I Seen The Worst Of The Worst.

On The Night He Died - He Was Twenty-seven - Basquiat Had Been Planning To See A Run-dmc Show. When People Asked Him What His Art Was About, He'd Hit Them With The Same Three Words: "royalty, Heroism, And The Streets.

Racism Is Taught In The Home. We Agree On That? Well, It's Very Hard To Teach Racism To A Teenager Who's Listening To Rap Music And Who Idolizes, Say, Snoop Dogg. It's Hard To Say, 'that Guy Is Less Than You.' The Kid Is Like, 'i Like That Guy, He's Cool. How Is He Less Than Me?

I Noticed That Difference Early On, Like If You Were Successful In Rock 'n' Roll, That Was A Really Bad Thing, You Almost Had To Hide It. You Had These Guys Selling 200 Million Records With Dirty T-shirts On. I Was Like, 'come On, Man. Come On. We Know You're Successful.' Hip-hop Is More About Attaining Wealth. People Respect Success. They Respect Big. They Don't Even Have To Like Your Music. If You're Big Enough, People Are Drawn To You.

I've Never Looked At Myself And Said That I Need To Be A Certain Way To Be Around A Certain Sort Of People. I've Always Wanted To Stay True To Myself, And I've Managed To Do That. People Have To Accept That.

I Got This Black Chick, She Don't Know How To Act Always Talkin' Out Her Neck, Makin' Her Fingers Snap She Like, "listen Jigga Man, I Don't Care If You Rap You Better - R-e-s-p-e-c-t Me