All language subtitles for Masterclass - Nas Teaches Hip-Hop Storytelling_Full

Today, hip hop is
a reason to get up.

You can't wait to get up
and hear that song you love.

You can't wait to feel
better about your life

because of that song.

You can't wait to sing
along with that record,

dance to that record,
be inspired by the words

to that song.

Hip hop is our morning coffee,
our vegan turkey and eggs.

It's our vitamins.

It's our power source.

It's our theme music.

Hip hop's growth and
the globalization

is a wave, a tidal wave,
that's taking the world over

and it's good for the world.

When I got into
listening to rap music,

they didn't want
it on the radio.

It was looked down as,
like, hoodlum stuff.

It's gone from that to
this global phenomenon.

The attitude of hip
hop was to expose,

bring the truth to light,
and live in your greatness.

Hip hop used to scare people.

It used to-- the
music, the energy,

the spirit of it, it would wake
you up, the drum, the voice,

[MUSIC]

We going ultra Black.

In this MasterClass,
I'll be teaching you

about hip hop,
lyricism, and flow.

I will show you how to
write powerful lyrics that

paint a picture.

I'll be teaching you how
to find your inspiration

and how to develop
your point of view.

We'll really get
deep into it so you

get a whole look inside my
journey, what got me here.

Just by starting,
you're halfway there.

You know more than
you think you know.

[MUSIC - NAS, "MADE YOU LOOK"]

Now let's get it
all in perspective.

For all y'all enjoyment, a
song y'all can step with.

I was around
seven years old when

I started to notice a
certain concentrated sound,

a certain sound that was
just different from disco

and the R&B that was out.

It was a sound that
merged the two but there

was this cool voice telling you
how it was, what was to come,

and it was just my language.

Come on, come on, come on,
come on, somebody say ho.

Ho.

Say ho, ho.

Ho, ho,

And I would hear it from the
big radios that the guys had

or the park jams where they
brought all this equipment

and these huge speakers
outside to the park

and played their
music real loud.

I started to hear
songs and you knew

something new was happening.

You knew there was
something happening

and you felt like you belonged
to it, it belonged to you,

and there was a
lot we were going

to see with this new music.

The first ones I heard on record
was Kurtis Blow and Melle Mel

and the Furious Five.

Eventually, it was Run DMC
in 1983 and that was it.

I knew this is what I
wanted, this is who I am.

I always felt something
special in me as a kid.

I don't know if other
kids felt that or not.

There was something about
the arts that was calling me

and that probably had a lot
to do with my pops who had

been on stages and wrote music.

And I would see, like,
his sheets of music.

I never saw anyone
write music before

and I would watch
him write music.

And it was like
another language.

And I'm like, how do you
know what that means?

How is this marked at the
top of this line, a sound?

And I saw that a lot
goes into making music.

My first solo rap was my name
is Nasir, the rhyme engineer.

And if you want to battle,
I will end your career.

People perpetrating
I possess much power.

Is too late to debate,
it's emcee hour.

I will lead you to frustration.

You'll end up fail.

Emcees on their knees
because they're so frail.

I'm the emcee mutilator and the
gladiator, the exterminator.

You know, all of those
"nator", all of that

was, like, big words to
use in a rap back then.

Yeah, yeah, yo Black, it's time.

First timing, First
timing, right?

Yeah.

Where I grew up
in New York City,

the streets were paved
with different colors

of broken glass from
different colored bottles,

green, clear, brown, just
all over the concrete.

And they sparkle like
diamonds in the sun.

And our sneakers got
tore up, our basketballs

got glass in them.

When we'd pick them up to throw
it, we'd almost cut our hand.

Our bikes would
catch flats a lot,

but it was the
terrain of champions.

And this was the '80s,
we thought it was normal.

We knew it wasn't
right, but we knew

there was no one coming
to clean up this mess,

so we kind of just
made it our world.

It was our world.

Making music and rhymes was
extremely therapeutic for what

I was seeing in the streets.

It was giving me
a way to process

what I was experiencing.

I saw the neighborhood
turned from fun loving,

strong, to it just
started to rot.

You couldn't escape it.

Everyone was getting high and
they came to buy the stuff.

Some people had to sell drugs
because they had nothing.

I wasn't that far gone
where I had nothing,

but I sure could use
a pair of sneakers.

I sure could use that
new leather jacket.

I like wearing jewelry.

I want that chain.

Next thing you know, there's
semi-automatic machine guns

in my dresser in my bedroom.

It was for protection
and it was for power.

I don't want none of this,
but it was my reality.

So my raps were about me
still maintaining my sanity

on a beautiful level
in this ugly world.

I didn't know what
tomorrow would bring--

dark times.

In hip hop, I wanted to be that
voice, the voice of reality,

the voice for the
voiceless who felt

like the walls were
closing in and they

wanted to yell out
to someone, you know,

stop doing this to me.

And I became that rebel mind.

[MUSIC - NAS, "THE GENESIS"]

My raps are trifle.

I shoot slugs from my
brain just like a rifle.

I went to the studio at like 17.

I felt like this is
now the point where

I'm going to find out if
I should find something

different to do in my life.

Either I'm going to be
good or this thing is over.

Luckily, it turned out to be
a good demo that we recorded

that day, so that was a great
sign because it was either,

I was going to get there,
it was going to be wack.

This is finished, I tried
it, now I know I'm not good

or I got something.

That day, I found
out I had something.

Emcee producer large
professor, and he taught me

how to deliver my raps.

He taught me really
how to lay vocals.

Next thing you know,
Large Professor

is working on his album with
the main source, Breaking Atoms.

One day, he's like,
man, check this out,

I want you on my album.

And I was like, wow.

You know, I was so happy
for the opportunity.

And I'm on the
record with Akinyele,

Joe Fatal, and Large Professor.

[MUSIC - NAS, "THE GENESIS"]

Disciple, my raps are trifle.

I shoot slugs from my
brain just like a rifle.

Stampede the stage.

I leave the microphones
but play Mr. Tuffey

while I'm on some
pretty tone shit.

That was like one of the
greatest moments of my life

because it's from that point
to I'm in my neighborhood one

night and I hear the
radio and the song is on

and I hear myself on the radio.

And that was a feeling
that I will never forget

and the rest is history.

[MUSIC - NAS, "N.Y. STATE OF
MIND"]

Nas'll rock well.

It ain't hard to tell.

Write it down and
I watch it blow up.

Y'all know what I'm like.

You play it in your
system every night.

Rappers are monkey-flipping
with the funky rhythm,

I be kicking, musician,
inflicting composition.

You a slave to a page
in my rhyme book.

Getting big money,
"Playboy" your time's up.

Where them gangsters at?

Where them dimes at?

Let's go, baby.

Chilling, chilling.

[MUSIC - NAS, "REWIND"]

Listen up, gangsters and
honeys with your hair done.

Pull up a chair, hon, and
put it in the air, son.

Dog, whatever they call you--

When I was first getting
in the record business,

the hustle was making that
train or getting that ride

to wherever you needed
to go to get around

certain individuals
who had the power

to sign you to a record deal.

The hustle was that back then.

Today, the hustle
is many things.

You can make a
song on your phone.

It's all about how much
you want to work to get

to where you need to get to.

You got to get around people
that's saying something, that's

doing something, that's moving,
but you have to have drive

and, you know, you
need that inspiration.

People can inspire
you if they're out

and they're doing things.

You'd be surprised how
fast things happen.

So without the hustle,
you have nothing.

You have to have that and
you have to keep that.

You have to keep
that fire in you.

I felt like there had to
be something out there.

You know, I felt it.

It was in my bones.

I knew that I was
here for something.

I think we all are.

And if we don't
believe in that, if we

don't dare to dream, if we don't
follow our dreams, It's done.

There's nothing else.

It starts with the
dream and I had that.

This class can make you a
better creator, thinker,

and overall master.

I'm speaking directly to people,
going inside, and showing

them what makes me tick.

I want you to gain some
confidence in yourself

and your skill and your writing.

So go into a quiet room,
buckle your seat belts,

and get ready for this ride.

I'm Nas and this
is my MasterClass.

[MUSIC - NAS, "NY STATE OF
MIND"]

I'm a gangster,
drinking Moëts,

holding TEC'S. Making sure the
cash came correct then I step.

We like to know we're not
alone, so, when you write,

you can write your
honest feelings.

And that tends to get
through to a lot of people.

Straight to the heart.

That's what we need.

That's what we like.

It's time, nigga?

Yeah, it's time, man.

All right, nigga, begin.

Yeah, straight out the
fucking dungeons of rap where

fake niggas don't make it back.

I don't know how to
start this shit, yo.

Rappers I monkey flip them with
the funky rhythm I be kicking.

Musician inflicting composition.

When I was writing,
"N.Y. State of Mind,"

it was just raw
expression of what

I had to think about
in that situation,

living in Queensbridge projects.

Trying to not get
caught in the traps,

but not knowing what
was lying ahead for me.

It takes you
exactly to the place

where I was at when I wrote it.

When I'm creating characters
and creating scenes,

you create a universe.

You create a world that
somebody can enjoy listening to.

It brings you to a
time period that I

was coming up in where things
were life or death situations.

Trying to make
something of yourself

in this great city
of opportunity.

The Big Apple, the
Rotten Apple, whatever

you want to look at it,
however, where you see it,

it's New York.

It was super important
that I gave you that.

No cut.

No chaser.

Straight to the vein,
and that's the way

it's supposed to be done.

Especially on a song called
"New York State of Mind."

My state of mind was, let
the people inside my mind.

Each block.

It's like black rats trapped.

Plus the Island packed.

That's what I hear
in all the stories

where my people come back.

Black.

I'm living where the
nights of jet-black.

Fiends fight to get crack.

I just max. and dream.

I can sit back and lamp like
Capone with drug scripts sewn.

The system was designed
to keep us like animals.

The black rats trapped,
the worst lowest level,

trapped with the cares that
you would have for pests.

And you have no cares,
and the Island is packed,

short for Rikers Island.

That's what I'm hearing in all
the stories when my people come

back from Rikers Island.

I want to have the
drug strip, the corner,

I want to have it
sewn up like Capone.

Or the legal luxury life,
but, either way, it's

going to have to be luxurious.

But, illegal or legal,
I'm going to get there.

Or the legal luxury life.

Rings flooded with stones,
homes, I got so many rhymes,

I don't think I'm too sane.

Life is parallel
to hell, but I must

maintain and be prosperous.

Though we live dangerous, cops
can just arrest us, blaming us.

We're held like hostages.

It's only right that I
was born to use mics.

So I'm allowing
you to get inside

to the darkest
moments of my thinking

and me comparing myself to a
pest in a trap or a hamster

on the wheel in a way.

But at the same time,
"I got so many rhymes,

I don't think I'm too sane."

I'm basically telling
you where I'm at.

Life is parallel to hell, but I
must maintain to be prosperous.

So I'm trying to get
to the American pie.

I'm trying to get
to a great place.

I'm trying to get
a piece of the pie,

and I need it by
all means necessary.

And I'm going for it.

Laughing at baseheads, trying
to sell some broken amps.

G-packs get off quick.

Forever niggas talk shit.

Reminiscing about the last
time the task force flipped.

Niggas be running through
the block shooting.

Time to start the revolution.

Catch a body.

Head for Houston.

Once they caught us off-guard,
the Mac-10 was in the grass,

and I ran like a cheetah.

Thoughts of an assassin.

Pick the Mac up, told brothers,
"Back up. " The Mac spit.

Lead was hitting niggas.

One ran.

I made him backflip.

Heard a few chicks scream.

My arm shook.

Couldn't look.

Gave another squeeze.

Heard it click.

"Yo, my shit is stuck."

Tried to cock it.

It wouldn't shoot.

Now I'm in danger.

Finally pulled it back
and saw three bullets

caught up in the chamber.

So now I'm jetting through
the building lobby,

and it was full of
children probably couldn't

see as high as I be.

It's like the game
ain't the same.

Got younger niggas
pulling the triggers,

bringing fame to their name.

They claim some corners.

Crews without guns are goners,
In broad daylight, stickup

kids, they run up on us.

In the world of this
beautiful country of America,

we have so much opportunity.

But yet, in the inner
cities, it goes down.

A situation may
arise where there

are bullets flying at you.

Are you scared to grab
it and pull it out?

So you think about these things.

You have to think about,
do I have the courage

to protect myself if
something was to happen?

And there you are, and you have
to make grown, military, army

decisions as a teenager.

I think people connect with my
music because a lot of people

think, hey, he's talking
about something I think about,

or I thought about, or
I haven't thought about.

And I think that's what
being a good MC is.

I think being a
good MC, you have

to kind of intrigue
your audience.

To make descriptive
storytelling,

you need a beginning,
a middle, an end.

You need your
characters, places.

You need to describe
each scene like a movie.

You need to describe
the emotions

of whoever's in your story.

You need to describe their
goals, their setbacks,

a beginning, middle, and end.

My process is to find the
details in everything.

I think details are important.

If it's a sweater this person
was wearing, what kind was it?

How did it feel on
that person's skin?

That might not even be
what the story's about,

but it gives that description.

