For Immediate Release

Time is Illmatic director talks working on Nas documentary, plus upcoming projects

One9 opens up about the 10 year road to completing Time is Illmatic and offers insight on his current ventures in film and television, directing a project on police violence that airs on PBS in February and a new project for Academy Award-winning director John Singleton called “LA Burning” that will air on A&E Network in April 2017.

HEAR THE ROSES will also be available on partner sites The Museum of Light, Fusicology, and RESPECT. Magazine.
Soundcloud.com/heartheroses

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According to the Red Nation emcee, this would not be attainable without those emerging artists that play a position in communicating such hidden pain:

“Chicago is speaking where other people ain’t talking. They talking for themselves, they giving us what’s going on. If it wasn’t for the rap artists personally, the whole country would not know the state of emergency, that’s supposed to be going on in the hoods out there.”

He continues later, “Thank God we’ve got rappers from Chicago enlightening the whole world about what’s happening, because nobody else wants to talk about it.”

Nas speaks from a real place, his words authentic and hard to ignore. Undoubtedly, Nas will continue to rep for those communities that he mentioned that embrace the hustle.

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20 years of setting the standard to what a real MC embodies and he isn’t stopping anytime soon. Nasir Jones has shown longevity through staying true to himself and the art of storytelling. Since his classic debut album Illmatic, Nas has demonstrated versatility through various topics including success, growing up in the Queensbridge houses, spirituality and the truth. Hands down, Nas has become one of the best in the Rap genre. Check out his ten best verses below:

10.) Raekwon Feat. Ghostface Killa & Nas – “Verbal Intercourse”

Nas drops a very memorable 16-bar rap that was noted by many in the industry as one of the best verses in all of Hip-Hop. He was the first rapper to ever be featured in the 36th Chamber and man, are we grateful that Raekwon decided to add him onto this track.

9.) Main Source Feat. Nas, Joe Fatal, & Akinyele  – “Live at The Barbecue”

The verse that started it all. The Hip-Hop community went bananas when this verse was released and rappers such as Common were inspired to change their delivery even before Nas debuted his first album. Clearly, Nas was doing something right.

8.) “It Ain’t Hard To Tell”

“Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian, half man, half amazing.” Nas has been consistent with the way he views himself throughout his music, from referring to himself as God’s Son, to characterizing himself as both divine and wholly man.

7.) “Represent”

Nas goes in on a day in the life of a young Queensbridge resident, capturing what was the mentality during that era in Hip-Hop  (Straight up, shit is real and any day could be your last in the jungle). Dj Premier’s production on this one really captures the East Coast aura.

6.) Nas Feat. AZ – ” Life’s a Bitch”

“I switched my motto; instead of saying “fuck tomorrow”/That buck that bought a bottle could’ve struck the lotto.” This line alone entails growth in Nas and what he’s choosing to spend his money on. Life as a young adult is indeed a bitch but Nas has chosen to face life with a much more uplifting outlook.

5.) “Ether”

“Eminem murdered you on your own shit.” Ouch. 13 years since the beef between Nas & Jay Z occurred, fans still argue on who took the win. This 40-bar diss still gives us chills, as Nas goes in on Jay’s appearance and “dick-riding” antics. Who do you think won the infamous battle?

4.) “The World is Yours”

“Born alone, die alone. No crew to keep my crown or throne.” At the end of the day, all we have is ourselves. Nas expressed at the time that he had no one to pass his legacy onto and that he is the only one who can look after himself.

3.) “The Message”

“There’s one life, one love, so there can only be one King.” During the time of this release, Notorious B.I.G was the hottest thing in New York rap, according to an article published at The Source. & of course, as a prominent lyricist, Nas came for the crown.

2.) “One Love”

“Mind’s in another world thinking how can we exist through the facts/Written in school text books, bibles, et cetera/Fuck a school lecture, the lies get me vexed-er.” This song is one of my favorites, as he really utilizes the art of story-telling to tell a tale of sending letters to his friends in the pen. Here, Nas believes the public school system is a failure for the youth.

1.) “NY State of Mind”

“I never sleep, ’cause sleep is the cousin of death.” In his critically-acclaimed debut Illmatic, Esco delivered one of the most classical rap lines in rap history. Nas describes a drug dealer’s paranoia, yet it is still relatable with any form of hustle; sometimes, we have to sacrifice slumber to see success.

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Nas

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Photo by Andrew Mohrer

Legendary producer DJ Premier is a very busy man these days. He officially launched his new website, premierwuzhere.com, earlier this year, and is continuing his “Bars in the Booth” series. He also was a musical guest for Dave Chappelle‘s comeback comedy show back in June–all of this while having several up and coming projects in the works. Luckily got the chance to speak to Primo while he had a little downtime.

You recently were a musical guest for Dave Chappelle’s Comedy comeback tour. How did it feel being a part of a momentous night?

