Nas stopped by Big Boy’s Neighborhood earlier this morning to discuss a gamut of topics including his divorce from Kelis and his latest album Life is Good. The conversation turned to how he never let his ego get the best of him in the face of success, with Esco stating that he leaves his Rap persona at the door when he clocks out for the day.
“I take it serious. I mean, since a kid, since I first got into the game, I always took it serious. I never got ahead of myself, I never let my ego break me up. I never became bigger than the music. I let the music do what it do. I love the music as a fan. I never found myself bigger than the whole genre. So I can always be easy, I can always live my life, I don’t need to go to sleep with a diamond chain on.”
He also stated that his “shock” raps helped him build a career with legs. “I mean, going back to those lines, I said a lot of lines that were shocking, before anybody was doing shock raps. I was saying a lot of lines. I was going in years ago, talking about early ‘90s and all. I was really young, so that has a lot to do with my staying power.”
Check out the full interview below, where he also recites the first rhymes he ever wrote.
RELATED: Nas Discusses “Daughters,” Raising Children In The Technology Era
100% real nigga, with clear cut understanding that money is simply a byproduct of success and not the most important thing for true happiness.
“what you base your happiness around, women, material and large paper/that means you inferior, not major.”
“Count how many bad honeys I slut, its a high number”
“It aint my fault, semiautomatic weapons I brought
The world crazy, Im rich and Im girl-crazy”
“Blastin, Im after the actress who played Faith Evans”
“Vest on, .45 still crack ya rib sacrilege
Talk trash about the nasty kid
Past nasty now, Im gross and repulsive, talk money
Is you jokin, cash everywhere, in my bank, in the sofa
In the walls, in the cars, in my wallet, in my pocket
On the floors, ceilings, the safe, bitch, I got all you envy
But dont offend, Im skinny, but still Im too big for a Bentley
You are your car, what could represent me
Too Godly to be a Bugatti, you honestly”
“Got a bunch of niggas in prison braggin
Saying it was Nas I used to hustle with
I display fashions while my lungs engage hashish, guns on my waist past his
Since Im cakin up, put funds in my safe, laughin”
“Smoking a escubano, guzzle my second bottle
Hope I dont catch a homo, grossing our net
Simultaneously making me climb higher
Heinous crimes behind me, search but can’t find me
Fuck sadness, had this been you having this lavish
Habitual happiness at me you wouldnt look backwards
You would have sex on condominium roof decks
So anyone move next, I’ll hit you with two Tecs
Rocking Roberto Cavalli no shirt on convertible Mazy
My Colombiana mommy riding beside me
Every tat mean something, thats my word on my body
Ill have to lean something with that Mossberg shotty
My niggas is ignant, put lead in your pigment
Just cause y’all was mad at all the years I was getting it
In 97 the six, 98 the Bentley
Now its the Ghost Phantom
And y’all can’t stand em but”
“Now I’m the one who repping Queens
Way beyond your wildest dreams
Bottles on bottles with sparklers surround my team
That long cash get the baddest bitches out they jeans
Twenty years in this game, looking seventeen”
“So I’mma, keep it on ’til I see a billion dollars”
And his shitty career is full of it. “B-b-b-b-ut Nas talks about real things that we all can relate to” Fuck out of here. Yall can waint on the next Rick Ross feature.
Rick Ross made him relevant again. Not single one street cat was checkin for Nas 2 years ago.
So if they’re not telling to listen to somebody for not being relevant you dont? Sounds like a sheep to me baaaah!
Rick Ross did what? haha nah man also Ross is on top off his game but he did not put Nas on again haha thats funny talk. thats just crazy haha
like nobody be checking for real talent and good music. fashion over quality and luxury over knowledge.
This fast food generation cracks me up any time of day
“Not single one street cat was checkin for Nas 2 years ago”
Typical mmg fan. You can’t even write a proper sentence, but you are trying to disrespect a rap legend who can take out both ymcmb and mmg all by himself. Nas makes music that everyone, including myself, listens to. He makes classic music, not this bullshit music created by these other wack rappers.
You are a follower, not a leader, because you only listen to what other people say is good music. No mind of your own at all… Damn shame…smfh..
Fuck Ross… He aint ever gone platinum so who’s checking for him?!
Real hip hop fans always checkin for Nas!