It gives you more visuals
when you hear somebody rap.

Tell me everything
about your day.

Tell me what's wrong.

Why do you see it wrong?

Say it straight from your heart.

If it's not clear, if
you're not transparent then

come back to it and work on
it some more, in an hour,

another day.

Come back to it too as precise,
just the way you need it to be.

What I mean by details,
was the wine chilled?

Is it what you
drink all the time?

How does it make you feel?

How many glasses did you have?

Was the glass spotty?

Was it clean?

Was the waiter nice?

Did you get it out
of your fridge?

Your cellar?

Do you like going
to your cellar?

Is it dark there?

Does the wood crack on
the steps to your cellar.

Do you even have a cellar?

Do you want a cellar?

What did you see in
a wine cellar that

made you want a wine cellar?

Can you afford that?

Can you afford the wine?

Is it your friend that
always has the wine?

He's the connoisseur?

He drinks because he
celebrates life every day.

He's happy.

He smiles.

His beard is gray.

It wasn't like that last year.

Details.

That's the beauty
of being a writer.

You can go in any
direction you want to go.

There are psychotic
people in prison

who could write a book
about a beautiful family.

The pen, it doesn't
matter who you are.

It's all about your
imagination and how deep

you are willing to
travel for your research.

You use your imagination,
you can write anything.

Rapping is the head nod.

It's very street.

It's like snapping your
fingers and bopping your head

and speaking in the rhythm of
that finger snap and head bop

and making words rhyme.

I think I first realized
that I could put words

together and rhyme rap style--

I think I was probably
10 years old, maybe nine.

I started to put
things together.

I would imitate the
songs that was out.

I would memorize it.

And it just became something
that stayed in my head.

Everyone around me, even ones
who wasn't trying to rap,

we were all repeating the
songs, "Sucker MC" by Run-DMC.

Next thing you know, you're
like, yo, we should try.

Maybe we could be a group.

Maybe we can do what
Run-DMC is doing.

I just needed to
find my own words.

I needed to have
something to say.

And as a nine-year-old, there
wasn't much you could say.

You would just talk about
things like, I had a show,

and everybody went
wild in the crowd.

I'm number one.

I'm the best that's out there.

You know?

That was as far as it went.

You know what I'm saying?

There was no shows.

I wasn't number one.

But to me, I felt it.

I believed it.

And you have to believe
it when you say it.

Your rhythmic
timing has to be on.

And you have to entertain
me through the first bar

to the last bar till you
break into the chorus.

I need to be entertained.

I need to be taken somewhere.

Bars is how you count music.

And it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

These are all bars.

It depends on how fast
or slow the music is.

You can write-- you can
count how long your verse is

through how many bars you use.

You construct bars
by your timing.

You time yourself.

You can time yourself and write
it to be how many bars you

like it to be.

I don't have any rules to it.

You know what the basics are.

It's staying on beat
and staying in the bars.

I like to go beyond the
bars, across the bar line,

get there faster than
when the bar comes,

and not start on the one,
and start wherever I want,

start where the feeling is
at, and create my own timing

within the timing of the music.

A rhythmic pattern is another
way of saying a style.

So your rhythmic pattern
would be whatever you choose.

And you can stay
into that pattern.

In your bars, you can rap
(RAPPING) this, that, this,

that, this, this,
that, this, or that,

or you could chain
it to (RAPPING)

this and that,
and this and that,

and this and this,
this, that, that.

It's the pattern you use.

Sometimes you bore people when
the pattern is the same thing

too long, so you switch up your
pattern throughout the rhyme,

throughout the verse, to
show how many ways you're

capable of rapping.

Some people can only rap in one
style, one rhythmic pattern.

But the more you have shows
that you are the better emcee.

A simple pattern
is not many words.

It's simple.

It's an easygoing rhyme,
easy to hear, not fast-paced.

Myself, me, I tend to want
to say a lot each bar.

I'm trying to get a lot
of words because I'm

excited to say something.

That's how much I
care about what I do.

I can't hold it back.

It just explodes.

I want to beast it.

I don't want to play any games.

Even when I'm calm, when
the flow is more calm,

I tend to say a lot of words.

When you're thinking
of rhythmic patterns

and you want to study them,
how to come up with them,

you should listen to
some serious lyricists.

A lyricist I would
recommend is Kool G Rap,

the song "Men at Work."

It's all craziness.

His rap style on that
is fast, rapid fire.

It's easy.

It's easy to do what I do.

But you got to want to do it.

You got to really want to do it.

