Musically, hip-hop was in a beautiful, incredibly varied space 20 years ago. The South had cemented its legitimacy and held the crown for the region that was on top. But everywhere from Chicago to Los Angeles to the Mecca in New York were all thriving at once. Moreover, hip-hop and R&B were largely thriving within popular spaces. However, Nas felt quite the opposite. In fact, it was so bad that he declared hip-hop as dead back on his 2006 album.
But why did he feel that way? If the genre and culture were raking in the dough, what was the problem? It’s actually the fact that it was so infected with commercialism that he argued it had lost its way. In a 2006 interview with Pitchfork, he talked about how a lot of dirty games were being played in the pursuit of the dollar.
“Some people say it’s bold, some people say I’m saying what they wanna say. Some people don’t agree, some people are outraged— some people want to see what the album is about,” Nas said of the album title. “To me, hip-hop’s been dead for years. We all should know that, come on. With that being said, then, the object of the game now is to make money off of exploiting it. That’s what it’s all about, get this money. That’s basically what I’m saying.”
Nas Said Hip-Hop Was Dead Because of How People Exploited It for Money
The interviewer suggested that this was a conflicting perspective. Isn’t the Illmatic legend participating in the same game as everyone else? Isn’t everyone trying to make a lot of money from the culture? But Nas made a crucial distinction. “It’s not just a business for rappers, it’s a business for record companies. It’s happening for every form of music, It’s not just hip-hop,” he clarified. “Mostly every form of American music is dead. It’s been dead. R&B isn’t really good.”
Nas highlighted a few great R&B artists working back in 2006 to stress that music is not devoid of talent. But because it’s so money-hungry first, sometimes the creativity can take a backseat to a paycheck.
“But for the most part the music world’s changing and change is good. You have to make adjustments if you want to survive in that world. You start to thinking about creative moments, bliss. When everything was all good,” he explained. “You realize that in comparison to the way hip-hop started off, where we should be at right now is not there. Not to say everybody’s wack. Or Nas is wack. But I’m trying to provoke thought for the next up-and-coming MCs to do something different.”
When asked if he could pinpoint when it all changed, it all traced back to the deaths of Tupac and Biggie for Nas. He firmly believed the artistry would’ve meant more had they lived. But even then, he argued that they would’ve fallen into the same trappings artists faced in 2006. “With rap music, because it’s all so on the street, you get treated like a street cat,” he said. “‘All right, 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.”
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