you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time...
so now you see the light?
now party for your right to fight!
a little Bob Marley mixed in with some Public Enemy sounds like the proper soundtrack to this Mindbender milestone and marvel of modern technology.
I write a little different than the rest. But you wouldn't be here if you wanted something else :)
I love you!
(sometimes I love you so much I am working on stuff to make for you, and I forget to tell you that "I love you and I'm not around, cause I'm working on stuff to make for you!") My bad.
please forgive me. take this world-class Nas article as a gift that shows my appreciation for the truths that I want you to know... Mindbender and Nasty Nas spoke for 28 minutes, and it was like when Malcolm met Martin :)
don't believe me?
start believing now.
NASTY NAS – 2006 HIP HOP: DEAD MAN TALKING (aka ILL WILL MATIC)
By Addi “Mindbender” Stewart
"Listen... people be askin me all the time, "Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?" Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin? I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop? Whatever's happening with us. If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out. If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright." People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside, comin down to visit the townspeople. We +are+ Hip-Hop. Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop. So, Hip-Hop is going where we're going. So, the next time you ask yourself "where Hip-Hop is going", ask yourself.. "where am I goin? How am I doing?" Til you get a clear idea. So, if Hip-Hop is about the people, Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better.” – Mos Def on ‘Fear Not Of Man, the intro to “Black on Both Sides”; Rawkus Records, 1999
“Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.”
What’s good to everyone in the hip hop nation of 2006? In case you haven’t heard, the streets are talking, and the verbal intercourse says that “hip hop is dead”, like it has somehow mysteriously disappeared into the ether. In response to this almost ludicrous statement, some successful music industry- and in-the-streets people from different regions are saying ‘we don’t believe you, you need more people.’
But the people truly should know: we’ve been here before. A few times, actually. Way back in the relatively ancient days and times of 1994, when there still was some reasonable doubt, one of your favorite rapper’s favorite rappers aka Common Sense declared a post-mortem moratorium on hip hop with “I Used to Love H.E.R.’ (Hip Hop in the Essence of Reality), emphasizing that “she was really the realest, when she wasn’t into showbiz” before proclaiming "I'ma take it back, hoping that the shit stop, cause who I'm talking bout y'all, is hip hop". Another time, heads thought hip hop music as we knew it was a Harlem-shaking corpse when Puff Daddy and Ma$e re-cycled Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s timeless, pioneer status ghett-o-vision soundtrack and ‘Black CNN’ broadcast classic titled ‘The Message’, during the so-called “Shiny Suit Era” in 1998. But arguably, from day one, to certain “old school” hip hop historians, some unexplainable-yet-infinitely-important element of hip hop culture was declared “dead” the very moment that the intangible, communal, living, dancing, musical experience could be contained, commodified, and re-created for retail sale on wax (or cassettes and CDs, and now, direct-to-your-home downloadable MP3’s). Quiet as its kept, some true school b-boy originators openly called the MCs on the seminal 1979 hit ‘Rapper’s Delight’ frauds, sellouts, and not completely real, especially after their pseudo-manufactured group signed the Sugar Hill Gang to a record deal with Tommy Boy Records. Almost two decades later, The GZA warned us about major record labels negative influence on hip hop music, in 1995. “Tommy ain’t my motherfuckin’ Boy/ when you fake moves on a n!gga you employ” is how he sparked the street single, disrespecting some of this ghetto music’s first investors. Even then he said: “It’s getting drastic.”
But, the more things change, the more they stay the same. There’s nothing new under the sun. No idea’s original, even, to quote The Lost Tapes of Nas. Except, something is slightly different this time… In 2006, ‘Nasty’ Nasir “Nastradamus Escobar” Jones, unquestionably one of hip hop’s most gifted lyricists of all time (that’s approximately 30 years and counting, for those still remembering hip hop history), is pronouncing our beloved hip hop music as “dead”. Dead like De La Soul was. Dead like disco. Dead like Elvis Presley. But, it’s still “motherfuck him and John Wayne”, right? It’s still “Fight the Power”, right? It still “Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”, right? According to Nas, something’s not right. On the real, something is dead wrong with the modern hip hop generation. Do the new school heads of today even know about, much less own, that classic Public Enemy album? Well, these days, it seems like Flavor Flav’s most lucrative and famous career moments come from TV, as he chooses from 12 female reality show contestants searching for his favorite ‘Flavor of Love’. The international television demographic stays cold lampin with Flavor Flav the strange love-making Hollywood celebrity, not the comical MC, and Brigitte Nielson’s embarrassing Black male exploitation in the exotic, erotic adventures of ‘Foofy’ was a horrible joke like 911 is. Meanwhile, the immortal Chuck D releases dope album after album to an uninterested new generation. But, his album titles were subtly saying ‘hip hop is dying’ a long time ago: "Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age". "There's A Poison Goin' On". But, who's he referring to with "Rebirth of A Nation"? The hip hop nation as we knew it is all but "dead". Since the 'Is rap the new wrestling?' mentality started its take over, fake and real beef has been at an all time high, and sadly, we're still waiting for brothers to work it out...
EPMD said it in the shortest and sweetest way on the 1992 LP ‘Business As Usual’: Rap Is Outta Control. Now it’s so out of control, it has lost its collective mind. But how could a multi-billion dollar industry and worldwide culture actually become essentially “dead”? Now, let’s get it all in perspective: what MCs, DJs, graf artists, b-boys, b-girls, or overall hip hop cultural movements do you still wholeheartedly support, truly feel musically, and believe their futures are bright, as they continue representing the hip hop lifestyle and sound of right now? Alternately, what elements, what values, and what ideas within the worldwide hip hop culture of 2006 can be diagnosed as officially at the point of a fatal, flatline-level of “death” today? Its revolutionary spirit? Its voice of resistance? Its sonically dominant social commentary, and fear-inducing declarations of pleasure and pain from the ghetto prophets of rage? Its humble stumbling upwards and onwards along the path of divine rhyme righteousness? Its constantly unknown, bold and unpredictable steps forward into uncharted recorded audio territory each year, with all the new types of beats and new turntablism tricks? Its unspoken and timeless “thou shalt not bite” commandment? Its sense of balance? Its relatively dignified appreciation of its exciting sexuality? Its public expressions of compassion and its prevalent sense of community? Its previously exclusive feeling of universal unity? Puff Daddy was absolutely right on ‘Victory’, “it’s all fucked up now.” Fucked up beyond all recognition… maybe even redemption.
On the 1992 classic album ‘Fear of a Black Planet’, Public Enemy’s Chuck D wondered “Who Stole the Soul?” That song could easily be the thief’s theme for hip hop in 2006. In our eulogy, we could say to the corpse of hip hop: “The World is Yours, but you gained the world, only to lose your soul”, something that the Christian Bible’s God’s Son prayed would never happen. Yet it did. “Nasty” Nasir Jones’s first album was called “Illmatic”; universally respected as an unparalleled rap classic. His 8th album is tragically called “Hip Hop Is Dead”, since nothing can stop the madness of the modern rap nazareth savages. But you can’t hate Nas right now. Actually, you gotta love it. You gotta love the fact that he’s dropped one of the most perplexing (using Iron Butterfly’s ‘In-A-Gadda-Vida’ sample again? And making it possibly sound better?), complex, honest and important songs of the year, controversially titled ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’. A definitive sonic b-boy document for hip hoppers, simultaneously a nostalgic (Nastalgic?) and modern day East Coast stomper, featuring hardcore rock