You can listen to
some of my records.

You can listen to "One Love."

You can listen to "The Cure."

You can listen to
any one of my albums

and pick a song and rap alone.

Next thing you know,
you're doing it without me.

Next thing you know, you're
doing it with your own words.

[MUSIC - NAS, "ONE LOVE"]
(RAPPING) Shorty don't care,

she a snake too, fuckin' with
the niggas from that fake crew

that hate you.

But yo, guess who got shot--

In my opinion, what
makes a good rap rhyme

is if you can say a word that
is tough to rhyme with and do

it effortless.

I like to find words that
you wouldn't particularly

hear in rap songs because
it goes what I need to say.

And at the same time, it's not a
word that's easy to rhyme with.

Those are like two
bombs that you drop.

You got to look at it
like Mandarin, tambourine.

Those are two things that have
nothing to do with each other,

but I can bring them together,
bring two cultures together

through a rap, and have
two people from two

different worlds hear something
that resonates with them.

So now they're thinking
about each other.

Oh, this guy just made
this rhyme with that.

When you're
structuring your rhyme,

here's a few ways to
make this rhyme count.

Feel free to write
a couple of rhymes.

Once you're done,
usually there's

a strong part or one crazy line
in each rhyme that you wrote.

If the rest of the rap is
not giving you nothing,

get rid of the rest.

Take the good part, and
take the good part out

of the other raps you made,
and extract those lines,

and form a new rhyme based
on only those strong points.

And the rest of
the stuff that you

push to the side, that will
become what it will become.

Maybe it will become garbage.

But you start a whole new round
with all your good points,

and you try to stay consistent
with good parts from that point

on.

And I find that way being
really helpful to make

the rhyme strong.

Each year, beach
chair, bum wear,

looking like I don't care.

Somewhere-- Cayman Islands
maybe-- write a book.

NAS: I'm excited every time
I'm about to create a song.

It's like this world
that I step into.

I start to think about what
should the topic be today.

So what happens is
I hear the beat,

and the beat kind of
tells me which way to go,

or it pulls me in a whole
different direction.

And I'm excited all through it--

This is crazy, bro.

My writing process-- hmm.

I take bits and pieces from
different stages of my life.

I take that and I
work with it today.

I guess I was a young
kid, trying to write,

and I would have notebooks
of rhymes, stories.

I had note pads full of raps--

chapters, like this
chapter is about girls.

So there'll be a certain amount
of paper, and a divider there--

girls.

The next one would be
about the next subject

and so on, and so forth.

And so if I had to
spit something for you,

I had categories to go to.

It went from that to--

changing it up to just
off the top of the head.

And I would go between off
the top of head and writing.

Probably, everybody
feels that way,

because once you
do it for so long,

you don't need to
write it anymore.

I like to just say stuff, and
say stuff that feels good,

say stuff that matters to me.

When you write it
down, you know,

you might lose some of that.

You might lose it--
at least for me.

So if I say it, it's
right there on the spot.

It's spontaneous.

It's raw.

It's straight out the
heart or the mind.

We're gonna need
the pen and pad.

You be writing in
the phone, right?

Yeah.

You have keep
that shit natural.

Yeah.

Writing on phone--

Hey guys, can you take this--
this is not how we record it.

CREW: No problem.

And now, my writing
process is notes in my phone.

Using my phone,
opposed the paper--

I've done it on paper so long.

A phone is easier to handle.

It's like, I'm not
sticking to a book.

I'm making it up as
I go, and the phone

could easily be in my pocket.

I could pull it out to remember
something, and put it back in.

It's way easier to me.

You, as a student, should
do what works for you.

What's the best way you
like to read your words?

What keeps you on
time with the track?

How do you like
to see words look,

because you could type them,
or your handwriting might spark

something in your imagination
that might bring something

else to the song.

The journey of the
song is conversation.

It's like you got
this blank canvas,

and we just throw on paint.

Me and my soul, that's divine...

You need words, and you need to
rehearse how they sound to you.

You know, say them to yourself,
say them in a sentence.

Mix a word up that
people are not--

most people in your circle
are not familiar with,

and put it in a sentence
that's cool, so that it's

easier on the listener.

How will I know?

Pitch like a
pitcher, a fastball.

So many ideas I have, and just
trying to quiet some of them

down, so I can get
out one of them--

is my process now, because
the other ideas are screaming

for it to be given life.

You know, but meanwhile,
I'm going to pick one.

And-- but the other ones
are screaming at me,

like, this one's better.

