Nas had some major praise for Kendrick Lamar when asked about the iconic rapper during an interview with Rolling Stone, published on Tuesday. The topic arose when writer Andre Gee compared Nas’ 2006 song, “Hip Hop Is Dead,” to Lamar’s more recent single, “Watch the Party Die.”
“We all as artists love this art form and have our opinions on it. Kendrick is one of the brightest stars we’ve ever seen, and I don’t only mean superstar, I mean like the North Star — I think he’s one of those,” Nas began. “Out of all of the artists in this business, there’s some that’s not here for the art. When we see those people that are not here for the art damaging it, you’re hurting the future of the art. So I think artists like Kendrick are going to speak out.”
He continued: “There’s a couple of ’em out there, younger, older that say what they say. I think there was an OutKast video, one of those guys wore a ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ shirt even before I said it, I didn’t see that until later. It’s just been in the conversation naturally, like any sport you want to thrive. You don’t want the NBA to start slowing down. You want it to thrive. The ball players want it to thrive. We’re going to call out anytime we see it. Sometimes the rest of us won’t see it. Sometimes it’ll take Kendrick to remind us where we are lacking. “
Nas Casino Plan
Elsewhere in the interview with Rolling Stone, Nas discussed his own beef with Jay-Z and how fans have resurfaced the drama in the wake of his successful bid for a casino license in Queens, New York. Jay and Roc Nation had unsuccessfully proposed a casino in Times Square.
“It is just a thing that some people are going to talk about,” Nas said of fans’ reactions. “No one has any control over things like that. I still study Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. Some rap fans just like to go off on those things from time to time. That’s it.”