For 15 years Nas has done what many rappers have tried but none have really accomplished. He has been able to make pure hip-hop music while remaining a commercially viable artist. From the moment we heard the young Queensbridge MC spit furiously on “Live At The BBQ” alongside Main Source we knew he was something special.

Soon after came Illmatic, an album which by many is considered to be the greatest hip-hop album ever released and a star was born. If there ever was an album that rattled the cages of hip-hop so to speak, Illmatic was it. Immediately crowned as the second coming of Rakim, Nas gave us vivid tales of the street life over some of the best beats ever created.

His second album, It Was Written gave the fans more of what we heard on Illmatic with a commercial appeal featuring songs like “If I Ruled The World”. The album also produced classic tracks such as “The Message” and “Take It In Blood”. It was the years following It Was Written when people began the criticisms of Nas, saying he was becoming “too commercial” or “not as good as he used to be”. I Am, Nastradamus, and The Firm album with Foxy Brown, Nature, and AZ were r eleased during this time and while commercially successful people felt it just wasn’t the same old Nas.

We later found out Nas was going through personal problems and his heart wasn’t in the music the way it once was. Many fans had counted Nas out and figured his best years were behind him but the year 2001 would prove everybody wrong as the historical lyrical battle between him and Jay-Z began. Jay started it with “Takeover” but Nas definitely ended it with his scathing dis track “Ether”. Nas was back on top of the world and released another classic album in Stillmatic.

If Nas had fallen off this album was proof that he was most definitely back on, releasing some of the best songs of his career such as “One Mic” and “Rewind”. Since the release of Stillmatic,  Nas has consistently delivered that real hip-hop with his albums God’s Son, Street’s Disciple, Hip-Hop Is Dead, and of course his latest opus, Untitled.

Today Nas remains one of the most thought provoking and socially conscious MC’s around. Just as relevant in 2008 as he was in 1994 it’s no wonder Nas is one of the, if not the greatest MC to ever touch a microphone.

Sixshot.com: What’s up Nas?
 
Nas: Everything is good man. Everything is good. 
 
Sixshot.com: There was a lot of controversy around the album Untitled. People were anticipating it heavily. Now that it’s finally out, are you happy with the response that you got to it? 
 
Nas: Yeah definitely and the response that I’m still getting. 
 
Sixshot.com: You obviously had a specific message that you wanted people to have with this album. Do you feel like people are taking from it what it is that you wanted to give them? 
 
Nas: Yeah people got it man, they definitely got it. A lot of people are surprised because everybody don’t sound one way or this way or that way because it was, it was like me putting myself out there and putting out what I had on my mind. I wanted to put out a record that got people’s attention but this one was a little harder to push than my other ones. People didn’t really know what to expect. People realized when they heard this album that this was an album full of my opinions. Once they understood that then it was all good. 
 
Sixshot.com: You’ve always had a message in your music dating as far back as Illmatic. Would you say that Untitled is the album where you offered up the most amounts of your opinions? 
 
Nas: Yeah, probably yeah and definitely about one subject matter, you know? 
 
Sixshot.com: You’ve always had positive messages in your music whether they were on a song like “I Can” where you showed children the right direction to take in life or a song like “If I Ruled The World” where you expose some injustices and whatnot. Does it bother you when Bill O’Reilly just says whatever he wants and kind of paints you out to be this criminal, which we know that you’re not? 
 
Nas: Yeah, yeah that’s why I made the song, you know? He’s not the only person who has an outlet. He’s not the only person who has listeners. To be honest I think I have more listeners than he does. 
 
Sixshot.com: You got the petition signed by hundreds of thousands of people. Were you surprised that there were so many people that showed up to support your cause? 
 
Nas: Nah, you know what it was? They did like a permit type of thing where it was only a certain amount of people that could really be involved. We knew exactly how many people we were going to be dealing with. They always strike down on the hood and they always strike down on the black folks, not even just the black folks. This was our time to strike back. 
 
Sixshot.com: You’re one of the most successful hip-hop artists ever. What do you think is the main factor that kept you so relevant for all these years? 
 
Nas: I say that I like to go on that ride. I like to go on that ride musically and I feel that people want to get on that ride with me. They want to see where it’s going to go and where it’s really going to end up. They know that I’m a real fan of hip-hop. To this day I listen to rap and the fans can really relate to that fact. In that sense when I put it like that it’s like I’m in the game but at the same time I’m really not in the game. You know what I mean? It’s like I’m on the sidelines and I just stay quiet and I think people like it when I come off the sideline and make some noise once in a while. 
 