This one's better.

So I'm not-- I'm not going
to really get in front of it.

I'm just going to let it happen.

It's like I'm having a
conversation with myself,

I guess.

Things pop up in your head.

You're in your creative space,
so thoughts are open and free.

And I lay down some
lines, and I go back.

I listen to how I'm saying it.

And I might just
change it all together,

start it from the top,
say something else.

Or maybe the last line I said
should be the first line,

I need to hit them from
the top of the line,

and keep hitting them.

There need to be no weak parts.

You know, and I'll go back and
I'll do that until it's done.

And then, once it's done,
I'll come back the next day,

and I'll change a lot of it.

I'll keep doing that.

Certain words have a
certain rhythmic way to it,

so you know how it can--

certain words have the syllables
that it takes up some space

to say, rather than word
like great and late,

you have other words
with more syllables,

like the word
syllable in itself--

syllable.

It gives you a chance
to break down your flow,

have fun within each line.

You know, when you have
that rhythm in the words.

Putting words together in
a rhythmic way is also fun,

and it's fun for the listener,
and you take it from there

to metaphors, like my playing--

got my hands in everything.

You know, that's
talking about business.

And it's, like, I got my hands
in everything, like a kid

with bad manners, you know.

I guess you could call that--

the kid with bad manners is
one of those punch lines.

It brings it home, you know.

This is crazy.

It's coming.

It's something.

NAS: The role of the
producer is to take

an artist, what he or
she is going through,

or what they want to
get off their heart,

or what's heavy on their
hearts, or whatever

it may be with that artist,
and bring it to life.

Hit-Boy came up when there was
a couple of different producers

coming up, too.

You knew it was a new
wave of young talent

who was changing the game,
and giving you that big sound,

but that right
sound-- the raw sound.

Hit's beats, they
have character.

It's alive, so that
energy right there

was the energy I
needed to be around.

Getting something.

Yeah, that shit crazy.

That shit crazy, bro.

The producer has to
bring it to life.

The producer creates the sounds
that evokes something in you,

so that you could pull something
out of you didn't realize

was there.

And it gets you to create
this art and put it down.

What you need to know
about selecting a producer

is-- you take what you can.

Like, if you're
just starting out,

you really can't be too
choosy, because you're probably

going to work with whoever's
around you who's producing.

By the time you develop
the right vocal skill,

is when that better
producer will hear you,

and want to work with
you, too, because they're

looking for the right vocalist.

But you have to
work on yourself.

NAS: We're about to get
into it, lay down whatever

I came up with just now.

And so we brought the mic here
so I can do it right here.

Yeah.

You got it all ready?

Test one, two.

Test, one, two.

Yeah.

Big Nas, old money, new money--

tech, turn it down a
little bit, the track.

Turn the beat down.

Turn the beat down.

Yeah.

Cheer, cheer, track.

New music, new content,
new programming.

I ran the gamut, got my--

new content, new
programming, I ran the gamut.

Got my hands in everything
like bad manners.

So save the high
school banter for those

who are just like you.

Uhh.

Save the high-school banter for
those who are just like you.

I'd like to write a book
on the Cayman Islands.

I'd like to stay cool in the--

[LAUGHS]

Go up and-- see, that's--

I like to really--

off the top of the head,
and it's a longer process.

I could just-- it's
just a feeling.

And I could try it
now, but it's like--

then I have to stop,
and then I go back.

So I'll try-- I show you
a little bit how I really

record in the studio.

You can play the track again.

So I'm just sitting here
looking to ice this.

The vibes is something
you never seen before.

I just relax in the zone.

Uhh.

Each year, beach chair, bumwear,
looking like I don't care.

Somewhere, Caymen
Islands, maybe.

Write a book.

It's crazy how I just,
uh, recite the hook.

So what I would do--

can you stop it?

And now we'll go-- we will go
back, listen to what I got,

see if there's
anything good there.

If there's something
good there, I start it

from where it was stopped.

I start it right there
where it started to get bad.

I erase the bad, and
then I put in the new--

the new next lines, you know?

That's how we do it.

HIT-BOY: Is there a way to
hear back that first one?

Can we hear-- can we hear
that back, some of that?

TECH: Sure.

You want it on the speakers
or do you want it--

Uh, speaker, yeah.

HIT-BOY: Yeah.

That Cayman Islands
shit was hard, too.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS): Yeah.

Test, one, two.

Test, one, two.

Yeah.

Cheer, cheer, track.

Old money, new money, rap
money, tech's money, flat money.

