Common Gushes Over Nas & André 3000: 'I Wish I Wrote [Some Of Their Rhymes]'

Common remains in awe of Nas and André 3000 as MCs.

Despite penning some of the most classic rhymes in rap history, the Chicago native has admitted he is still blown away by the skills of the Illmatic lyricist and the OutKast legend.

During an interview with Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning on Wednesday (January 24), Common said: “Him [André 3000] and Nas, for me, are the two that I’ll be like, ‘Damn, I wish I wrote that.’

“I was playing ‘New York State of Mind’ and one of the greatest lines ever written is, ‘Beyond the walls of intelligence life is defined/ I think of crime when I’m in a New York state of mind.’”

Check out his comments at the 15:30 mark below.

The Windy City rapper also shared his reaction to André’s New Blue Sun, speaking highly of the somewhat divisive flute-driven instrumental album.

“First of all, it’s just great to hear something from André,” Common said. “Of course I wanna hear his raps, but that dude has been such a creator… When I put on that flute album I was like, ‘Yo, this joint is dope to me.’”

The 51-year-old also shared that producers have been hitting him up saying they could loop some of the instrumentals on New Blue Sun for him to rap over.

This isn’t the first time that Common his given Nas his flowers either. Last year, the Electric Circus creator hailed “One Love” as “one of the greatest songs ever written” while as reflecting on the beauty and power of Hip Hop.

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“I remember being at a performance and then walking outside of the show, and this dude came up to me, and he said, ‘Common, I really love your music. I want to tell you that your song ‘Retrospect for Life’ made me decide to have my kid,’” he recalled.

“I wrote that song because I had been through that experience. And there was a moment when I was on the way to the abortion clinic, and the mother of my child decided, ‘We can’t do this again,’ because this was after already having one abortion. Let’s figure out whatever we have to do. That situation showed when you receive experiences from a place of truth, it just resonates in a different way.”

He continued: “That’s why we related to when Nas talked about what he talked about on Illmatic. He experienced it, and the way he told it was just beautiful. In ‘One Love,’ he talks to his boy in prison. That’s one of the greatest songs ever written.”