Nas recently had a talk with MTV and had some interesting things to say regarding his next album, and the chances of him working for Jay-Z or 50 Cent.
On his upcoming album Nasdaq Jones:
The album is…I started working on it. I had to pause to go back and look at it, because what I’m doing has hardly ever been done: taking a career to the next level. Usually artists don’t make it this far. It’s never been seen that a street artist go as far as I’ve gone — keep consistent without wanting to do a bunch of ventures outside of music to keep my face out there. I had to look back and pat myself on the back and really prepare to do what’s not been done: to go for another few years in this thing and make it historic, the way it’s supposed to be.
On going to Def Jam:
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On an executive level, L.A. Reid is somebody who stands out and somebody who I truly admire and have been wanting to work with for a while, just based on what he’s done and where he comes from. He interests me a lot right now…There have been conversations. I’ve been exploring other possibilities for a long time. I loved my situation where it’s at, but you have to look around and see what other shows are in town so you can expand your horizons. It’s not just one place where you have to stay forever.
On going to G-Unit:
They don’t got enough paper for me.
On his beef with 50 Cent:
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Yeah. You know what’s the crazy thing about it? I’ve had times of missing 50. I brought him with me on tour before. He used to open up for me. I showed him his first Bentley. I showed him his first big diamonds in person — he ain’t know nobody who had real diamonds the size I had. I showed him all that. So I kind of miss the cat from time to time. I would like to know what it is to sit down and talk to him, see what’s on his mind. Because all he’s showing is that when you get rich, you get angry at the world. And that’s not what’s it’s supposed to be about. I would love to really sit down with him. But on the rap side, we got things to finish. We got business — we got unfinished business.
Doing his own label:
I been building my team up. I think people are gonna be surprised to see me roll out my label the way it’s supposed to be done. I never had a chance to pull off Ill Will [Nas’ earlier label] — I was never given the things I need to make the label a label. It kind of pushed me away from even wanting to do a label. But now I’m opening up my horizons to change that and do something different, and with that being fresh and new, I can now let my man Will’s name [Nas’ late childhood friend, for whom the label was named] rest for a while. I’m starting off something new. You might be surprised of who you see rolling with me.
