Long before he was interviewing legends for Drink Champs, N.O.R.E. was one of the best New York rappers working in the late 90s and early 2000s. Early on, he conjured up hits while The Neptunes and Swizz Beatz were still blooming in their careers. Moreover, his definitive classic, The War Report, alongside Capone in 1997, will always live on as a crucial artifact of NY hip-hop.
While the album “saved my life,” the Queens MC candidly admitted that he couldn’t listen to it for the longest time. In an interview with Noisey, N.O.R.E. talked about The War Report turning 30 years old in 2027. Immediately, he grinned, and his head dropped back, realizing how long it had been since his iconic debut. Despite the history, he found the record hard to listen to because of how raw it was.
“For years, and this is real talk, I couldn’t listen to The War Report,” he told us. “I didn’t know how to exaggerate. That whole album isn’t [an] exaggeration. It’s word-for-word the truth, back to back to back. I wanna big up Tragedy [Khadafi] again because he told me this is art, you can exaggerate when you need to. I didn’t know how to do that then.”
N.O.R.E. Admits It’s Hard for Him To Listen to ‘The War Report’ Decades Later
Looking back almost 30 years later, he looks at the growth with a bit of pride and sadness alike. “When I listen to that album, I listen and almost always come to tears because the person that I was then, to the person I am now, I definitely don’t know that person anymore. I wouldn’t hang out with that person. Me now? No way! Older N.O.R.E. would not hang with younger N.O.R.E., hell no! I don’t even think they belong in the same room,” he continued.
Even with the pain in reflecting on that time, Noreaga still plans to celebrate because of the album’s imprint on hip-hop. He teased new music with Capone for his first-ever Dr. Dre beat and noted that it sounds like they never soloed in the first place.
“We’re bringing it back. It’s not like we broke up or anything, but he went to go do his solo thing, and then I wanted to explore the world. It was a disconnect, but there was no disrespect,” N.O.R.E. explained. “If you hear the other records me and Capone have, it’s like we never lost a step. It actually sounds like The War Report again. We’re gonna celebrate the album next year, and I’ma be honest, I’m coming outside.”
The post N.O.R.E. Candidly Admits Why His Classic Debut Album Still Makes Him Tear up Almost 30 Years Later appeared first on VICE.
