Quotes

Its crazy: my name is Artist, and I dead can't even paint.

I was trying to make my name just Artist in the beginning, but it was weird at first, because I wasn't an R&B singer or nothing. Not an R&B singer. I didn't do no melodic songs, none of that yet.

Before I was even famous, I was famous on Facebook.

2017 was crazy when I made the 'Freshman' cover 'cause I looked up to it, and I really wanted to be in it. It was motivation for me after that: I kept on going, and I grinded.

I used to record songs, like, play the beat from one phone and have another phone recording me and just rap. Moving from that to a studio was like, 'Damn, I never knew I could sound like this.' It was just magic.

You can't say I don't sound like a N.Y. rapper - it's because I don't wanna sound like nobody else.

The album 'Hoodie SZN' is about the result of where I come from: it gave me this black heart. And the black heart represents depression.

New York sounds like something that I could really listen to. It's like a vibe; it's a hit song. It's a song that you could listen to in five years and still like.

I started off throwing out 'Artist.' I made that my first mixtape. Then, I threw out 'TBA,' which means 'To Be Announced.'

'Remember the Time' and 'You Rock My World' from Michael Jackson were two of my favorite songs ever. My mom used to bump them all the time.

I'm not really worried about the flashy stuff. I don't got chains and cars. I spend what I need to spend. It doesn't faze me.

I always looked up to people who did more than just rap or focus on music. I'm inspired by the people who put their different talents to use and turned it into something bigger.

I never knew Artist was going to get this big. When I was making it, I put my all into it. But you never know what's going to happen with something you make.

Me and Thugger could make nine songs in a day and then choose which songs we like the most and think is gonna do something. With other people, it's like, we pick one song, and we hope it's the one.

Me and Tory Lanez got good chemistry together. We could make a song so easy, but we always like to figure out what we're really doing. We can make a good song, but it gotta make sense.

Highbridge - everybody rap in Highbridge; everyone grew up rappin' or playing basketball.

People's hustle in the Bronx is real.

When I was 13, before I got in high school, I was writing mad raps. I didn't really know if it was good or not, so for a year, I just held them. When I got in high school, I started spittin' bars.

Not everyone's really got the heart to talk about what's going on with their love in their music.

I had to realize that you can't try to get money, support yourself, and grind doing whatchu need to do at the same time. The music is the grind. You really gotta grind. You gotta find your way around. You can't be stuck tryna get there.

I'm not really rocking with mixtapes no more. EPs and albums - that's it.

I wasn't really comfortable going to college.

Having a daughter made my music, I guess, more meaningful. It made me see more of life when I had my daughter.

I don't wanna learn about more science and math. That's not why I'm going to college.

A lot of people don't know that: that Artist is my name.