Action Bronson

I don't ever have the pressure of making a hit, because I've never had a hit song, per se. The closest thing to a hit song was 'Shiraz,' and it's not your prototypical hit song, with a catchy hook and all this other stuff.

My childhood was great, honestly. I have all these incredible memories of my childhood. I was an only child. I always had all my cousins around. I had my grandparents around. I had my parents around. I had my uncles around - whatever.

I hope I have a long career, but I really don't think about the future like that. I live, like, for right now, honestly. I take it however it comes.

I guess I am a rapper. It's weird to be called that, or tell someone that's your profession.

I just do whatever I do, and put it out there without tryin' to cater to anybody. If you like it, you like it.

I would say I started rapping because my friends were doin' it.

My mother pretty much raised me to be a free spirit. Anything my father would say, she would tell me, 'No, it's like this.'

I'm rap's vigilante. I'm out for justice.

I've started getting acclimated to writing on the road and on the spot. I just let whatever I feel at the time come out, instead of really sitting there and taking days to write just one song.

You have to take control of your own life, your own destiny, and your own careers. You can't leave everything up to someone else, 'cause then you can look at them and blame them.

If I would make a song dedicated to any woman, it would have to be my mom because, you know, she's been there since I came out of her. She would have to be the one... my mom or my daughter.

When I think of influential females in hip-hop, my mind goes to Foxy Brown, hands down.

I don't even remember the last time I bought an album, honestly.

New York was at the forefront of rap, so because of all the great people who have gone before me, being a rapper from Queens, I have to live up to those standards. I'm basically just a regular guy who says what he feels and likes to joke. I like long walks on the beach... and I love rap.

My 9-year-old daughter can recite every line from 'Easy Rider,' and that is not an easy song to do. She raps all of Nicki Minaj and everything; she's dope. She has my musical ear for sure. She sings, and she's beautiful. It's very powerful.

I'm the Bjorn Boerg of table tennis.

Billy Joel is an incredible musician. He just feels like one of the guys, you know. I grew up listening to his music.

I grew up in the '90s. My goal isn't to be a '90s rapper, but I have little hints of '90s influence in my music. It's a modern approach to classic rap.

I grew up in such a melting pot. There's more ethnicities in Queens than there is in any place on the planet. So you grow up knowing things about other cultures.

No one raps about food like I do. I rap about fine dishes - like, all kinds of things that only real chefs and real foodies are going to know about.

'Molto Mario' was the show that sparked my entire interest in cooking.

You have to be talented. You have to work hard; you have to get the right pieces flowin' for you at the right time. And that's just what happened to me. I can't explain what happened.

This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet.

As far as rap, I was more of a Mobb Deep guy rather than a Tribe guy.

My main influence is Kool G Rap and Cam'ron, pretty much. If you were to mix those two people up, I wish that would be me... This is my voice. I sound like nobody; I sound like me.

I'm a man of different types of flavors and tastes. I like listening to things that inspire me. Older music, when instruments were being played, not just people hitting buttons. It's manlier. You're touching things to make sounds appear.

I have to be able to rap. I don't have the look. I don't have the typical slim-dude, fancy-clothes look. That's not me. I have to be able to rap - there is no other choice, or else I get eaten alive.

When you start putting too much thought into it, the music starts getting too revealing. You don't need to know all my inner thoughts.

I still wake up every day and take my kids to school. It's supposed to be this way.

You don't judge a book by a cover. I'm not your typical rap look.

I come from a musical family as well as a culinary family.

I got a lot of influence from my father, honestly. He'd take me in his car. I'd hear Carlos Santana. I'd hear Queen. I'd hear all these Turkish people, like, bands that he grew up listening to. He was in a band as well.

Everything is creative. It's all relative to me. No matter what, you've gotta use your imagination, use your senses.

I don't wanna be preached to. Unless it's in a beautiful voice, I don't want that.

I'm an honorable human being. I know what to do and what not to do, and if I'm wrong, I always apologize. I'm a big enough man to do that.

I don't put people down. I build people up. That's how I always wanna be looked at.

I could never change the overall feel of my music. That's why people like me - I don't follow trends, and I don't follow crowds.

I live in the moment, and I reflect later.

I pick and choose my battles, but I overthink everything because I have to think about everything.

I get angry real quick, but I also cool down just as fast. Albanians don't want to deal with anything in the moment.

All I can do is put out the good stuff, and people will make the decision on whether they like it. My fans are very intelligent people. They're not stupid. They know what's good.

I'm gonna be honest. I don't care about much. I care about people liking my music. I made it very far without nothing being on radio.

I'm into heavy duty, psychedelic, foreign music. That's what I like listening to.

Penmanship means a lot to me. I don't have cursive penmanship, though. I've created my own penmanship. It's very clear. Everyone can read it. I write things down all day long.

I'm a piece of work, man. I will do what I want, at all times, always. Nobody's going to persuade me one way or another. I can't be persuaded. I take criticism, I listen, I analyze, but at the end of the day, I make the decisions. Because that's the way I started, and that's the way I'm going to finish.

I'm not just a normal guy. I'm a gymnast.

I like every girl. Every kind of girl that there is, I like.

I'm a championship handball player. I'm a championship softball and baseball player. I used to be an extremely talented center in high school in football. I also dabbled in lacrosse and soccer. I'm really good at billiards, darts, shuffleboard.

The best rappers I know are, like, air-conditioner men.

Whenever I cook, I think of Spanish music, so I always have to listen to some sort of salsa. It gets your body going.