I look at some of my fans at my show, and a lot of them look like they're straight out of a punk rock show. They like what I'm coming across with. I had seen them same thing when I went to this Scarface show, so it lets me know that I'm on the right track.

I don't like pre-written raps; I think it makes the song better if you listen to the beat first. In a sense, you have to make a marriage with the beat. I ride the beat, hear the flow of the drums, get the melody of my flow, and then from that point, it's a process of what I want to say.

I'm not trying to act like I'm Superman or better than anybody else in the game. I'm just telling my story, showing my strengths and weaknesses - as a human, as a person, as a man.

I'm a common dude.

I feel like I influence more than just rap.

I like good music, whichever lane it comes out of. As long as it's dope, that is all that matters with me.

I feel like with a lot of Madlib's beats, they are made for storytelling. I feel like when I'm working on stuff with him, I can really get into the storytelling aspect mode of my flow.

I think that with me and Madlib, I was never afraid to really experiment with his tracks and things.

I'm not really comfortable with being on songs with cats I don't really know.

I have a respect for Young Jeezy. But the reason things didn't work out for me and Young Jeezy was because our approach to the industry... My approach to the industry was a tad bit different than his. I wanted to approach my career a different way; he wanted to go a different way.

I never took a dollar from Young Jeezy. No advance, nothing.

I had a nightmare that I was mopping floors and that this Freddie Gibbs thing was all a dream.

I am the evil seed.

I ain't on no major. Everything independent. Either way it goes, I am doing me, and I am doing Freddie Gibbs.

Me separating from CTE - I'm extremely happy about that because a lot of guys wrote me off, Jeezy included. He really wrote me off.

I remember I used to go school with guys who couldn't afford notebooks, pens, paper: the necessary tools needed in order to survive in school. It's a lot of kids in Gary who are at a disadvantage without that.

Coming up in America in the '80s and '90s, we were not too far removed from slavery. People forget that.

Tupac is definitely an icon. There'll never be another Tupac, so I'm not gonna ever, ever try to fill those shoes. I'm just gonna stay in my lane and be the best me that I can be.

I don't mind travelling. I'm independent, so I gotta get on the grind.

When I first came in the game, I had a bunch of homies that rapped that was hanging around me just because I was getting the rap attention, and they felt they could feed off of that.

Ain't nothin' changed with me. I'm Eastside Gary til I die.

We have good, neighborly people in Gary.

I've always played that role in my family: the breadwinner.

I ain't never detached myself from Gary.