Chamillionaire quotes:

These palm trees like my old homeboys, hella shady

Musically, I want to graduate and become one of the greatest. You can't do that just spitting punchlines. I respect those people who say they love that old style, but it would be greedy of them to want me to stay that same person.

When I'm riding in a car, I don't really listen to music. I turn the radio off and just be thinking, brainstorming. I'm one of these people that just like to brainstorm.

People get tired of the same old sound. They want something new.

When I get home and turn on the radio, I hear songs that are new to me, but to everybody else they're old. I try to keep the music fresh in my head.

The streets and the industry are two different things. You could be one super-hot artist in the streets, and you could walk into a corporate building, and people would be like, "Who are you?"

Dumb nerd, scratch everything you already done heard I could go platinum if my album wasn't more than one word.

Eminem's rhyme patterns are super dope and he can squeeze a million words in a couple bars. Crazy creative. His voice changes alot though.

I'll step in an airport just now, and people will recognize me. I'm in Harlem on 144th and whatever, and people are coming up to me like, "What's up, Chamillionaire?" And seeing it grow is, nothing turning into something, that feeling is a really good feeling.

You have to stay focused because a lot of things will break your confidence. But if you stay focused and want it bad enough you can achieve. I know that sounds like a PBS special, but it's true, straight up.

Life is what you make of it. Don't make excuses - make it happen.

A moment will pass, but a movement will last.

The visual is everywhere in the streets, but in the industry, it's like you have to show up at this party and you can't take on the world in one day. It's a gradual process, but you can't let it frustrate you; you just have to keep grinding.

America is fascinated with seeing people have nothing and turn it to something.

Every underground artist has that little chip on his shoulder, like "I'm stuck here, and I'm trying to get out of this little hole that I'm in." You've got this core fan base, but it's limited.

People can see it when you're honest and sincere.

Every now and then, I might listen to music, but I try not to listen to it too much because when you turn on the radio and hear the same song over and over again. You won't appreciate it as much; it won't be as fresh.

What's life if you're not enjoying it?

It would be crazy for me to come out now talking about selling drugs and doing all this stuff I never did for the sake of A&R or records or trying to keep the street buzz or whatever.

A lot of people have that story that they used to sell crack or shoot people; that's nothing new. But honestly, if that was me, I probably still wouldn't be doing that because it's so many people that's doing that. It just gets old when you hear a million raps about how many ways I could shoot you. So I just try to be more creative and come with something new because I actually care about the music.

I just try to do me, and I feel like it works.

I feel like people, when it comes to music, whatever genre, they relate to the story more than just the song.

I don't think people are going to come down to Texas and see every person riding in a candy car or every person sipping syrup. But, for the most part, people got a lot of the stuff right, talking about the screwed music scene.

So much leather inside my car my horn moos.

I try to keep the music fresh in my head. And I don't always listen to rap; I listen to a little bit of everything: R&B, rock.

I'm one of these people that just like to brainstorm.

When you grow up and you start having all these problems and your little sister gets pregnant, you're dealing with all these money problems and bills and the company, you ain't going to want to talk about that. Or maybe you will, but me personally, I just can't do that.

I go out in the streets, and I go to shows, and I see my fans turn from "I like your last rap" to "I feel your movement; you're keeping it all the way real." One thing I've always said is that's never been my story, and I'm not going to go back on my word.

It just gets old when you hear a million raps about how many ways I could shoot you.

I kind of grew up and started maturing.

There are certain fans who want me to rap about the same exact thing, but it's time to grow up.

I'm in a wonderful position now because the rise of the whole Houston scene, the scene that we've been doing for years that people really didn't embrace a long time ago and now they're embracing it. It's good to be in the middle of that during the uprising.

I couldn't make every song about Texas because it wouldn't be new; it wouldn't be a breath of fresh air.

If you go down to Texas, people are real proud about and they rep Texas.

I didn't have nothing handed to me. It's a hard, long road getting to where I'm at. And I think the fans that have been down with me for a long time, they see that. They've been seeing me clawing my way to try to get to the top.

I feel that success is the best revenge in this world.

I just try to be more creative and come with something new because I actually care about the music.

I might tell a story about somebody else, but I don't sit there and do a story about somebody snitching on me selling coke because people know I didn't sell coke. So I just try to keep it real but still try to do it in a creative way.

I just sit there and try to think of stuff that I could do that's a little different but still not step outside of who I am.

If nobody wants to buy your album, who's going to buy your clothes?

Most people hear me do all these freestyles and never hear me tell a story.

All the carbon copies, the stuff that the industry puts together, it's not selling if you pay attention and look at the charts. The stuff that they put together, these hits that just go out, it doesn't sell. It doesn't have a core fan base of fans that dedicatedly watch their life. It's just a song, another song, another hit song, a one-hit wonder. It doesn't sell. It doesn't last.

If I asked you something about basketball and you don't really know about basketball and you try to talk it and fake it, I'm going to be able to tell. It's the same way about music; you have to be real.

If you're a humble person, and you walk in, and you start talking, people are going to be able to tell. You can't fake it.

I'm trying to go to places where people wouldn't normally, to try to get some new fans.