“I think a lot of people imagine modern-day rappers in the studio with pen and paper writing down their raps, coming up with them, whittling them down, changing them.” I stopped writing. Not many people write.'' “Back when people used tape, there was only one take. So everyone had to behave properly.'' “For example, there used to be a time before there were 24 tracks. When a singer came in, he had to sing it. [expletive], top to bottom, baby. I needed to understand that. “Most music up until about 20 years ago was always recorded on tape. It's more of a process. It's much more labor intensive and a little boring.” Rap: “If you strike three times, you might explode.” “No –” “I once saw Tupac give a speech — 'Hey, we have two hours of studio time. Get ready and come here.'” “We have one. “We don't have the time or the luxury to spend all this time making one song. “Fast forward a little bit. Rumors started to spread that I wasn't writing it down.'' “So you literally go into the studio and compose sentences in your head?'' “Yeah.'' “And spit it out to the beat?'' “Yeah.” “So you've never written down your lyrics?” “Never.” “That's what makes other rappers want to do the same thing.” “Jay wrote them down. “I never wanted to see a pen or paper again in my life.'' “He's in class and is at the front of the lunch line. Thanks to my lunch ticket, it's lunch time. “All I know is that when I see a hero who can jump 7 feet, I want to jump 8 feet.'' “If it were up to me, out of 10. 10 points.'' “You're telling me you're no longer in love with me.'' “I've come to the trenches.'' “The problem is, not all of them are that good, not all of them can do it. ” “Yes, please listen.” [rapping] “It's not a pen or a pad. They just go in and punch in.” “Punch in.” “Punch method.” “Punch and record'' “Punch three more bars.'' “I've never written a rap. I just rap.'' “Do you write or type?'' “I punches in. “I don't write.'' “Today, ProTools is essentially like pen and paper, and this different type of art form comes out of it.'' “It's improvisational. You know what I'm saying?'' “It's like freehand and tracing.'' “Oh, okay.'' “That part is for me. Please, just hit me.'' “The artist may not have actually written the song, but he's not necessarily freestyling in the traditional sense, he's just joining in and starting out. “I say what comes to mind and do it for four minutes straight.'' “I say it one bar at a time, punching it in.'' “I carry a non-foldable rack in my wallet.'' You've got a deposit. “One line at a time.'' “That bar, and you said that bar, and you play it all together. Like a whole sentence. It sounds like, “They use punch-ins as a way to create rhymes, not as a way to fix them.'' Yeah, I think it's really a generational thing.''But sometimes I write something. “Don't you think we could do something better?” “No.” “Isn't that for you?” “No. [expletive] that. “Rap has grown. Rap has evolved, and there are always good and bad evolutions. What we're seeing is a lot of the same lanes being explored over and over again.” “People might think, oh, I'm just rapping about this, or I'm just rapping about easy rhyme schemes and easy things, but the studio… It's very, very impressive that writing five songs a day, seven days a week, about a new topic sounds different.'' “It's a sport. Instead of one song a night, we're going to do five songs a night and keep pushing it.''It's not that our artistry isn't appreciated, but it's more like, okay, how quickly can we get this done? “And what I'm saying is, the non-professional rap culture is my own child. People were like, “I'm just a wild cat, but I'm going to rap.'' [rapping] “I jumped off the porch and bought a gun.” “I want people to know that you're not Jay-Z and you're not a failure.” “Write me on the phone. It's about you when you're there, when you're writing it on paper, when you're punching in outside the dome. It doesn't matter.” Like, writing it down doesn't have the same energy as saying it.'' “You can't really shove your technique over the head of a younger generation, right? Ultimately, it's the best end result. It is important to obtain [rapping] “I respect everything because everything takes effort, everything takes thought. Even if you're sitting on a pad, you have to spend four hours figuring it out, piecing it together, typing it out. But if the end result moves people's emotions, then the art is worth it.”