guitars, multiple old school break-beats, and a sinister vibe like the rhymes have a dagger to your throat… cloaked in a Trenchcoat-Mafia colored bassline with so much low end, in theory, it could wake every unconscious crack fiend in Queensbridge. It’s serious. And it’s a modern day masterpiece of a track, perfectly executed and excellently produced by, ironically, someone very arguably guilty of forever killing something in hip hop: Will.I.Am. Except, his pop group music is completely separate from his hip hop creations, which have quickly exploded into credible, mainstream-acceptable, yet underground-crowd-pleasing productions. In a year relatively lacking any hip hop with lasting, thought-provoking content, it is one of the most comprehensive analyses of this culture’s critical condition status in a long time, succinctly scripted by Nas with such insightful observations like “niggas smoke, laugh, party and die on the same corner/ get cash, get vexed, body they man’s mama”, and “criticize that? why’s that? cause Nas’s rap/ is compared to legitimized crack”. He even spits an example of his omniscience using only 2 bars with “so, who’s your top 10?/ is it MC Shan, or is it MC Ren?”, brilliantly placing the perpetual ‘who’s the best MC?’ debate in the context of a hip hop reference and a history lesson, while simultaneously addressing the question of any listener’s relevant East Coast/West Coast MC preference. Nas excellently describes the silent murder of hip hop on the definitive third verse: “everybody sounds the same, commercialized the game/ reminiscing when it wasn’t all business…” and “went from turntables to MP3s/ from Beat Street to commercials on Mickey D’s” among other thoughtful observations, and finishes the song with a surprise ending, emphatically yet subtly suggesting that hip hop can actually live again if it comes from the purest underground environment possible, directly from the essence of the ghetto, in the heart of the streets, and nowhere else. Nas almost implies that hip hop would have to become a secret society (again) to truly be resurrected. But for now: it’s almost everywhere in the world, yet it’s virtually dead. If sleep is the cousin of death, hip hop is beyond comatose. It’s in purgatory. So what in the world can be bridging the gap between death, and the afterlife? One never knows...
Honestly, in 2006, the message of Nasir is somewhat a mystery wrapped in an enigma: how can hip hop really be dead, when Nas is still making amazing music (amongst the numbers of other noble MCs still hungry, and rhyming like it’s always time for some microphone murdering affirmative action)? How can it be dead when the other Will.I.Am contribution, called ‘Don’t You Forget Me’, sampling the Nat King Cole classic ‘Unforgettable’, sounded like such a powerfully heart-touching song that an entire room of privileged sneak-peek listeners got out their seats and applauded when it was played? What the hell are we all doing at work and at play every day, if hip hop culture as we knew it and lived it, is now “dead”? Hopefully Nas can completely answer that question with his highly anticipated first Def Jam album, also titled ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’, featuring the previously-unimaginable, now-legendary collaboration called ‘Black Republicans’, starring Nas’s former arch-enemy/current business partner and label boss, President Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter (the same Jayhova from ‘Takeover’ that inspired an almost “falling off” Nastradamus to finally meet his match… with a hate-fueled ‘Ether’ flamethrower). Among other explanations of who, what, where, when, and why hip hop is dead, we wonder if he can possibly inspire us to use our collective common sense to all make some good music, and hopefully create hip hop’s eventual resurrection. It was written in Nas’s version of ‘The Message’ in 1996 that “a thug changes/ and love changes/ and best friends become strangers.” To so many people today, the best friend and special lady you loved when you were young, the one named hip hop, has somehow become the perfect stranger. But maybe she's not literally 'dead', she’s just a worthless impersonator with no purpose except to encourage hatred or absurb behavior while earning paper… like, if John Connor was hip hop, Babylon corporations became the Terminator. Forget any inspirational, educational words or further solutions for urgent changes, euthanasia is a possible option because entire continents on Planet Rock are almost beyond permanently saving, and things are literally dead in the eyes and the minds of some of rap’s finest creators.
