Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five quotes:

I used to travel 200 days of the year. I had to calm it down because I have a 17-year-old daughter going on 30, and a 23-year-old son. I want to be around for them.

A lot of journalists say, "Tell us about the '80s." Nobody wants to know about the '70s!

Hip-hop has always been chronologically misunderstood.

There's no such thing as a perfect historical film.

The first rap record came out in '79, but hip-hop began in '69.

Hip-hop has always been chronologically misunderstood. Too many times, people are hearing the story from the second floor. Nobody's heard the story from the basement. If hip-hop was a cake, all I can tell you is the eggs, the flour, the sugar, the vanilla - the ingredient years.

I needed to be able to hear the mix before you do - that's when I came up with the "peek-a-boo" system.

I was reckless with records. I would pull them out by my fingertips. I would put my hands all over them.

In the '70s, anybody who was a connoisseur of collecting vinyl had the velvet brush. Remember the velvet brush? It would clean the record, and you would only grab the record from the sides and you would carefully slide it into the jacket. I never had a velvet brush.

That diversity of production styles and diversity of lyrical structure - I miss that.

Too many times, people are hearing the story from the second floor. Nobody's heard the story from the basement.