Tory Lanez quotes: on being a problem child, losing his mom at age 11, manning up, chasing greatness, and more.
“I just pray to God and make sure I’m good with God.”
“I’m a big Justin Bieber fan. I’ve been a Justin Bieber fan. I’ve been listening to his music. OG, you know. That’s also my friend, too, so, you know. It’s just one of those things. We’ve been supporting each other’s music for a long, long, long time.”
“A lot of times, people won’t be 100% real with their story, and I wanted to give people the drawn-out experience of the perseverance and the struggle that it took to get here.”
“Usher is definitely somebody I came up listening to.”
“I love 50 Cent. I know it sounds weird ’cause a lot of kids might not say that right now, but I definitely want to work with 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Coldplay; I want to work with different artists that are going to push my music to a new level. Not just in urban music.”
“God put me on this earth to bring souls back to the Kingdom of God. You don’t need to pray 10 times a day, you just need hope. My music is going to stop war; it’s the healing music. I see myself in Brazil, in Syria, in Darfur, and places where they really need hope.”
“The way that I learned to be confident was I would ride the back of the city bus and sing very low.”
“Singing is one of the most important components to me. That’s kinda how it all started.”
“I know why I’m here. I know why I was placed in music, and it’s not by coincidence.”
“Hip-hop is a contact sport.”
“[On his humble beginnings before he blew up] I ended up moving downtown with these three dudes that I didn’t really know. I came into the house, and I didn’t realize how things worked. From, like, 15-18, I was just fighting them. I fought, like, every day, and these were, like, older dudes. It was every man for himself.”
“That’s what made me a man, having to fend for myself and being in a situation where there is no dad, no grandma, and no mom to help you. It changed the person that I am today.”
“I’m here to be the guy that rubs people the wrong way sometimes.”
“I try to make music, all kinds of music, whether it be singing or rapping.”
“Subconciously, the things you listen to and you believe in, those things are going to come out, you know what I mean? I think you take that and make it your sound; that’s what I do when I’m putting together genres of music.”
“My favorite singers are people like R. Kelly and people like that.”
“I like the music from Drizzy. I like the music from Party. I like music from The Weeknd, Justin Bieber.”
“We just want to be number one. Is there a problem with that? Can I be the best? Can y’all watch me be great? Will y’all allow me to do that?”
“I can look at you and say, ‘I’m gonna be the biggest artist in the world,’ because, at the end of the day, it’s about the trust I have in God. He’s already shown me that I’m gonna fulfill my destiny.”
“[On watching his father, a minister, heal people who came to church when he was little] People who couldn’t walk, they’d come in wheelchairs, and he’d make them walk. It’s just the power of God. It wasn’t my dad; it’s what God had instructed my dad to do.”
“My mom died when I was 11 years old.”
“[On getting kicked out of multiple schools growing up] My outlook was, ‘You’re not my moms; you can’t tell me what to do.’ I got expelled from about 20 schools.”
“I started rapping because my mom died when I was about 11 years old, and I was a very rebellious kid. I’ve been kicked out of every school I’ve ever been in since 6th grade on, expelled and dropped out in the 11th grade. Music was the only thing that I could really use to express myself, so I started rapping.”
“I was being very bad because I didn’t know how to express myself. Music gave me an outlet to express myself and channel that anger.”
“People have to remember this: I’ve literally been going at this music thing since my mother passed away.”
“I dropped out of school; I got fired from my job. Those were my roughest moments, but I always knew through it that I was going to be great.”
“I think people have to look at it from a certain view. I say things because, at the end of the day, I can say whatever I want.”
“Every time I do something in life, I try to outdo myself.”
“I go through the same kind of situations as other people. I have to give that to people, because people have this facade, this mirage, this mirror about me.”
“The stars played out the way they were supposed to play out, and I’m in the position I’m supposed to be in.”
“I started singing to this one John Legend record; it was called ‘Each Day Gets Better,’ or something like that. I started to realize, ‘Wow, I really sound like this dude. If I keep doing this, maybe I can sound dope like John Legend and still rap.'”
