Q-Tip
Q-Tip
Cotton swabsor cotton budsconsist of a small wad of cotton wrapped around one or both ends of a short rod, usually made of either wood, rolled paper, or plastic. They are commonly used in a variety of applications including first aid, cosmetics application, cleaning, and arts and crafts. The cotton swab is a tool invented in the 1920s by Leo Gerstenzang after he attached wads of cotton to toothpicks. His product, which he named "Baby Gays", went on to become...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth10 April 1970
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I definitely move to the beat of my own drummer and man, he's not playing something anyone has heard before. It's pretty cool, though. Pretty cool.
It's called 'I Wanna Thank You,' and I'm encouraging everybody out there to blog, Tweet, Facebook, anything about it. Let's sign a petition. The petition is called 'Busta Rhymes Make 'I Wanna Thank You' Your First Single.'
Dealing with those personalities and the people who run this music thing has been most challenging. It's hard to really communicate things to people who run a business yet forget the nature of the business. They only look at the bottom line and the financial return, you know, they forget what it is they're packaging. It's art.
The song, 'Life is Better,' is about hip-hop. It's about my love for hip-hop. And, you know, I go through all the artists from the beginning to the end, you know. And, well, not to the end, but since the beginning to now, you know.
I think I have great responsibility, and when I do my music, when I try to relate to my audience, I just try to do it in an honest fashion, you know, just try to be as earnest as possible and sometime it may be self-effacing. Sometimes it may be finger-pointing. Sometimes it may be beautiful, and sometime it may be ugly.
I'm in a hallowed league of artists. Whether it's Billie Holiday or Rakim or Jimmy Hendrix or... I don't know, MGMT, we're all blessed to be able to create. It's a lineage that extends a long time. And to be able to be active in it and have made a difference in it, it's humbling. To know I had a place in all of this; that's the rewarding part.
I don't really listen to my work. If I have to DJ and I play something, I hear it. But I don't sit quietly and listen to my work; I'm always off to do the next thing.
I feel like Barack Obama, kind of in a political sense, embodies that same kind of spirit as a Q-Tip or a Santogold or a Common. I feel like there is a synergy going on here in this country and abroad. I feel like the doors are open, and it's time to push them wide open.
I read the Koran and it appealed to me. At the time I was agnostic and it really breathed spiritually back into me. For me it's really a cushion; it's cool, I'm cool with it.
I shot a movie with Nicole Kidman that I got cut out of - it was crap anyways.
I sang in church, but growing up in the neighborhood, music was more of an expression of relief or entertainment.
A lot of people who curate in the business, and curate the art, don't really have good artistic sense. They may know commerce, but they aren't savvy enough to know how to balance commerce and art, you know? They don't know how to satisfy both palates.
I feel like Obama in a way. His idea that hope means not shrinking from a fight; it's the courage to reach for something. My music is that. Those are principles I try to embody.