It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
NasRead
Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days... that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you. It speaks to your livelihood and it's not compromised. It's blunt. It's raw, straight off the street - from the beat to the voice to the words.
Interpretation
Hip-hop is an authentic and urgent expression of life derived from the streets.
In this quote, Nas emphasizes the essence of hip-hop as a cultural movement that originates from the streets and is characterized by its raw and unfiltered nature. He highlights how the music captures the urgency of life experiences, resonating with listeners on a personal level and reflecting genuine emotions without compromise.
In practice
During a music seminar discussing street culture and its influences on hip-hop.
It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
It's a thin line between paper and hate,_x000D_ _x000D_ Friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights,_x000D_ _x000D_ Hell or the pearly gates...I was destined to come,_x000D_ _x000D_ Predicted, blame God, He blew breath in my lungs.
I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth._x000D_ _x000D_ Not the biased truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ Not the liest truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ But the highest truth.
Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.
If you scared to take chances, you'll never have the answers...
I don't respect killers, I respect O.G. knowledge,_x000D_ _x000D_ Codes of the streets got new rules, but no guidance._x000D_ _x000D_ Lessons, detrimental to a young disciple;_x000D_ _x000D_ Folks, take care of your brothers, niggas do as I do._x000D_ _x000D_ Keep your enemies close, where they can see you._x000D_ _x000D_ It's not your enemy who get you, it's always your own people.
The only thing I really wanted was the freedom to be able to get what I want on film. I’ve dealt with the MPAA since 1973, so I know how to renegotiate and rework.
It's not that I sit down and write great stuff without thinking, not at all. Most of it is terrible. But the stuff that feels fun and fresh to me tends to happen fairly unthinkingly.
Art, well good art at least, takes you to a place you go during the experience of it, and then after you experience it you are different.
You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.
Self-portraiture is something one should never get involved in, since it is wrong to lie even though one endeavours to tell the truth.
A good producer brings out the best in the artist he's working with. You shouldn't be able to listen to something and say, 'So-and-so produced this album.'
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