I went to a school where everyone was smarter than me. And I'm not blowin' smoke, I, my, I was surrounded by genius, genius kids. What's interesting about growing up in a culture like that is you go, "All right, I gotta figure out what my thing is. Because I'm not smarter than these kids. I'm not funnier than half of them, so I better figure out what it is I wanna do and work really hard at that because intellectually I'm treading water to, to be here."
Once George Washington said, "I have to step down the so the country can move on."
I will lay down my life if it sets us free.
Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me.
I'm just like my country. I'm young, scrappy and hungry.
With every word, I drop knowledge. I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal trying to reach my goal.
I try to let my decisions be guided not by what I think will succeed or fail, but what I'm going to learn from that process.
You can't control the success or failure of a thing you work on. You can only control the thing you work on.
It's an enormous relief to go to work and be an actor and not be worried about writing.
If you think in terms of topping, you're in the wrong business. You can't think that way.
When you're dealing with a constant rhythm, no matter how great your lyrics are, if you don't switch it up, people's heads are going to start bobbing. And they're going to stop listening to what you're saying, so consistently keep the ear fresh and keep the audience surprised.
I had friends who only listened to hip-hop. I had friends who only listened to musicals, and I stood proudly in the middle.
The reason I make that distinction cassette before CD is you have to listen to it in the order in which I've curated it for you. You know, side A to side B is our act break.
I think I learned more about writing scores for Broadway by making mix tapes in the '90s than I did in college. You're learning about rise and fall and energy and tempo shifts. You're showing off your taste and your references. You're trying to be witty by - through placement of music you didn't write.
I grew up in the time just when cassettes were waning and CDs were growing. And so mix tapes - and not mix CDs - mix tapes were an important part of the friendship and mating rituals of New York adolescents. If you were a girl and I wanted you - to show you I like you, I would make you a 90-minute cassette wherein I would show off my tastes. I would play you a musical theater song next to a hip-hop song next to an oldie next to some pop song you maybe never heard, also subliminally telling you how much I like you with all these songs.
I think I started writing because no one had ever told me you can write about the things you know in a musical. They don't have to come from some far off place.
I loved musicals. I loved being in the school play and being lucky enough to get parts in the school play. But they always took place in some other time and place.
I liked writing the negative ads more than - because it's more minor chords.
I am the epitome of coolness.
My rhymes are gonna kill, so I suggest you write your will and leave your [expletive] to me.
Well, hello. My name is Lin. But if you're dyslexic, call me Nil.
The music you love when you're a teenager is always going to be the most important to you.
My sister is as responsible for anyone for giving me good taste in music.
I think if you want to make a recipe for making a writer, have them feel a little out of place everywhere, have them be an observer kind of all the time. And that's a great way to make a writer.
We get the job done. So what happens if we win?
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