Yeah right, as far as my memory goes “Distant Relatives” went triple copper and managed to keep this status. Bawse and Nicki Minaj saved Nas career.
tell me something, how many platinum plaques does rick ross have?!?!?! how many songs nas got on the radio in the past 2 3 years yall speak of?!?! rick ross dropped 4 albums to nas’s 2 since ross came out. not only has ross been on the radio more but hiphop is dead and untitled sold more than all of rosses albums combined…hate if u want ngga, but numbers dont lie, and nas aint even about numbers lol…
^ Distant rappers wasn’t a real album, it was a collab album. Collab albums rarely ever sell as much as the solo’s do.
“You are a follower, not a leader, because you only listen to what other people say is good music. No mind of your own at all… Damn shame…smfh..”
Props. That’s exactly why Nas stans say he’s dope and think Illmatic is the GOAT album just because everybody else said it. Not one real Hip Hop fan likes Nas, he’s a contradictory sellout, yall just hopped on his dick because you see him being sucked off on the internet. Real Hip Hop fans turned his back on him as soon as he released that polished fairy tale IWW.
First of, this is one of the most bullshit comments I ever heard on here and that’s says a lot. Second, the streets don’t run shit in rap. Streets have no validation in rap anymore. The streets are fucking wack and nobody pays attention to it except you nerds. The music is universal. The streets don’t mean shit to anybody and it doesn’t belong to the streets anymore. Third, Nas made Rick Ross famous. That song you love, stay scheming, that was a Nas song. Same rhythm and hook. He took that from Nas. So when you are talking, come with facts, not bullshit opinions
And I am not a big fan of Illmatic. Lyrically, it was written was better. And it’s funny you knock Nas for making a so called fairy tale album. Rick Ross has made a career out of telling scar faced fairy tales but you love it. Name one thing Rick Ross said that was real but u love it though. Guess you are fake as hell too. He was a probation officer and stole a real gangsta name to be big. That’s fact. And Every rapper has spit fairy tales as u call it. 2pac was one of them. Biggie was too. Jay too. It’s called artistic creation. It’s music, not an example of real life’s. Raps are tales on beat. So get your facts straighten out, dude
And that’s what makes different from other Rappers, he really loves this shit and takes it serious that’s why he make Hip Hop is Dead and always gives props to MC shan, KRS One, the ones before him. And he always stay true to himself and does the music he wants, not what makes money. Because all of his albums are not full of radio singles.
You must be trolling.
Most definitely. 2Pac’s ability to portray his vulnerability in his raps is one of the reasons why he connected with so much people. Nas is capable of doing the same. You hear “Daughters” and “Bye Baby” and relate, it makes the music that much better.
Nigga kickin’ his little lies again.
FUUQQ YEEZ MY NIKKAS
FINALLY IT HAPPENED – JUST GOT A NEW RIDE – A CAM A RO CONVERTIBLE.GOT APPROVED FOR 26 LARGE. BEEN 5 YRS SINCE IVE GOTTEN SHYT APPROVED, BUT NOW ALL MY CRE-DIT SHEET GONE. ALL OF IT.
IF YOU STRUGGLING WITH THAT CREDITT HISTORY ISHH, GET RID OF ALL DAT TODAY – CALL THESE PEEPS AT 8^8^8-9-2-7 -3-3-5-6. . THEY DO AMAZING WORK AND THEY ARE CHEAP AS FUQQ. GOT RID OF ALL MY SHYYT IN NO TIME.
MY HOMEBOY WAS IN THE GUTTA TOO, AND HE CLEANER THAN ME NOW-gettin a condo!!
Hit em up – THEY WILL HELP U!!
“I mean, going back to those lines, I said a lot of lines that were shocking”
Em was more shocking than Nas ever was. This dude is so full of himself.
Word. Dude’s always acting like he’s humble and shit when he’s so far up his own ass. Talking about Africa when he never went there. Fucking clown.
^^^haha
bodied
These young fools on here be killin me hahahhaha. So you sayin Nas never went to Africa? I bet you dont even do your school homework so its pointless for me to say do your homework about Nas first before you start talking out your ass
Em is more shocking than NAS???? LMAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
“Nas makes music that everyone, including myself, listens to”
That’s an opinion. Most people don’t bump Nas.
You’re a IDIOT, if you believe in that comment. OMG. You really said that. To quote Nas, “What a phuckin clown”….Nas fathered MCs because of his style. FACT!! I can’t believe you said that. You are a problem. I’m calling you out. You don’t know nothing about MCing if you say some stupidness like that. What an insult.
