September 05, 2014

Nas Interview (Hip-Hop Connection, 1993)


At 19-years old, a young Nasty Nas spoke with Hip-Hop Connection, check it out: "Large Professor, that was my man before he made a record," Nas explains. "He was just out here in Queens, my man introduced me to him 'cause he knew I could rhyme. I was about to stop till I met him. He had some beats for me and shit back in '89. Me and him was working together trying to come out and then he got a record deal and since me and him was cool he just put me on that record ("Live At The BBQ") to give me some light." In the music biz, it's often said that it's who you know that gets your foot in the door, but in Nas' case this wasn't so. "It was difficult getting a deal," says Nas. "Like nobody wanted to hear what I was saying they wanted to hear them other records like "OPP," when that type of shit was big... record labels didn't really know what time it was. I thought that was strong enough to get me a deal but it wasn't." He admits that "Back To The Grill" wasn't exactly his flavor at the time, "I didn't really wanna do it, but that's what got me my real light y'know." Moving on to "Halftime," Nas says "It means like intermission, when I be hearing a lot of bullshit or when the breaks come, that was like half time of the song" and that numbers and accolades didn't much to him, "I'm only concerned with the street vibe..." To close out the interview, Nas proclaims "I want to be President Of The United States." - HHC, 1993... I wonder if he still feels that way today?!