S. Samuel
Rap veteran Nas has reportedly penned an open letter to Def Jam Records demanding the support and release of his upcoming Lost Tapes 2 album.
Within the letter, Nas speaks on his issues with the label and its treatment towards the artists.
I won’t even tap dance around in an email, I will get right into it. People connect to the Artist @ the end of the day, they don’t connect with the executives. Honestly, nobody even cares what label puts out a great record, they care about who recorded it. Yet time and time again its the executives who always stand in the way of a creative artist’s dream and aspirations. You don’t help draw the truth from my deepest and most inner soul, you don’t even do a great job @ selling it. The #1 problem with DEF JAM is pretty simple and obvious, the executives think they are the stars. You aren’t…. not even close. As a matter of fact, you wish you were, but it didn’t work out so you took a desk job. To the consumer, I COME FIRST. Stop trying to deprive them! I have a fan base that dies for my music and a RAP label that doesn’t understand RAP. Pretty f*cked up situation.” (Karen Civil)
Nas also stressed the importance of putting out a quality project like Lost Tapes.
“Lost Tapes is a movement and a very important set up piece for my career as it stands. I started this over 5 years ago @ Columbia and nobody knew what it was or what it did but the label put it out as an LP and the fans went crazy for it and I single handlely built a new brand of rap albums. It’s smart and after 5 years it’s still a head of the game. This feels great and you not feeling what I’m feeling is disturbing. Don’t get in the way of my creativity. We are aligned with the stars here, this is a movement. There is a thing called KARMA that comes to haunt you when you tamper with the aligning stars. WE ARE GIVING THE PEOPLE EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. Stop throwing dog sh*t on a MAGICAL moment. You don’t get another Nas recording that doesn’t count against my deal….PERIOD! Keep your bullsh*t $200,000.00 fund. Open the REAL budget. This is a New York pioneers ALBUM, there ain’t many of us. I am ready to drop in the 4th quarter. You don’t even have sh*t coming out! Stop being your own worst enemy. Let’s get money!” (Karen Civil)
Last week, rap pioneer Pete Rock announced his involvement on the Lost Tapes sequel.
“LOOK OUT FOR NEW NAS AND PETE ROCK COMING ON LOST TAPES 2!!,” he tweeted this week. “‘FINALLY’ AFTER 18 SUM ODD YEARS ITS NAS AND PETE ROCK AGAIN!! LETS GO!!” (Pete Rock’s Twitter)
In September, Nas said his new compilation would drop December 14th.
“I’m unloading records I want the streets to hear,” the Queens rapper said in an e-mail. “Cleaning out my hard drives. Gonna do this [Lost Tapes 2], then start fresh. I’m dropping my solo LP before the summer of 2011. I love the energy the world has been giving me over the last two years. But now it’s time to focus on owning the streets again.” (MTV)
Check out a recent Nas interview below:
