50 Cent Tells XXL Magazine Nas Reads Too Much

July 18th, 2007 by Castina

Nas reads too much to effectively sell albums, 50 Cent tells XXL Magazine.

Nas is a really smart guy. He reads books constantly. We were around him on the Nastradamus tour. He was almost weirder than me ’cause we would go to breakfast and he’d be there reading a book. Conceptually, I think that’s what made him drift away from what his initial audience enjoys from him and why he’s not hot right now….He’s feeding you too much information in the music and they don’t actually want it. He’s like a teacher. I was in love with KRS-One when he came with “Criminal Minded” and “The Bridge Is Over.” That was theme music to what was going on at that time. And when he started teaching, he lost them. ’Cause it was like, “What is he talkin’ about?”

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8 Responses to “50 Cent Tells XXL Magazine Nas Reads Too Much”

On July 18th 2007, Jucograd wrote:

I can’t lie it’s true
Kids don’t want to learn from rap
they just want to dance and shit like that
as soon as someone says something thought-provoking
they career ends
On July 18th 2007, aye wrote:

you just have to know how to play it. i hate to just keep bringin up this man like everyone els but 2pac was real good at it, teaching you somthing tell you some real sh*t and making catchy classic hooks that you could party to. Knowing the past is great but it realy is about whats going on today
On July 19th 2007, PhilWil wrote:

Umm… Public Enemy did it.
Tupac did it
Kayne West did it
Common…

I’ll admit its not easy, but it still needs to be done. The question is who will do it and are they good enough (well, it is probably more about timing the public than being good).

I think you can put a message in the music, you just have to be slick about it. From “Shook Ones” by Mob Deep to “30 Something” by Jay-Z.

You got to be slick wit it.
On July 23rd 2007, aloha WEBLOG - spreading the aloha spirit » links for 2007-07-18 through 2007-07-23 wrote:

[...] 50 Cent Tells XXL Magazine Nas Reads Too Much | Hip-Hop Crunch..und genau deswegen hör ich lieber NAS als 50 Cent. [...]
On July 24th 2007, Carlos Muhammad wrote:

Statements like this one made by 50 are more damaging to our people then good. The aim of the entertainment industry is to exploit, destroy and further debase Black people in particular but the American public in general. During slavery reading was the one thing the slavemasters feared most and knew that the only way the slaves could remain in that condition was to keep them ignorant. It is no different today.

Reading free’s the recepient of knowledge from the shackles of ignorance and when any emcee chooses to step out and teach they really should be commended. What 50 fails to realize is that information was one of the aims of hip hop in it’s early stages and it was this fact that pioneers like Afrika Baambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation referred to as the 5th element of Hip Hop…Knowledge, wisdom and overstanding.
On August 7th 2007, grammar wrote:

Nas is a legendary emcee. I would rather have an emcee go over my head sometimes progressing the art like KRS, Rakim etc then rappers who talk about their money. They are paid by the corporations and are therefore puppets. They conform because they know the system will remove their lime light if they get out of pocket. Its a modern day minstrel show. How can you even make a statement like someone reads too much. Ignorance is bliss for rappers as Ghostface says whos gonna teach the seeds?
On October 9th 2007, jake beattie wrote:

YOOOOO! oh miii gosh! 50 cent is sooo good in bed x! i want to nibble his nipples, lick in between his toes (and bite the crust)!, i want to lick his ass hole and pick out the crumbs with tweesers!, shove my hariy horny nostrels up his ass hole and suck his lllllllllllllloooooong black tasty willy!!!
On August 12th 2008, giovani marques lobato wrote:

o sonho da minha vida e faze um clipe com o 50 cent no brasil na favela aonde eu nacsi