What's next, you funny?

Illicit live of
recession in Dubai.

It's kind of, like,
you go with the beat.

You go with the feeling.

And working with Hit-Boy is
cool because he knows me.

He knows me, and he's like--

if I say-- he hears
me mumbling a word,

and I might not be sure
about it, but he's listening.

And-- and if it's good,
he's like, "That's hard."

Hard.

Hard.

And that-- that
way, it's like--

it's like when
you're sitting around

with somebody to see
if it's good or not,

they give you an opinion.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS): New music,
new content, new programming.

I ran again and got my hands in
everything, like bad manners.

Save the high-school banter for
those who are just like you.

Yes,

NAS (ON SPEAKERS): Save
the high-school banter

for those who are just like you.

When I'm not writing, it's
all off the top of the head.

You could say some
stuff that's corny.

If the producer
doesn't get it, doesn't

care, he's just thinking
about his check,

he's just thinking about
the next artist he's

going to work
with, he's thinking

about his personal career more
than he is present with you--

the producer-- you have to
tell your life story to.

You can-- you should go
into that third take, like,

piece them together, basically.

Like after the "Big Nas" part.

Like-- so it was
like eight bars.

I think you did another
four on that third take

that you could use.

NAS (VOICEOVER): The producer
plays your therapist.

The producer allows
you to to get

your message out the proper way,
the best way it needs to be.

He's able to understand where
I'm at and what I'm aiming for.

And he can meet me there
and help me get that out.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS):
--it's like seeing--

I feel like you could clean
up how you said that one,

but that was hard.

What about that--

"What's next, you funny?"

I'm like, what's next?

You know it's like, what's next?

I don't know if it's "you
funny" can be something else,

and then go into--

The "you funny" was--

play them first four bars again.

That shit was hard.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS): Big Nas, old
money, new money, rap money,

tech money, flex money.

What's next, you funny?

Me, myself-- I'm
the illest alive.

Seeing me over here--

Right--

BOTH: Right here.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS):
--is like seeing a--

Cut it out at
the illest alive.

Because you had
caught that pocket

when you was just messing
around the recession" in Dubai"

because if you fit it
in there like that--

-

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm stopping to
hear myself, my voice,

my timing on the track.

Did I say words clear?

Did I make any mistakes?

Was I too loud?

Was I too low?

(RAPPING) I'm the illest alive,
seeing me off-grid is like--

Yeah, let me try that again.

Or just "me off-grid."

Me off-grid.

It's like seeing--

Yeah.

Where's the weak line?

So I could pick it up from
there with something stronger.

(RAPPING) Like seeing--

Almost.

Come on.

New money.

We think faster than
our fingers could type.

So if I think of a
word, I type it down.

If I think of a
color, I type it down.

And then I come back to it and
I can form it into a sentence.

And sometimes it's too
fast for me to write it

and I just want to say it
while it's fresh in my head,

record it, and then I can
try to write the next part.

(RAPPING) Got my
hands in everything

like kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter
for those who were just

like you and (VOCALIZING).

Those who were just like
you, hoes are beside you.

Those who were just like you,
go (VOCALIZING) dislike you.

I was trying to keep it
as simple as possible too

because sometimes it's the
simplicity of it that makes

myself sync with the beat.

It's easier when it's chill.

It just shows you have total
control of what you're doing.

And that was a
struggle because there

was a side of me that wanted to
go (VOCALIZING) da da da da da

da da da da da.

But I had to control the flow.

(VOCALIZING) Always
just like you.

Just like you.

No one is cold to this place.

Just like you and coexist
with coexist with the self.

Where did he stop it at?

Banter.

NAS (ON SPEAKERS): New music,
new content, new programming.

I ran the gambit.

Got my hands in everything
like kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

(VOCALIZING) cut
it out like cancer

Yeah.

Cut it out like cancer.

my jewels dancing.

(VOCALIZING) high school banter.

my jewels dancing.

(VOCALIZING)

You got to cut
it out like cancer.

(VOCALIZING) ain't
got the answer.

I like answer.

(RAPPING) Save the
high school banter.

Like Sway.

Right.

Like Sway.

Sway In The Morning.

(BOTH) You ain't
got the answers.

Yeah.

That's a real collaboration,
him knowing what I'm saying.

He's listening to the lines
and he's throwing things at me

just to keep this
song pushing along.

So you get stuck
sometimes, especially

off the top of the head.

(RAPPING) Kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

Sway In The Morning, you
ain't got the answers.

