Wall Street Journals Interview With Nas

pOn the heels of the release of Distant Relatives, rapper Nas spoke with the Wall Street Journal bout his relationship with Damian Marley, his perspective on the mixture of rap/reggae,and more./p
pldquo;Theyre both real music by people who are expressing themselves about the conditions around them,rdquo; said Nas when asked about the similarities between Jamaican music and rap.ldquo;Many of those conditions are similar. Jamaican music can be aggressive, soulful, smooth and exciting all at oncemdash;just like hip-hop. At the same time, theres nothing like Jamaica in the United States. Jamaica is its own thing.rdquo;/p
pNas also explained that hersquo;s inspired by Bob Marleyrsquo;s ldquo;untouchablerdquo; status and that he would someday hope to have that kind of effect on fans./p
pldquo;Everyone listens to himmdash;its not a Jamaican thing or an American thingmdash;its all over the world,rdquo; Nas explained. ldquo;Ive always wished to be able to do that once, as much as he does it naturally and easily on this untouchable level, Id want to do that.rdquo;/p
p Nas also expressed his opinons on rappers such as Jay-z and LilWayne/p
p Nas barely got LilWayne on the track, just before he started to serve his prison sentence. As far as Jay-Z, Nas gave praise to his New York City anthem ldquo;Empire State Of Mind.rdquo;/p
pldquo;Its just keeping that whole thing alivemdash;this New York thing,rdquo; said Nas. ldquo;There are a lot of people complaining about New York hip-hop, about it not being what it was, and he stood up and now we have another anthem to be proud of.rdquo;/p
pNas and Damian Marleyrsquo;s Distant Relatives was released on Tuesday, May 18./p