To see Dave back after 10 years of not doing stand-up, that was a big deal. So to see that was exciting for even us, even though we were guests to perform. We were in our dressing room getting ready, and obviously they have the monitors where we could watch the show and see everything and hear the crowd or audience, we were in there laughing, stumbling, I’m stumbling trying to put my pants on laughing.

He even said “Hey it’s been 10 years, I’m a little rusty so bear with me” you know. But even that, first thing he said…“You know it’s two reasons why I got back into comedy,” he said. “For one, stand-up is my number one love and I’ve missed stand-up and I haven’t done it in so long, so I wanted to test the waters again. And the second reason: I was like, ‘Damn, all these got-damn bills starting to pile up, I ain’t know it was going to get this expensive. I gotta start paying bills.’” The way he said it, the timing of it–he had everybody laughing and he just kept on rolling from there and he did an incredible job. And then the guests, for me to be a part of it with Busta Rhymes and Janelle Monae, we just had a good time hanging together. It was just amazing and a blessing to even be asked to be a part of it.

 You recently launched a website–what can fans expect to see on the site?

I really wanted it to be a store to buy my merch and all my t-shirts, hats, records, and develop little things I’m learning. But the main point was to sell my shirts and whatnot to people that keep stressing me about–“Where can we find your shirts, where can we find your hats?” They can go directly there and get it. But my web guy and my media guy, Dan Ollek, and my management were all so were like “Yo, you need to put the content up and keep it current with things you’re doing…and then they said do something where people could rap off your beats, freestyle” I said nah, I don’t want to do that, it’s just not an idea I visualized. And they said “can we shoot one? If you don’t like it then we just won’t do it.”

So, Papoose was on his way to work on a song with me which he called “Current Events.” So when he came down we shot it and I said it’s all about how it looks when it’s done. Then my boy, Matt Fisher, sent it the first edit it looked gritty and grimy and I was like yo, I actually like the way it looks. Ok, well continue. So that went to Dres from Black Sheep, who was working on a project with Showbiz who runs the studio for me. So when Dres was there, he said “Yo, I saw Pappose joint. I like the way y’all edited it, it looks good, it sounds good.” [I said], “Do you wanna do the next one?”  He said, “Are you serious?” I was like “Yeah,” and he said “Yeah, what day?” I said we’ll call the camera guy tomorrow, bring my guy up. He came down, did it, and a lot of people loved the Dres one. So then we said, “Ok let’s continue.”

And then Jakk Frost happened to be in town for a football game, and we ended up hooking up to give me all of his hoodies cause he has a lot of gear on his site. So I told him he can catch the “Bars in the Booth” with Dres and Papoose. He said, ‘man I’d love to do one.” I said, “Do you wanna do one now?” My camera guy turned on the lights and we recorded him. And that one did good too because a lot of people were like, “Damn I’ve never heard of Jakk Frost, but after seeing your “Bars in the Booth,” I started to look up his stuff and I actually just bought a hoodie.” That’s why right now I’m keeping it vintage with older artists. I’ll get some younger ones too, but I just want to show the older artist who are nice with a pen. So I have been focused on making sure that they are the launch. And then we never announce who’s next, we don’t want people to know. And then next guy that’s being launched next week anyways, a younger guy, which will switch it up a little bit. Then I’m going to start getting female MC’s for a couple episodes.

And since we’re on the topic of the “Bars in the Booth” series, which installment has been your favorite so far?

Definitely Dres.

You are one of the many producers on Illmatic. As it celebrates its 20^th anniversary, did you know that this album will have such an impact on hip-hop?

 Yeah, I knew it would. Because for him to have me, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and shout out to L.E.S even though he was an extended member because Nas brought him in- he wasn’t part of our legendary status at the time, but big ups to L.E.S. So, I heard everything on the album way before it was turned in and released. I helped master it and everything. So, man, it was just dope knowing that all of us were together on one album. We were all respectful of each other, and still are.

What other projects are you working on?

I got a few things going on. I just did a secret album that I can’t announce yet but it’ll get out there in the next two weeks. That is most def gonna be happening. Not the Nas album yet, but just another bonafide MC who can really spit, and it’s where I sample one artist through the entire album. It’s 9 songs. It started out as an EP but turned into an album. And like I said it’s only 9 songs, but instead of me sampling different people, it’s only one artist. So that secret album will be announced in a couple of weeks. And then did one with M.O.P.–they’re about to drop an EP called Street Certified, I’m just overseeing the project.  I am going to be producing tracks on it, but for the album, not for the EP. So they’re going to drop that in a couple weeks just to tie people over until their album is done because their album is going to come out. I also have NYG’z–huge part of Can’t Stop Foundation–and their album called Hustler’s Union.