Sixshot.com: That leads to my next question actually. Throughout your career you’ve been the guy who stays in the background a little bit, the guy who kind of avoids all the limelight, the guy who is just humble in general. Why did you decide to take that approach in terms of your music career? 
 
Nas: I mean that’s just who I am, you know? You have to have your life man. Me, personally I think some of these dudes go to bed with all their watches and rings on man. I just think they get lost in who they are. I could see it in their albums. I could see it in their music. I could see it every single time I see them, they’re lost. You gotta have your life before everything, you know what I’m sayin’? You got to fight to have your life and that’s what it is. 
 
Sixshot.com: You’ve been around in hip-hop for so long and you’ve been through the many different types of changes that the game has gone through. I know you released Hip-Hop Is Dead, which gives us a general idea, but how are you feeling overall about hip-hop today? 
 
Nas: It’s dead, you know but it’s still inspiring to people who are trying to make music that sounds like they’re not trying to go down like that. They’re trying to keep the shit moving. There’s still money to be made because anything that starts off credible in the streets and then it goes global and it goes commercial then it’s obviously going to turn into something else. As long as cats are getting money off of it and cats are making music that makes me want to pick up my pen then I’m happy, you know? If there’s music that makes me want to throw it in my truck and just listen then I’m happy. 
 
Sixshot.com: When you were first getting into hip-hop did you ever imagine that it would be this big and reach people around the world on the commercial level that it does? 
 
Nas: I was always rooting for it to happen but once it got there, you know to the place where it’s at, it killed it. Right now it’s in a real awkward place, it’s in limbo. Being in limbo it’s the perfect place for it to be because it will never get too big and it will never fall off. It’s in a strange place and it’s working its way back into the mainstream and you can see that with Lil Wayne’s album and the numbers that he did. I don’t know if that trend is going to continue but it’s definitely cool to have that one album that could let people know that we’re still here. 
 
Sixshot.com: In your music you address the problems that African Americans go through but you also mention the problems that other races go through from Italian to Irish. How is it that you have such a good grasp on the fact that people in general have their struggles that they go through regardless of race?
 
Nas: Anybody with two eyes knows that just being human is hard. Just waking up and getting in a pair of pants ain’t easy all the time, you know? It don’t matter who I am. I don’t wake up everyday and want to make a “Ni^#er” album about the pain and the struggle of a Black man. Everybody goes through the struggle, you know? It’s life. We live in this world where money rules and some are going to make it and some are going to fall. This album is for everybody because everybody goes through it, not just black people. 
 
Sixshot.com: Was it a big issue for you when you had to change the album title to Untitled? 
 
Nas: Nah we knew from the beginning you know what I’m sayin’? We were just throwing it out there to see if it stuck. That was no surprise and anybody would have a hard time getting that in stores but we went for it. 
 
Sixshot.com: Now Nas, AZ did a mixtape project and he said in interviews that he thought it would kind of be similar in theme to your album. You two have known each other a long time. Did you listen to it and did you like it? 
 
Nas: I didn’t hear it. 
 
Sixshot.com: You have platinum and gold plaques, multiple albums, a ton of fans, are considered maybe the greatest MC ever, hit singles, groundbreaking music, and everything else that an MC can hope to achieve. At this point in your life do you feel like there is anything else left for you to accomplish in hip-hop? 
 
Nas: Yeah man I mean I want to make seventy more albums. When I first got into this business I wanted to make one album and be out. A lot of times you just don’t want to deal with the industry but I kind of found a way to not deal with the industry. I still want to make it as long as I feel it, you know what I’m sayin’? I still want to make albums just for me. They’ll be just for me and for people who want to listen to it. 
 
Sixshot.com: How have you found that balance where you could not have to deal with the industry so much? 
 
Nas: I’m me. It’s just like anything else whether you’re a ball player, whether you’re a scholar, or whatever you have your life at the same time. You can’t be too consumed with anything because too much of anything is probably going to kill you. You just have your life man and if you don’t have one you should definitely figure out how to get one. There’s so much in this life to learn. Music is just one thing that takes up a lot of my time but yo there’s a downside to that. 
 
Sixshot.com: All right Nas, you have a lot of die hard fans out there. Is there anything you’d like to say to them? 

Nas: Peace my niggas.