This country, our country, this generation, we feel like we are outside of the rules of history. We feel like we have established something so great that it is now completely separate, a parallel - but different from the rules of reality and the rules of history.

This country fucks up by allowing ourselves to believe we are above that. Allowing ourselves to believe that we live on moral high ground, when in reality, we're just the fucking same as every other dirty-ass, raw government out there. We want fuel, we want power, we want control... we want money.

It completely comes through in my music. It's what I'm about. It's the thing that I want to express artistically. It's the viewpoint that I'm grounded in, that I come from - the fear of power.

In order to spark people's minds, you have to take the extreme point of view, or else motherfuckers aren't gonna listen.

El-P

It's a shame this def jux era was dismissed as backpacker rap - these MCs kept hip-hop alive whilst it was at it's most critical state of wack bling commercial crap. Most of them probably struggled to eat from rap but did it for the love

Scream Phoenix made me rewrite one of my early screenplays over. Not for any reason I can actually describe.

Amazing work... Inspires in the most subtle, trivial and unconventional ways.

There truly is no other independent hip-hop album that holds a candle to this. From the production to the lyrics...it is an achievement that is unparalleled. I have been listening and loving hip-hop for almost 40 years and I come back to this album at least every quarter and am still amazed.