Panchi, who is a member of NYG’z, is also my co-host on my radio show which is on Sirius XM satellite radio every Friday night from 10 to midnight eastern time on Hip-Hop Nation which is channel 44. So he’s my co-host along with King of Chill. He’s a legendary producer with MC Lyte, Audio Two, so we keep that going every Friday, just break new ground with underground hip-hop. And all this hip-hop that I play is available; it’s not stuff that I’m just playing so exclusive that you can’t get it. Everything I play and we promote it on live to say, “Hey, this is out, this is available next month, here’s where you can find it.”

So, there’s that and I’ve been doing stuff overseas with Ed Sheeran, who has another album coming out at the top of the year. He has one out that he just dropped, but he’s doing five albums: one with Rick Ross, one with Game, another traditional Ed Sheeran album, and the one he has out. So I want to be on the second one, but we already did the songs. I’m doing tracks with Christina Aguilera again, so hopefully we get that up and running again cause she’s pregnant right now, she should be due soon. Other than that, I did a record with Miguel, Slaughterhouse, working with Joey Bada$$ right now on a record. So just staying really active.

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Dave Chappelle touched down at Radio City Music Hall last week to kick off his 10-show tour that has already seen a live performance from Kanye West. Fortunately, the excitement doesn’t end there. Before drawing the curtains on last night’s show, Chappelle brought out the Queensbridge emcee, Nasty Nas, to perform his legendary debut album, Illmatic in its entirety. Chappelle’s very own orchestra backed up Nasir.

Nas kept the audience enthused as he ripped through classic cuts such as “Made You Look,” “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That),” “NY State of Mind”and more.

If you reside in the NY area, you’ve still got time to catch Chappelle live until the 26. Other performers set to make appearances are The Roots, Busta Rhymes, DJ Premier, Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu.

Check out some of the clips below.

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Photo Credit: Norman Jean Roy

Everyone wants to be great. If an artist, or anyone for that matter, is fortunate enough to possess or learn the skills needed to earnestly pursue a goal, then success isn’t far fetched. But the most common desire is to just get there. The question existing, however, is how do you stay there? How do you continue to evolve and how do you maintain? We look to cultural veterans such as Jay Z and Nas as the standards for success. We use them as sort of a bar for which to reach. They’ve withstood the test of time, but they also continue to advance inside and outside the realm of hip-hop.

There are a few interesting factors that can give clarity or shine light on what it takes to have longevity or to remain reigning over the cultural throne. The first could be their pursuit of excellence. Jay Z has described excellence as “…being able to perform at a high level for a long period of time.” We anticipate their next move, whether it is lyrical or an entrepreneurial endeavor. Whatever the case, their efforts remain just as fresh and exciting as the first time they released Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic.

The second factor could be setting the right foundation, which is chasing the pure passion of the art form. Always making mention that the culture needs reviving, Nas’ nostalgia can be used as encouragement to revisit the historical background of the craft, “Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic. Like these folks never existed. They the reason that rap became addictive. Play they CD or wax and get lifted. I recommend when your kid turn ten, let him here Spice 1, made plenty of noise, Positive K, Father MC, the Skinny Boys.” A broader sense of awareness of hip hops humble beginnings and the creativeness of it all begins to take root. From there, the compelling nature to save hip hop from its destitute state is brought forth. Hence, switching the motive from chasing a dollar to “holding down the block.” 

“You can just be you and do you – and not let nobody mess with your flow. Forget the cash, forget the cars, forget all of that stuff… the first thing is the music.” – Nas

All eyes are on the new students of the game, who, since the beginning of their careers, appear to have been taking detailed notes. Like Jay and Nas, Kendrick Lamar and J.Cole, for example, are using their creative and artistic ability to share new perspectives on common issues. Kendrick’s struggle to make it out of Compton’s “belly of the rough” and J.Cole’s “dollar and a dream” are their means of connecting with listeners. It doesn’t hurt to have the vet’s characteristic of ambition as well, which frequently appears in Wale‘s rhymes. Wanting to aim higher remains just as important as being persistent despite obstacles.

Having a sense of self-awareness is just as essential. Being self-aware may just be what makes these artist’s relatable and encouraging to those still on a journey. Or, taking it a step further, having the willingness and courage to be vulnerable, like Drake, and conveying their messages in a genuine way. Being open, honest and transparent about most of their life experience’s; transmitting hope to the hopeless. The understudies are reaching for the bar. Maybe even setting it higher. They are undoubtedly following the same formula as their predecessor’s, but with clearly distinctive personalities and rap styles.

Of course, it takes time and patience to be a Jay Z or a Nas, but it’s possible for the believer. The throne isn’t just for few. It’s for many, who have a vision and seek to validate that vision and pursue it while keeping the proper perspective. It takes lyricists who are strong-willed, like Jay and Nas, to continue to inspire on any level. Everyone wants to be great, but to reign on the throne, the expectation should be to become excellent. Ten years from now, who will be wearing the crown?

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