He stated, not SAID homeboi. Shift the idiot title to the mirror that you look at all day.
Rakim, G Rap and Tragedy Khadafi fathered him, so what? Melle Mel fathered them all and now? Nas fathered a generation of sellouts.
wuddup world its cha boi back at it! i was gone for a minute and now im back like cooked coke crack. I’m sorry yall, but i aint feeling this cat. hows yall gonna say hes the GOAT when he also makes teh same songs over and over… uhm dont chall remember thiefs theme and hip hop is dead? this nigga used teh same beat! oh yea and he threw will.i.am on it… teh most pop cat in the world. so to all yall who say hes the GOAT.. look at the game tape!
I aint gonna front. I’ve been bumpin’ that Triple F Life. ooo Flocka got some heat on that burner. turn that music up. really feelin’ that new aaliyah/drizzy track. but im waiting for mo heat
its cha boi!
and this is comin from a waka fan. even waka tweeted Nas taking about and i quote “From Queens come Kings! @Nas Album is CRAZY! #LifeIsGood for real” if waka would have drop an album like nastradoomus( nas weakest album) yall would have said waka just drop a classic
You clowns are so stupid and lack the intelligence to understand the mission Nas is on. Naive, fickle pop fans.
wuddup duke, its cha boi. and what mission is that? duke is washed up. i give him props that this is one of his better album… but look at teh gaem tape. the last 12 years has been garbage. untitled – garbage . hip hop is dead – garbage. stillmatic – garbage. he aint fresh as im iz. and HE MAKES TEH SAME SONG ERRYTIME!!!!!! thiefs theme! the proof. he too lazy to change the beat man
I can’t take you seriously at all, your choice of words and lack of constructive criticism speak enough about you. Go listen to another Rick Ross or Drake album because hip hop doesn’t need morons like you representing it
The Rick Ross that Nas likes to do so many features with? Dumb fuck acting like Nas is Chuck D or KRS One, fuck outta here.
You a fuckin clown nigga… he used the same SAMPLE, not the same BEAT… fuckin idiots on here SMH..
Something about Nas face looks creepy in this this video…He looks like an alien.
Can’t tell about that, but he’s gay. That’s for sure.
Yall mad cause Nas is gettin girls that are 10/10 and yall gettin girls that looks like E.T and yall some fags for critical thinking and analytically describing how another man look. smdh
And what do you get from his girls? Stupid dickrider.
Hope he dies.
It always amazes me at how much HATE Nas gets than the average rapper. I just don’t understand where all the hate comes from. It’s like people just love to hate him and we Nas fans have to defend him,but l just don’t understand the hate he gets when he has done so much for the game. Your favorite rappers all respect him.
Only reason why I hate him is because of Ether.
Man, the Nas hate is thick in here. Proof his album was on point. Fuck you faggots
I’ll hate this queer till I die.
u gonna die
What is that another man says or does that makes you anonymously spew all kinds of nonsense online. He is just one man. So he makes record and he has more money than you and he is famous…you are still you..OK I can’t keep this up y’all jealous niggas need to change your maxi-pads…make that sticky side up…bitches. Keep it real…you can be honest with yourself at least – you hate that dude for being and doing what you can’t do….it’s ok to be a loser…somebody has to be…there, there.
What is that another man says or does that makes you anonymously spew all kinds of nonsense. He is just one man. So he makes record and he has more money than you and he is famous…you are still you. OK I can’t keep this up y’all jealous niggas need to change your maxi-pads, make that sticky side up bitches. Keep it real – you can be honest with yourself at least you hate that dude for being and doing what you can’t do it’s ok to be a loser somebody has to be; there, there.
“Em is more shocking than nas”…and brotha lynch hung is more shocking than eminem.
Anyway nas didn’t say he was the most shocking, he said he was one of the first. Before biggie, before em and before blh and he didn’t set up to shock like eminem which was eminem’s intention at times. Nas pre-illmatic-illmatic era > anything eminem has ever done
Trolls gonna troll while NAS still remains the greatest bitches..
On the internet, you forgot to add.
Damn I wanna suck Nas’ dick!!
