If there's any rapper in the business who has unequivocally faced the challenge of following up a classic debut, it's Nas, whose 1994 debut Illmatic is often considered to be the greatest rap album ever made (and I agree). However, a similar pressure is mounting up against Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose 2012 debut good kid, m.A.A.d city was hailed as the greatest rap debut since — you guessed it — Illmatic. In a recent interview with Complex, Nas offers some words of encouragement to Lamar.
"There's no way he can mess it up," he said, "because the love he has from the game is so large that he can almost mumble on the record and it's going to be in rhythm and it's going to be next level...So whatever he does, in my opinion, will be appreciated but at the same time he knows he has to bring it."
Nas also addresses the similarities that have been noted in the press between himself and Lamar, though he doesn't quite agree with them, saying, "Illmatic represented a different time and a different expression for different reasons...The times inspired the sound of that - the climate of the music business, the rap game, the industry, the year, and life in itself. It's not fair to Kendrick's album either because his album is a brand new expression that represents these times, the sound represents what's happening now, he's changing things today."
This sort of unabashed admiration between two artists seems pretty rare in the hip-hop and pop world these days, and I doubt I'm the only one who finds Nas' words to be a refreshing change of pace.
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