What if Nasty Nas made an album that was finally as equally as praised as ‘Illmatic’ with the same album that he decided to document the death of hip hop culture itself? Could we possibly call these new 2006 songs “Nastradamus prophecies”? Time will tell. And time will also eventually tell what is to come of this “dead” thing we used to affectionately call hip hop as we move into the an unknown future from the tipping point of a virtually forgotten past, with a mass of young, gifted and Black youth lacking contact with rap’s true roots while swagger jacking with perilous arrogance so they’re carelessly refusing the truth, moving the culture forward with old school groups and veterans questioning if they’ll get acceptance and if they can remain relevant, and represent with music that’s new and improved and excellent. If hip hop is dead, the most important question is: do you believe in reincarnation and resurrections?
THE OFFICIAL ARTICLE:
http://www.poundmag.com/P36_Nas.pdf
(It was an honor to speak with Nasir. Thank you to Rodrigo and Luke, forever.)
“If hip hop dies, then we die together/ bodies in the ground, lie together, all together now…” – Nas, ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Hello, it's Mindbender from Pound Magazine, how are you doing today?
Nas: I'm doing great, man. Thanks.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Word up. I've been a hip hop since the days you were called Nasty Nas, it's a pleasure and an honor to speak with you, brother. I heard you say that all music is dead, beyond. If hip hop, rock and rhythm and blues are all dead, then we must be Black Zombies.
Nas: Heh heh heh...
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: ...but you're the God's Son. So aren't you the one to take us to the Promised Land? Isn’t it within us to resurrect the artform?
Nas: Nah, I think I’m more of a messenger… or a trouble maker sometimes, that gets people going. That’s what I’m doing…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Well, I definitely hear prophecy in your words. But would you do a Nas/Jay-Z album for an example of Black men making peace, and reuniting to rebuild what was destroyed?
Nas: We’ll start with the song ‘Black Republican’ on my album, then we’ll see what happens.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Word. Well, on “Ether”, you said “you love my style”. I knew Jay-Z was a big Nas fan, as well. But what are some of your favorite Jay-Z songs?
Nas: Umm, on his new album, ’30 Is The New 20’ [’30 Something’], I like that a lot.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Okay. None of the old jams though?
Nas: Yeah, yeah… ‘The Black Album’ I like.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Word.
People are wondering where some of your mythical projects are at, like ‘The Lost Tapes 2’. Is that still coming?
Nas: Uh, not at the moment. I can’t see it happening. At the moment, I don’t really want to release that.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Okay. How about the Nas/DJ Premier project?
Nas: Well, at the moment, I don’t know how to get it going. I wanted to start it, but I don’t know what it’s going to take to get us going… I’d just like to get in the studio where nobody can interfere and work on it, you know what I’m sayin? It maybe could take place in New York, maybe not. But I just need somewhere with no interruptions. All I need is about two weeks.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: To write and record?
Nas: Yeah…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: So how is your writing process, your creative process? Does it take a long time for you to come up with ‘The World is Yours’ or ‘Nas is Like’?
Nas: Earlier projects for me, I took my time… because I didn’t really know the value, or I didn’t really realize what the studio costs were… or I didn’t care, cause after I did my demos and got my deal, it was all their money. And I didn’t understand the recoup thing at the age of 19. So I just figured, yo, it’s Columbia Records, you got more than enough money to work on a rookie’s album without worrying about getting your money back. I’m sure you’re going to make it back a zillion times over. so I spent all the time I wanted in the earlier sessions… and now I don’t really think about what I’m spending on studio as much. But I do know that I do like to work… I don’t like to spend too much time on one record. If it’s taking too long, I move to the next idea. I walk around with a lot of ideas and when I get to the studio, I start writing them.
Nas: Is there a lot of unreleased stuff? Are there a lot of albums there?
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: There’s a lot of stuff. I don’t really know if there’s A LOT a lot of stuff, but there’s a good quantity of different things I haven’t listened to in a while…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I look forward to the day they are all released. Hip hop needs them. So when was the last time that hip hop felt alive for you?