“Nas pre-illmatic-illmatic era > anything eminem has ever done”
You’re so on crack it’s unbelievable. Illmatic was a largely slept on album that didn’t even go platinum first time around. It Was Written was way better, sold more, and solidified Nas alot more than that boring ass Illmatic with its NY beats that sound like they were recorded inside a paper bag.
You are an idiot! Illmatic is probably one of the best albums of all time. Not a bunch of punch lines like your favorite rappers do now.
“I front like my doo doo don’t stink”
Yeah, Nas really is one of a kind.
But eminem is just a joke!
“nas was snuffin jesus and waving automatic guns at nuns in 91, on a major album”
That’s not shock, that’s just dumb shit, and NWA/Ice Cube came before Nas, and created alot more shock if you want to use that word.
hehe someone needs a brain.which shock raps did nwa say? someones gonna say fuck the police.hehehehe
that girl looks like nas made her wet her panties
“Rick Ross made him relevant again”
Maybe he helped Nas spark again, but at this stage in Nas’s career, relevance isn’t necessary. Sales or no sales, he’s already been there and done that. Ross is just starting to enjoy his fame.
Nas always said his first rhyme was
“my name is Nasir. The rhyming engineer. Wanna battle me? I’ll end you career”
Lolll good catch! Maybe that’s the first one he actually made a full verse out of or rapped?
What staying power this high fool talking bout? Sucking off Ross and Wayne after declarig Hip Hop dead?
cormega we know its you
no, releasing a hot album 18 years after his debut is staying power
@ truth……U should pick a different name, or visits a different site!
Apologies @ truth, comment meant for that Anonymous pussy up there, truth be speaking truth, u can stay, lol!
lol. butthurt nas stans fearing opinions that might put some light on the shady actions of their hero. haha.
These are all opinions at the end of the day.. relax, if you fuck with Nas, do so. If not, coo.. Do what you do.
All this bitching going on here, a lot of shit is being said, and yet again it saddens me to see how so many of u r on a hiphop site and have no real sense, knowledge or history of hiphop.i dunno how old u guys r, if ur old enough to have remember the 90’s n still sme of u r making the below comments – shame on u. If ur still young fucknuts still try a be a high School pimps here’ s a lesson:
Nas is a legend in hiphop. That’s simply a fact. I respect ppls opinions and tastes, cool, but I cant respect a lot of the bullshit that’s being said here. Facts are facts, and don’t coin ur opinions off as facts. Nas may have not had as many number 1 albums as Jay – fact. But there is no way in hell that Nas is not by far one of the Best if not THe best poets/MC’s of his time. For people to even put his Name in the same sentence as lil Wayne, drake, Ross (who I am a fan of) and some other new age bullshit circus jokes out there is blasphemy. Nas does not need approval from hiphop, the industry and quite frankly fans- he is hiphop. A lot of artists out there now, good or bad are still living off a Esco’s legacy. He doesn’t have to drop the best album or even a number 1 album every year just to stay relevant, coz that’s not eat he’s about. He doesn’t need to be earning the most and braggin about that shit coz that’s not what he’s about. He ain’t that typa nigga and he damn sho ain’t that typa rapper. Nas puts out what Nas wants. He’ s not and industry artist and he is not an artist in the industry – coz he hiphop. Nas has the ultimate hiphop pass that every rapper dreams off. Nas is hiphop’s Paul Maccartney, the typa artist that can drop an album every few years, or a song every now and then and it’ll be real, it’ll be hiphop and it’ll be Nas. Even if it ain’t that good, it’ll be a hell of a lot better thn anything else out there.
Only Nas can do commercial shit and still make yo ass bounce like its 94′. Only Nas can go away n come back n do some original shit with Damian Marley and make it a great piece of work, like a Picasso painting. Only Nas can beef with the only other rapper who really has a chance at battling him and still come out of everything still fresh, on top and not having to brag about that shit. And that’s the thing, he!s a real rappers rapper. He goes in tha studio, does his Van Gogh shit n bounces. And that’s the difference now a days. The young generation are all on some hello kitty typa shit. Real niggaz be on tha Van Gogh flow, painting pictures, giving u something substance. Just listen to “Trust”, and maybe I’ll understand why this dude doesn’t need anybody’s approval.
Nas is solidified in this game and is untouchable. When ur untouchable nothing else comes into play. Not money, not record sales and not fame. That’s the stuff that legends are made out of. He a legend in his own right. He definitely up there with PAC and BiG. All he needs is One Mic!
