Nas Reveals Only Fear He Had After ‘Illmatic’ Dropped: “At That Point It Was A Lot Of Pressure” [Audio]

Rap veteran Nas recently talked about the immediate success behind his 1994 Illmatic debut album and what pressure he had to deal with following its release.

Despite dropping handfuls of classics, Nasir Jones said the only pressure he experienced from Illmatic’s success was piecing together a well-received follow-up.

“I did not ever feel any pressure because of this album,” Nas said referring to Illmatic. “It was only when it came to putting out a second album it became a lot of pressure because the album was received so well. It was a thing, I don’t know if they still call it this today, but the sophomore jinx. You make a good first album and then with your second one, you fall off. But nowadays, you can spring back out with a feature – back then it was like, real serious. If you had a sophomore jinx, it was lights out.” (BBC Radio 1)

The rap veteran also suggested various hip-hop artists jacked his style during the mid-1990’s.

“Here I am, at the boards again, doing another album, so yeah, at that point it was a lot of pressure,” Nas added. “Other than that, so many artists were coming into the business sounding similar to me. The flow, the content, so it was kind of hard to come out on top of all of them. … I said, ‘How do I come off on top of the world on, ‘If I Ruled the World.’ … Me and the Fugees were label mates, always put out there together for club events so when Illmatic was coming out they opened up for me – but now the tables turned, we’re being promoted together and Fugees have The Score and now I’m opening for them.” (BBC Radio 1)

Earlier this year, Nas said the main thing he had more of these days is zeros in his bank account.

“Now I got money. Back then I was rich with spirit. Now I got money. That’s the difference. Back then I was talking about “you should get money, the world is yours.” Now, I became a man and I’ve experienced the finer things in life.” (Complex)

During a recent panel discussion, Nasir talked about being perceived as a high-profile entertainer and shared some words about his upcoming Time Is Illmatic film.

“I don’t see myself as the most mainstream around, I just see myself as, I’ve been around,” Nas said on being asked what it was like to be accepted by the mainstream via the film fest. “I wanted to see what it was like… I definitely stepped into the mainstream stage for a little while, partied and had a good time, and then I went back to what I was doing.” (XXL Mag)

Check out Nas’ interview: