In 2006, Nas expressed how disappointed he was with the hip-hop industry when he released his hit song “Hip Hop Is Dead”. Now, after 10 years have passed, Nas has changed his tune about how he feels about our favorite music genre on Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons.
When the Illmatic rapper was asked how he feels about the industry he revealed that he believes hip-hop is in a “better” place. Nas explains, “Because it gave birth to Kendrick and J. Cole, Drake and a few other great, great artists”. He stated that he sees himself in them and that all three of those artists have paid homage to him in some way. The East Coast lyricist expressed that J. Cole paid tribute with his song, “Let Nas Down”, Drake mentioned Nas in his first album’s liner notes, and Kendrick Lamar shouted him out when he won his Grammy. Nas finished this sentiment by saying, “They inspire me”.
Nas also spoke about Illmatic, his wishes to work with Tupac and Biggie, and his favorite NBA album from Shaq. Kevin Durant, who was also being interviewed along side him, chimed in with his opinions on the hip-hop questions as well.