Want to learn more about the man behind the lyrics? There’s much more to Kevin Gates’ than what you hear on those tracks. The American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur from Louisiana is well known for his autobiographical themes in songs. His lyrics often deal with subjects like depression, poverty, and prison time.
Gates was born on February 5, 1986, in New Orleans and had a keen interest in music from an early age. He started to rap from the age of 14 and began his career in the year 2005. Gates has since released several hit singles and mixtapes throughout his career and can be considered one of America’s successful contemporary singers. In January 2016, he released his debut album, Islah, which peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Along with his success in music, Gates has had lots of legal issues and has been in and out of prison multiple times. He had a tumultuous upbringing and was arrested for the first time at the age of 13 for being a passenger in a stolen vehicle. But despite having a difficult childhood and being involved in several controversies, Gates has managed to use his everyday power to become a successful rapper in the American music industry.
We’ve put together a collection of Kevin Gates quotes, gathered from his lyrics, interviews and screen time and ready to inspire.
1. You learn fast or you die young.
2. I don’t sleep much. I don’t sleep much – I work, I work, I work.
3. I was built for that pressure.
4. Why accept failure when success is free?
5. I like where we at now — but I’m in love with where we going.
6. Don’t get mad at me for being the best of what I was created to be.
7. When you come up in the slums, having nothing make you humble.
8. Came from the bottom, we aim for the stars.
9. Never break or fold, that’s what it takes to be major.
10. People will flip on you at the drop of a dime. Just be prepared so it doesn’t surprise you.
11. Don’t stress over people who couldn’t give 2 pennies about you.
12. I live by the ten percent rule. Save one, you save a thousand.
13. Sometimes the best move is no move.
14. When you follow your heart, you always win!
15. If you associate yourself with peer pressure or complacency, you’re destined for failure.
16. Wise men change, fools stay the same.
17. Use the things that make you angry — as fuel to make you better.
18. I’m a super sensitive individual also. The smallest thing might stand out to me. I might go make a song about this interview. I live life then rap about it. Who knows what I may say? I just really say what I feel. When I’m in the moment, whatever I’m feeling, I get it all out.
19. The things that are most difficult for me to put into words and speak about, I put into my music. I’m just super passionate about my craft and super passionate about what I do.
20. You can’t make everybody else happy and still stay on top.
21. I’m super serious about music. That’s, like, the only thing I’m serious about.
22. I’ve had mixtapes that have been better than albums I’ve heard from other artists. I take my time; I put my heart into it.
23. Prison was the best thing that ever happened to me.
24. You can learn from a dummy. You can watch a dummy and learn what not to do. I’ve always been an observant individual. You don’t know how much you love something until you can’t do it. That’s one thing I can say that I learned. I learned how much I love music.
25. My grandmother was an English teacher for a while. And she stressed to me the importance of reading, being able to articulate well.
26. When you stand for something, you’ve got to stand for it all the way, not halfway.
27. I’m inspired by everything that goes on around me. I’m a sponge. I’m very analytical. I notice the things that most people don’t notice.
28. You don’t have to like it but you gotta respect it.
29. I’ve had good times and I’ve had bad times and I reminisce, maybe when I lay down, but throughout my day I keep myself engulfed in whatever moment I’m in because it could steer me into a depressed state.
30. Money coming, money gotta flip it. I ain’t waiting on nobody, I’mma go get it.
31. It’s about really really being who you are as an individual and not apologizing for it, that’s what it is. I can feel the growth from my first mixtape to now. On every song, I want to give you a piece of who I am as an individual.
32. Out my window.. I see everything I dream about and wished I had.
33. I’m a bookworm. I know with my physical appearance that I don’t look like the typical reader. I’m in Barnes & Noble all the time, and you can look at people that look like they are supposed to be in there. I am in there, pants sagging, hat backwards.
34. I adapt and I adjust to whatever environment I’m in.
35. I don’t give anyone a reason to hate me, they create their own drama out of pure jealousy. Keep ears opened, mouth closed.
36. When trying to destroy you, they Destroy themselves in the process. Fuck em’ — work harder!
37. The ones that hate you most tend to be the people you know.
38. I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.
39. I don’t pay attention to sales because it’s not about that for me. It’s about the music. Music is all I have.
40. Glory be and praise to God. I didn’t do any of this. God did. I don’t have a recipe or a blueprint. I prayed for it, and my prayers are continuing to be answered.
41. True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind.
42. I just always wanted to study human behavior because every psychologist that I would talk to would tell me I was bipolar, and I know I’m not bipolar, so I had to perform a psychoanalysis on myself to find out that I have unresolved grief.
43. I suffer from deep depression, so my only release is music.
44. I’ve always stood on my own toe. I don’t need a team. don’t do the entourage thing, 30 people. I Just not do that. That’s just not me.
45. If it matters to you, pursue it aggressively.
46. I’m a perfect imperfection. My craft has been perfected. I just need affection, emotionally. I’m an introvert but it comes off as aggression.
47. I’m not afraid to make mistakes.
48. Love is a battlefield, It ain’t a one night stand.
49. Anything lost, can be found again, except for time wasted.
50. A vision without action is merely a dream. Action, it’s the grind, it’s the hustle, it’s the persistence.
51. Jail and the streets go hand in hand. You can’t have one with out the other. They coincide.
52. I don’t get tired..what you tired of.
53. My daily conversation, it consists of hustle. Grinding from the bottom sick and tired of struggle.
54. Disconnecting from one you love can be a lonely ordeal. The feelings you will experience will change you.
55. All things are obtained by Wisdom and Knowledge.
56. Coming up in the streets, I had to learn how to read people early on. I’m a very analytical person. I observe a lot of the things that people don’t notice.
57. I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.
58. When you level up your life will change. You will come across harder opponents and situations.
59. Loves a battlefield it’s not a one night stand.
60. I don’t really like talking. I like to execute. I’m not a talking person. I’m an action person.
61. Knowledge is provided but only to those who need to know.
62. Wealth is not of the pocket. It’s of the heart. It’s of the mind. I live like that. You could give me a fish and feed more for a day, but if you teach me to fish, you’ve fed me forever. So that’s really my philosophy with it all.
63. Anybody that’s borderline brilliant — they’re gonna suffer with depression. Cause you don’t see the world how other people see the world. You see it for what it is. You see it different.
64. Without an understanding of bad…how can one truly have an appreciation of good.
65. Everybody around you pretending that they are your partner, let you have a problem they won’t even help you out.
66. You have to be intimate with a person to know that person.
67. Having a musical outlet is a pure blessing to the ears of thousands of fans.
68. I always wanted a family.
69. I put my flaws on front street. So the world accepted my flaws, so I don’t have any flaws.
70. I could care less about the particular. I like to make music.
71. When you got wisdom and knowledge you supposed to spread the world with some Soulja love.
72. A hot producer might not make a hot beat for me. I just love music.
73. Inspiration comes from many things, and in the life of KG his music is just one of them.
74. I love God, I love everybody else around me as myself, and I love my enemy.
75. I have trust issues with allowing other individuals to know my innermost secrets for fear of how I may be viewed. Everyone has this.
76. Rap was more of a release for me, a journal.
77. I love to be clean. I wear the same things, all of my clothes pretty much look the same. I’m a plain and simple type of guy. I don’t really do a lotta busy colors and things of that nature. I feel like less is more.
78. To be honest I am not looking to be romantic, already got someone at home.
79. If I tell the truth about me, what can the world say? I’d love to be accepted, but I’m not seeking acceptance. If you are a fan, it’s because you’re a fan of who I am psychological, emotionally, and individually. The world can relate to a human being more than it can relate to a superstar.
80. I look at other people’s lives, and some people feel like they’re too old to play with toys. But I still go through the toy section at the store, ’cause there were toys that I wanted when I was little that I couldn’t have. So I still get them.
81. Music’s the most therapeutic thing for me. Because I suffer with depression, and it’s my only form of releasing it.
82. I never go into a situation with any type of expectations.
83. I’m no where close to perfect, of this I’m sure, but God is!
84. To inform, to improve, to make better, and I believe that’s what my first daughter did to me, so I named my first album after my first daughter.
85. Life is about conduct and how we conduct ourselves. But two wrongs never make a right.
86. I know I write a lot of my best music in the car, like late night. Three, four in the morning
87. I got it out the mud, ain’t nobody ever gave me nothing.
88. Marriage is the most wonderful thing ever.
89. Don’t let nobody know that you a monster. Keep it on the tuck and then surprise ’em.
90. Breathing is so important with physical activity, then how much more important is it with psychological activity?
91. Whatever I have a natural love for or respect or admiration for, I tattoo it on my body. My next tattoo is probably going to be Muhammad Ali. I’ve got Bob Marley, I’ve got Elvis, I’ve got Malcolm X. I’ve got so many tattoos. It’s crazy. I’m really running out of space. But when I go get tattoos, it’s therapeutic for me also.
92. Sometimes you have to let people bump their heads to realize that they are not making sense. Don’t try to figure them out or it will drive you crazy.
93. Some may consider this a problem, I easily fall in love.
94. Some’ll say life is a gamble, which means love is a casino. Everybody just playin’ to win.
95. I’m not made out of concrete. I’m a real person.
96. I always knew who I was, and I always ran from my true purpose… I know what my job is. And I always ran from it.
97. I like being with my family. That’s my party.
98. Or help them get to the root of the problem. Or help them find out what the problem is. Because the problem lies with self, and a lot of times we don’t look inward as individuals. We always look for something else as a substitute, as a pacifier. You have to look at self first.
99. My music is incredible. I don’t know what to call it because I’ve yet to see an artist display the different talents I display or create the different genres that I have created; from the rock and roll to heavy metal to soft rock to rap to country. I display so many styles. That’s why they love me.
100. Yeah, I’m a convicted felon..I also have a masters in psychology, I also scored a 31 on my ACT at 16 in jail.
101. Watch people daily and you will see their true colors.
102. I came in the game with a different attitude than I have now. And I had to grow. I had to mature. In that growth and in that maturity, that point of maturity I realized that ay, the people that interview me, we really only having a conversation. And they not from the same walk of life that I am, so my life is super interesting to them.
103. I don’t want no handouts. I want to get it out the mud.
104. I believe that life is a journey.
105. The struggle is real, but it doesn’t last forever.