How Biggie and Tupac’s deaths ruined hip-hop, according to Nas
Nas has, for a long time now, held a very cynical view of the state of hip-hop. His eighth album, released in 2006, was titled Hip Hop Is Dead—and that seems to be his genuine opinion. He thinks hip-hop died long ago, and he traces its demise to the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
While he was promoting Hip Hop Is Dead, Nas was quite open about the stark pessimism underpinning his album. “To me, hip-hop’s been dead for years,” he told Pitchfork. “We all should know that, come on.”
He went so far as to suggest that the only thing left to do with hip-hop is “to make money off of exploiting it. That’s what it’s all about—get this money.”
That’s a bleak way to look at the situation, but Nas was adamant about it. And, when he was pressed to pinpoint when exactly hip-hop lost its way, he was precise. “After Biggie and Pac died,” he said. “It left with them.”
Had they lived, Nas argued, hip-hop would have been “better as far as creativity, artistry.” But, even then, the situation would have been difficult for Biggie and Pac.
“They would’ve had it hard, though,” Nas said. “I think people love them more that they’re gone. The jealousy that was around them was so great.”
Nas was convinced that, while hip-hop would have been in a better state with Biggie and Pac around, they, too, would have struggled. “With rap music,” he explained, “because it’s all so on the street, you get treated like a street cat: ‘Alright, you’ve been eatin’ enough, you’re fat, get out of the way now and let somebody else come by.’ They would never have felt the love they get now.”
While Nas clearly lamented the deaths of Biggie and Pac as a moment that irreparably damaged hip-hop, he also thought its growth around the world had weakened it, too. “By becoming global no one knows where it comes from,” he insisted. “No one knows who is doing it right.”
Nas feared for younger generations of rappers, growing up on what he understands to be a more globalised, generic form of rap, shorn of its sense of place. “How,” he asked, “are the kids going to be inspired to create something innovative when they’re being influenced by some of the shit that’s happening now, which is about just copying and turning it into a business?”