Nas: The last time it really felt alive was when 50 Cent’s first album came out, ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’. I will admit that it did fell… that was right. The double Outkast album, the ‘Speakerboxxx/Love Below’, it felt alive then… other than that, it was of course, the ‘Ether/Takeover’ battle, it was also ‘The [Nas/Jay-Z] Union’. With ‘The Union’, it’s starting to feel like like something’s happening, like it’s the start of something. And just recently with The Game’s new album, and Jay-Z’s new album, you know?
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I feel you. This is the best part of the year, the end. I personally feel that 2006 has been the worst year ever for hip hop, artistically and economically…
Nas: Right.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Since like 1989, 1988… but do you feel any responsibility for hip hop’s death?
Nas: Yeah, you know? And I kinda with this album, I kinda pushed it, cause I’m not the one that’s recording radio records all the time, like I like to record them, but since I haven’t been in the last recent years, I’m kinda pushing other people to be, to do that, to do that, what you just asked me. But I think that with this album, and the other albums that recently came out, I think everybody’s going to be motivated, including myself, for next year.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I feel you. We can’t give up on it. It’s black expression. We’ve been doing it for centuries in one form or another.
Nas: Word.
So ‘Black Republican’ is history in the making. It’s a beautiful thing to see it come together. Did it take long for it to happen?
Nas: Um, well, I had a session. Jay came by, and I had the beat. He heard it, he liked it, he rhymed it. We started saying rhymes to each other… he rhymed on it, I rhymed on it. It wasn’t no big deal, it was just a song. What I mean is we didn’t plan it, we didn’t think of titles, we didn’t do anything… we weren’t necessarily even going to put anything down that day, I don’t think, it just so happened to happen.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Wow. That’s dope. Who produced it again?
Nas: LES.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: That’s dope. What if you signed to Def Jam in 92? Do you think things would have been a lot different? Like if MC Serch brought your demo there?
Nas: I think I would have sold double the records I sold. It’s either I would have sold double the records I sold, or I would have gotten lost in the shuffle of Def Jam. I mean, one never knows, because me being the only rap artist with a rap career on Columbia records, in Columbia records history, it’s probably by mistake. With Def Jam, it’s possible I could have sold double the amount of records because it’s a hip hop record company that caters more to mom and pop stores and the communities that it really belongs in. so maybe I could have sold double the records, or got lost, who knows. But I know one thing for sure, is I plan to bring Def Jam back to the days of glory.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: That’s a beautiful thing, I don’t doubt you can do it. I would like to ask you: if corrupt LAPD are found guilty of the murder of Biggie Smalls, and Ms. Wallace wins her case, what do you think would the reaction would be from hip hop? Riots? Revolution?
Nas: I think from all the speculation from all these years, was it this one or was it that one, I think people are just really ready to finally see a verdict that could give them what they are looking for. Because everybody wants to know. Everybody is so hurt by the loss of Biggie. I think it’s going to take a lot of thinking because what are you… people are going to want to know: ‘how corrupt is the police department in L.A.? and how long has it been corrupt?’ Because the L.A. police department has been corrupt for years. So who knows? Maybe it will open up a long list of stuff with the police department, or maybe with just how long it took for them to crack the case, it will make the hip hop community make sure that if it happens again, we go through ALL measures to make sure we find who is the, uh… you know, is the shooter, or whatever. Or maybe people will just say it’s too complex for me to even understand, and they are just happy they found the shooter.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I feel you there. I have been studying the Tupac case just on a personal mission, and the facts and the details are beyond comprehension. I think it’s one of the deepest stories in black history, period. It’s as complex as the JFK assassination, and any government conspiracy theory, and I know I’m just a head that barely knows anything. I’m just studying it… I don’t even know what kind of information you see and what you find real or not… but do you wonder about these things? I’m sure you must…
Nas: Yeah, I wonder… yo, it’s just a horrible thing, and it’s a moment that I remember… and you know that you never forget. And you kinda leave that in your head… it burns a place in your mind, for someone like me. And you never forget it, man, and you gotta learn from it. And at this point in time, all things in the dark come to light. So at this point in time, you know, for me, I don’t know what to think about it anymore, you know. I think they died for us, so… I think it’s for us to not repeat the same mistakes.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Amen, brother. Well, let’s live those lessons, I feel you. Well, let’s get to some other questions. You said “I could show them my fortune, but can’t force them to think rich.” So how could we teach the ghetto how to think like millionaires? Where’s a place we could start educating people on?
