Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, better known by his stage name Nas /ˈnɑːz/, is an American hip hop recording artist, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas has released eight consecutive Platinum and Multi-Platinum albums and sold over 25 million records worldwide since 1994. He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label; he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and is the owner of a Fila sneaker store. He is...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth14 September 1973
CountryUnited States of America
I used to keep a dictionary and work with it and then I realized there are more words that exist in the English language than there are in this dictionary.
If I made an album just to sell you a story about how I'm the man, it really doesn't show any human side to me. It's good to talk about what's real and what's relevant.
Realize, how many classics I gave you/Perhaps if you think back you'll realize that I made you
I wanted to say what wasn't being said. I wanted to give people a real story. I wanted people to know people like me exist in the world.
When I made Illmatic, I was trying to make the perfect album. It comes from the days of Wild Style. I was trying to make you experience my life. I wanted you to look at hip-hop differently. I wanted you to feel that hip-hop was changing and becoming something more real.
When I write a story, I just wanna tell you what's in my head. It can come from real life and then turn into fantasy, stuff just rhyming. And write about what you know. I just like to tell stories that have not been told or told from my perspective.
Rule No. 1 is you can't be fake. If you're fake, you become a gimmick and you're selling a gimmick; a little gimmick is cool, this is entertainment. But when you base your stuff on mostly real stuff, you never run out of it because every day is a different adventure.
I'm just flowing through, when I see things, I talk about 'em. And it's cool. I don't want any title. I just say what I say, and hopefully somebody gets it. I'm not perfect, and I'm just here and trying to make a dollar, and being real at the same time
The flaws, the mistakes I make – that's the real me.
I never brag, how real i keep it, cause thats the best secret...
I see N.Y. hip-hop like I see N.Y. streets. N.Y. streets are grimy; it's a grind. N.Y. rappers are hustlers - whatever sound is in, we can adapt to that; there's nothing wrong with that.
N.Y. hip-hop is ok, but we gotta become brave again; we have to be brave enough and do something new - that's what New York is about... New.
Hip-hop lasted and survived all these years that you have to give it credit. Even though it's not up to people's expectations anymore, its still here, and that's says a lot.
'Life Is Good' represents the most beautiful, dramatic and heavy moments in my life.