^^^^Oh yeah sir take it to the bank
Can’t argue that!
WELL SAID
The young generation are all on some hello kitty typa shit. Real niggaz be on tha Van Gogh flow
funny and true
Man, well said. You just spoke the truth that these fool can’t clearly see.thanks.
You are the voice of reason! Amazingly said bruddah you know your Hip Hop and you know about one of the greatest artists to live in Hip Hop! Great comment
“All he needs is One Mic”
Nothing is more corny and pathetic than a group of cum-guzzling, retarded Nas stans.
“which shock raps did nwa say”
Oh I forgot. You’re 14 and have no idea who NWA was.
well if he wants that true lyricism that was back in the day, it still there jus not in the commercial platform but underground
do songs with Canibus, Ras Kass, Royce, Immortal Technique, Killah Priest, Lupe Fiasco, Masta Ace, Chino XL and then you will meet your match nigga
ofcourse there is nothing to comprehend when you doing songs with Ross
stop being a hypocrite man, be a real man and step to niggaz your own lyrical league
he’s too scared. killah priest, common, canibus and others all murdered him. you’ll never see him having the balls to jump on track with elzhi or lupe.
Blah Blah blah blah blah Nas, lets see you do song with real lyricist not Ross
lets see you do songs with Andre 3000, KRS-One, Ghostface, Rakim, Lupe, Talib, Black Thought, and Mos Def
Promote underground mc’s by featuring them as well…that’s how you can revive he Hip Hop that you said it was Dead but it won’t come alive when you collabo with Ross as you just killing it more
Do the honourable thing Nas and level up
Exactly. Dude is so full of shit.
‘You are as good as what you come up against with’ – Scarface on ‘In Between Us’
that means, ‘if you easily defeat a weak opponent (Ross), it doesn’t get you as much respect as defeating a worthy opponent (Canibus/ Killah Priest)
That’s why Nas is getting so much flack for doing songs with Rick Ross. He is a weak a opponent and Nas wont get respect for that, as he’s simply seen as a bull, and on rappers his own size like Canibus, he rhymes under pressure
whats it gon be Nas, respect or dollars?
Last thing to put into perspective – I actually agree to an extent when some of u say below that Nas could do more work with underground artists, but u guys r mis understanding this legends position – Nas don’t go to anyone, these artists come to him. They come to him for the reasons I mentioned below. Do y’all know what kind of an honour it is to have this nigga on ur album, to be able to get this dude on a feature? Furthermore, Nas knows he needs to get with artists to a certain extent – and not for his own name, like i said, he doesnt need any approval, he untouchable in his own right -but he needs to go with these features to keep Hiphop going, for the culture. He is hiphop, and anything with a NAs feature on it stands out, and u all know that when he does feature it still sounds more hiphop than anything else, its still got tha Nasty Nas vibe. Like…str8 ridah music. Triple Beam Dreamswas a perfect example. This new generation of “rappers” are misguided and steering away from hiphop, and in the meantime they continue to misguide the next generation! They have nothing to say, no story, no substance, nothing to help the youth that come from these so called bad backgrounds they claim they also come from. Somebdy’s gotta at least try or attempt to keep things in perspective which he is doing and trust me he is NOT choosing paper over respect. Quite the opposite, he is actually sacrificing his paycheck. Wayne makes more dough than Nas does these days and that’s coz Wayne caters to the industry. Nas don’t cater to the industry. He is separate from the industry, that’s the pass he has. But he does this shit for the culture. He knows hiphop’s audience is changin, the politics of the industry is changing – that’s why he said hiphop is dead, on a respirator. If Nas went underground, you wudnt hear about him and he wouldnt be Nas. Just coz you tend to find alot of real hiphop is underground these days, dont mean he gotta go underground. Plus, the industry dont want dudes like immortal technique anywhere close to the radio waves. At least he tryna to regulate this shit. Now he’ s gotta do that on both a commercial and underground level. Problem with the underground – as much as I love that shit n all those artists u been mentioning -it just doesn’t get enough pull to change shit. While underground will always be that real shit, commercial hiphop is on life support. Do u see Jay sacrificing his bacon to keep it down? When Nas does look for his own collabs he finds them, n he finds Distant Relatives. He did the scarface collabs. And if I’m not mistaken Ross got scarface on Dear Lord?
YUP
P.s Ross doing a lot better then most of them other fools being mentioned!