Nas: Well, I mean… first of all, it’s a tricky thing, because when you start educating people, where do you start? I mean, when you’re talking about our people: where do you start, you know what I’m saying? And it comes off like, it’s devastating to know what’s been held back from you, what’s been done to you, and what you don’t know about what’s really happening in today’s world. We got a loooot of catching up, so it’s like we have to do it in a speedy process where we have to give people self-awareness, we have to give them American history, political science, political history, we have to first and foremost give us knowledge of self… so that we know the greatness that yeah, we’re from the hood, but if you really want to know where we’re from, it ain’t no hood. It’s waaay, waaay greater than the hood. We don’t gotta realize and feel like ‘nah, I ain’t shit cause I came from here’. Nah, we don’t come from this block. We got brought to this block. We come from greatness. Once you can wrap your mind around that, and realize who you really are, you realize you’re more than the guy that’s a three time predicate felon, you’re more than just the guy, the perp. You’re more than just the rapper, the ball player. You’re more than all of these things. And you can start reshaping your family household. Once you people start realizing what chemical warfare and genocide is all about, we are literally being erased and wiped off this planet, period. Once we realize that, that’s a lot to cram into our brains at an instant. But at some point, we have to figure out a structure that places all these things into perspective so you can learn them each all in chronological order so to speak, and give it to us, so that we have knowledge of self, so that we know the world and how the business works in the white man’s world, and how it works here, and how we can exist in it, you know what I’m saying? And how we can do for us, and we can create our black world, and that’s it!
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Amen, brother. Well, like Chuck D said, there still is the fear of a Black planet, still to this day. But I mean, what choice do we have? This is what we must do, right?
Nas: Exactly.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: That leads into the next question. You said ‘we were never kings and queens, never porch monkeys’ on ‘I Can’, and you said from the beginning, on ‘Represent’: “I don’t believe in none of that shit, your facts are backwards”. So I wonder, where do you get your education?
Nas: There’s a book called ‘What They Didn’t Teach You In History Class’, and there’s a lot of scholars, like J.A. Rogers, there’s tons of scholars that have dedicated their lives to our history here and abroad, and been to Africa and studied in Africa, and studied here, studied in England, studied in Asia, and put together all of these references for us to go and find out what’s really going on. And that was the biggest thing that interested me, from the beginning. Cause I wanted to learn. Being black in America, there’s no home to go to, unless you’re going back to the South. In the South, you’re going to where your ancestors were dropped off here in America. So, we don’t really have nothing. My Italian friends go home to Italy. But my Irish friends go home to Ireland. You know, we don’t have a place to go home to, [Africa’s] not really our home, outside of America. So, to learn it is fascinating. So that’s what got me going from the beginning.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: So you have a library of books?
Nas: Yeah, yeah, since a child, my pops always had these things around.
That’s amazing. I love how it comes thru the music. The pace that you let the information out is the perfect balance for any kind of hip hop head to listen to. But on another subject, the platinum recording days seem to be over, pretty much. Killed by internet downloading and leaks… do you feel optimistic about hip hop in the next 2 or 3 years still?
