies a pass but come down hard on a rapper like Scarface, who is ultimately a storyteller just like Brian de Palma. And neither of them is responsible for the poverty and violence that really do shape people’s lives–not to mention their individual choices.” – Jay-Z

“But this is one of the things that makes rap at its best so human. It doesn’t force you to pretend to be only one thing or another, to be a saint or a sinner. It recognizes that you can be true to yourself and still have unexpected dimensions and opposing ideas. Having a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other is the most common thing in the world. The real bullshit is when you act like you don’t have contradictions inside you, that you’re so dull and unimaginative that your mind never changes or wanders into strange, unexpected places.” – Jay-Z

“You could name practically any problem in the hood and there’d be a rap song for you.” – Jay-Z

“You know the type: loud as a motorbike but wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight.” – Jay-Z

“The art of rap is deceptive. It seems so straightforward and personal and real that people read it completely literally, as raw testimony or autobiography. And sometimes the words we use, nigga, bitch, motherfucker, and the violence of the images overwhelms some listeners. It’s all white noise to them till they hear a bitch or a nigga and then they run off yelling “See!” and feel vindicated in their narrow conception of what the music is about.” – Jay-Z

“Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing that truth can be a very powerful thing.” – Jay-Z

Jay Z - 5 Minutes For The NEXT 50 Years of YOUR LIFE

FAQs | Motivational Jay-Z quotes

Here are some frequently asked questions about Jay-Z quotes.

Who is Jay-Z?

Best Jay Z Quotes min

Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, businessman, and record producer. Jay-Z is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide.

Aside from music Jay-Z also turned his attention to business and other ventures. In 2017, Jay-Z is the first rapper to be included into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

What is Jay-Z famous for?

Jay-Z is famous as a rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur.

What is Jay-Z’s real name?

Jay-Z’s real name is Shawn Corey Carter.

What was a famous Jay-Z quote?

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

Looking for more best quotes like this? Check out the posts below:

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Final thoughts on Jay-Z quotes

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