“People live their lives through melodies. If you can’t sing, then music is worthless.”
“I’m not a singer. I’m not an R&B singer. I’m an artist.”
“Swavey is a musical genre that I came up with to describe artists who are too talented to stay in a box with their music.”
“Swavey is the movement. Three words: it’s unique, it’s true, and it’s yourself. It’s a very unique thing; it’s true to yourself; and it’s all about you just being yourself.”
“Swavey, it puts more than one genre of music together. That’s the approach I have with all music I do.”
“It doesn’t take long to make catchy songs. That’s not my problem.”
“I don’t write anything down. It comes from my head and my soul and my heart and my pain. That allows me to make the best music I can make.”
“I just freestyle. I don’t actually write the words on paper. It’s just whatever comes into my mind. I’ll record three or four lines at a time, get a good take, and do three or four more. It may be whatever comes into my mind. But I care about my craft a lot more than a lot of other people.”
“The whole I Told You, there’s nothing written. That was all out of the feeling. That’s why the album is so incredible to me. It’s all out of the heart; I didn’t take time to pre-calculate it.”
“I’m thankful to God that my life changed, but I’m also still on my grind.”
“I like to turn the venue into a jungle gym, into my playground.”
“[On his approach to live performances] I don’t develop anything. I don’t practice, I don’t rehearse. I just go out there, and it’s just amazing and unpredictable and spontaneous every single time. It’s the most cultivating incredible performance that you can go and see live for the amount of money that you can see it for.”
“I’m definitely more of a rockstar than anything.”
“For me personally, my favorite part of performing is just going in the crowd and doing crazy things that they never expected to see. Challenging myself to do new things that I never expected to do. That’s the biggest thing for me.”
“There’s a different energy at one of my shows than anybody else’s.”
“I’m not a hater. I’ve expressed this before.”
“I don’t have a problem with anybody in Toronto.”
“Drake could diss me 20,000 times, and I would never diss him. I’m a fan.”
“Everything that comes out of Canada musically, I support. I support Toronto 100% because I’m on the side of the music.”
“You’re gonna know, if I have beef with somebody, then one of us is just falling out.”
“I’m a very cultural person, and Canada is a very cultural place.”
“I do a lot of writing. People don’t actually know how much writing, really, I do.”
“One of my favorite reggae songs is Wayne Wonder’s ‘No Letting Go.’ And Sizzla’s ‘Give Me A Try.’ That’s one of my favorite songs as well.”
“Reggae goes in and out. It sounds so good, it feels so good and feels so tropical, but the problem is not everybody is Caribbean. Not everyone is going to sound authentic doing it, and sometimes it comes off cheesy when other people do it.”
“To be selling out shows and these kids who don’t speak English singing along every word? It’s wild.”
“Me personally, I don’t think I’m even hot enough to be getting dissed.”
“It’s not the fact that your single can sell. It’s the fact that you can sell hard tickets—people will spend money to see you.”
“That’s why, to this day, Kiss can sell out wherever they go, because they sell tickets, and they have that core fan base. You may not hear Kiss on the radio with a new single today. And they can still sell out anywhere.”
“When the ‘greats of all-time’ put out their first albums, it wasn’t a thousand features on it. And I’m one of the greats, in my eyes.”
“I’m a fan of LeBron James. I’m not really a team fan; I’m just a fan of one player.”
“I’m getting money over here. I’m good, I’m young, I’m finally in a position to feed my family; please don’t take that away from me.”
“I have a lot of money, but I still feel broke. When I say I feel broke, I don’t mean broke in a financial sense, but I still feel like that kid from the gutter who’s still trying to get it, even though I’m at the place I want to be.”
“I just want to work with the big people and the people who make great music.”
“I still direct my own videos.”
“If you try to be better every day, more miracles happen in your life.”
“What, do you think I’m here to be second place, brother?”
“I’m here to compete. I’m here to be number one.”
“I’m here to be the greatest.”
“When I get to a certain level, I’ll start going by Daystar.”
Related: Tory Lanez net worth.
