S. Samuel
Rap veteran Nas recently gave his take on where he ranks amongst hip-hop's elite and explained why it it too premature to place him in a category of best-ever emcees.
In Nasty Nas’ perspective, time and rap’s evolution could ultimately change how he is viewed.
“It’s wayyyyyy, way, way too early in our lives,” he said when asked where he fits among history’s best MCs. “It’s great to put a list together, but don’t take it too seriously because your list won’t matter 10 years from now or 15 years from now. It’ll be a different list.” (CNN)
Nasir Jones also described how his music’s categorization constantly changes.
“I’ve been called everything. Gangsta rap. I’ve been called conscious rap. You know, everything. Whoever feels like calling it whatever they want to call it, that’s on them,” he said. “Don’t blame me; blame our wonderful country, America. And you can’t even blame America. It’s life. Blame life. I talk about life, and I make universal music with an American style — and that’s what I do,” he said. “I know one thing: People put too many labels on music.” (CNN)
Roc Nation’s J. Electronica recently called Nas one of hip-hop’s finest to grab the microphone.
“Nas is one of the gods, one of the greatest of all time, one of the godfathers of even my own style,” he said. “I met him on a humble submission and he is one of the greatest ever — he never has or never will need a ghostwriter. He’s legendary, his pen game is unquestionable; salute to Nas. “And all of the other bullsh–, is just bullsh–,” he added, addressing the stories that have been told over the past few weeks. (MTV)
Back in 2010, the platinum-selling rap star weighed in on the “Greatest Rapper Alive” debate.
“There is no best or greatest MC. Should never happen, doesn’t make sense,” he said in a blog post. “It makes sense temporarily when you’re striving to be number one. It makes sense for [the fans] to see that, but you have a long run to be the greatest. To me, people already felt like they were [the greatest] in more ways than they should have and I think that hurt them. There is no greatest of all time. We won’t know that until we’re 60 years old. I think there will be like four to five great ones at the end of the day, but there will be none that’s greater than the other. Impossible…[Jay-Z] is the one that smacks everybody in the face that’s out there and wanted to say what he wasn’t and what he couldn’t do. The challenge is that people always count you out and even when you have a hit record and put out a hit album, you’re gonna have people dissing you. I think he’s showing you: I won’t be stopped ever. And that’s motivation for everyone else.” (VIBE)
