Nas believes Kendrick Lamar is the “north star” of rap
Nas has given Kendrick Lamar his flowers. During a new interview, he described Lamar as hip-hop’s “north star.”
The Queensbridge rapper is having a busy year as the founder of Mass Appeal Records, while also preparing to release his joint album with DJ Premier.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in a new conversation, Nas praised Kendrick as one of the best rappers of all time.
“We all as artists love this art form and have our opinions on it,” he said. “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.”
He continued, “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.”
Nas lauded Kendrick for being an artist who speaks out on the current state of hip-hop affairs, especially with his song ‘Watch the Party Die’ in mind.
“There’s a couple of ’em out there, younger, older that say what they say,” he said. “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.”
He added, “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.”