Nas: You know what? I feel like, things change. And to survive, you have to change with it. And it’s nothing. You just have to change. It’s hurtful, but all things die and all things change. Change is good. And online, you can still go digital download platinum. Like Kelis has sold over a million ringtones, a million downloads. This is just on one song. You can still go digital platinum, and then have a physical record that’s platinum or double platinum. We just have to structure our deals differently, and I think that the musicians will always be here. It’s forcing us to go back to being all about the music again. Now you might not have enough for the fans to see you on MTV Cribs and all that bullshit. Now we might have to say yo, we make our money differently, so we live differently. We can still get those things, but we have to start all over and figure out our deals so our deals benefit us through the internet now.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I feel you. I look forward to the change. We definitely need to change the way shit is now.
Nas: It’s a sad thing, but we have to change with it or we will be left behind.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: For real. So I want to talk about some conflicts you have been through. You technically haven’t responded to ‘Piggy Bank’, except for ‘MC Burial’, which is real ill psychological chess. I love how you are playing it. But how do you feel about the fading dominance of G-Unit? It’s fact, they are not selling as much. But would you make peace with 50 Cent and Mobb Deep like you made peace with Jay-Z, at one point?
Nas: I think me and Jay-Z is the peace with everyone else, you know what I’m saying? I think that was to show everyone else, ‘there is the peace’. Now, they can go out and start thinking about, do they want to make peace with whoever. Do they want to do this, do they want to do that… Because: I don’t have any beef with no rapper. If a rapper has a beef with me, then I respond. But I don’t have any beef with them, they have beef with me. So I think the me and Jay thing was a way for them to see, this is where I’m at. So, whenever you guys… you guys can do that amongst yourself, cause I don’t even want to be included in anymore of the nonsense with the rap, cause it embarrasses us as a people. I just think these guys made enough noise saying wild shit about everybody and they need just do some soul searching and figure it out.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: That’s a beautiful perspective. I hope these guys pick up on the example as well. You’re right, Nas vs. Jay-Z was the biggest battle in hip hop history, and it’s wonderful that it didn’t end with a single gunshot. It can be done. I hope everyone learns. So, hey, are you friends with Memphis Bleek now? Cause really I know, technically, it was him that started the battle with you and Jay when he said ‘ball till you fall’? Are you cool with Bleek?
Nas: When I met up with Jay, did I ever see Bleek? Yeah, I saw him, we shook hands, everybody’s cool.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Okay. Dope. That’s good to know. How are things with Shyne, do you have a relationship with him at all?
Nas: No.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: How about Nature?
Nas: Nah…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: How about Cormega, have you spoken with him lately?
Nas: Last year… over the phone…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Okay. So, do you think you are getting to the point of an autobiography of Nasir Jones is due?
Nas: At some point, yeah.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Would you write it, or would you let someone else do it? Or would you maybe do a movie?
Nas: Maybe it’s a movie…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: How about ‘Sacred’ (the Nas-authored movie script), is that coming out?
Nas: Um… I don’t know, I don’t know. I have to really figure that out…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I heard about ‘Beast’, (Belly Part 2). Is that started as yet?
Nas: Nah, we’re still trying to develop it with DMX, so I think we have to figure out exactly what we’re going to do with it…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: How about another Firm album, could that happen? A super group with Dr. Dre. Could that happen?
Nas: Well, probably not with the same people… nah.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: So did you stop smoking erb?
Nas: No comment!
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Ha ha, nuff said! So, what’s your greatest challenge in your daily life these days? When you wake up in the morning?
Nas: Shit, really to see what I want to do next… what I want to do.
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: Are there any MCs that give you hope for the future?
Nas: I’d say Kanye West. And T.I…. and guys like that…
Addi “Mindbender” Stewart of Pound: I have one more question: If Heaven was NOT a mile away, but it was right here and now, created through hip hop, do you think that’s a possibility? Do you think maybe that’s an idea? Like you for instance. You and Jay-Z and Kanye West. You guys seem to be able to manifest your dreams. Do you feel like you’re in a Heaven in a sort of way?
Nas: Yeah, dog… I do. I do.
with even more love,
from Mindbender!
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:)
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