I hear my calling, I hear
the trumpets blowing.

(VOCALIZING) I hear my calling--

After "I hear my
calling," cut it off.

(RAPPING) New music, new
content, new programming.

I ran the gambit.

Got my hands in everything
like kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

Sway In The Morning, you
ain't got the answers.

I hear my calling--

Hear my calling.

One more time.

(RAPPING) Kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

Sway In The Morning, you
ain't got the answers.

I hear my calling,

(VOCALIZING) I fear
nothing, I fear the morning.

(VOCALIZING) When I'm
performing, I hear my calling.

(VOCALIZING) Nothing
like when I'm performing,

hear my calling.

It's nothing like
when I'm performing.

I hear my calling, heart
pounding out my chest.

(RAPPING) Kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

Sway In The Morning, you
ain't got the answers.

(RAPPING) I hear my calling
heart, pounding out my chest.

Wish I could bring back X.

(RAPPING) I hear my calling
heart, pounding on my chest.

Wish I could bring back X.

--bring back X (VOCALIZING).

You know what I'm saying?

Then you can go to
a different rhyme.

Wish I can bring
that X (VOCALIZING).

Bring back X. May God bless.

(BOTH) Bring
back X. God bless.

That's hard.

All right, cool.

Let's try it at bring back X.

He heard the word I was playing
around and mumbling with.

I didn't want to
say the obvious,

but he'll let me know
sometimes the obvious is cool.

You can say that.

And it's like I could
spend a long time on that

and he knows me by now.

So he's catching me
like, nah, you got it.

Keep going.

And it's fun.

It's fun.

(RAPPING) Wish I could
bring back X. God bless.

Damn what my man said?

Marshawn Lynch he kept saying
that word over and over he

kept saying and hitting them.

It was some funny
shit he was saying.

What he said so I don't--

"I'm just here so
I don't get fined."

Right, right.

I'm just here so I don't--

shit.

(RAPPING) I don't practice, I
don't be remembering the lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

That's hard.

[LAUGHS]

(RAPPING) I hear my calling,
heart pounding out of my chest.

Wish I could bring back X.

(RAPPING) God bless, see.

I don't practice, I
don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so--

(RAPPING) I hear my calling,
heart pounding out my chest.

Wish I could bring
back X. God bless, see.

I don't practice, I
don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

One more time.

(RAPPING) I hear my calling,
heart pounding out my chest.

Wish I could bring
back X. God bless.

I don't practice, I
don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

What's practice?

Wish I could bring back X.
God bless I don't practice,

I don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

What's practice?

Yo, you had already
said practice, though.

Keep that other practice out.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

(RAPPING) I don't practice,
I don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

(VOCALIZING) I appear when
it's supposed to smile.

I appear when it's mostly.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

I'm a professional.

I'm like an athlete.

Athletic with the poetics.

Athletic with poetics.

That's hard.

Athletic with poetics.

(VOCALIZING).

Athletic with poetics.

Let me just get those two lines.

(RAPPING) I don't practice,
I don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

(RAPPING) I'm
athletic with poetics.

That's hard.

(RAPPING) I don't practice--

The Marshawn Lynch line, I
don't know where it came from.

It just popped up in my head.

"I'm just here so
I don't get fined"

was one of the
hardest things I ever

heard any professional say.

I didn't even know
if it can work,

I just knew I wanted to
remember it and try it.

And it worked.

(VOCALIZING)

(RAPPING) I don't practice,
I don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

I'm athletic with poetics.

Alpha male with the alphabets.

Alpha male alpha-- these
are alpha male alphabetics.

Yeah.

(RAPPING) I don't practice,
I don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

I'm athletic with poetics.

These are alpha
male alphabetics.

Lobster tail, lots
of (VOCALIZING).

With poetics.

These are alpha
male alphabetics.

Never touched a Rolling Stone
cover but I don't sweat it.

Hard.

(VOCALIZING) Just here
so I don't get fined.

I'm athletic with poetics.

I got more styles and
one for, plus I'm flyer.

I got more styles and more vials

Flows must sound flyer.

(RAPPING) More
styles and more fly--

I got more styles and more
flows, and plus I'm flyer.

(RAPPING) I got more heights
to reach than a (VOCALIZING).

I got more heights to reach--

(VOCALIZING) higher.

And I'm already high.

Rise and reach, yet
I'm already higher.

Let me try that one.

(RAPPING) Imagine another
rapper making me perspire.

I got more styles and more
flows, plus I'm much flyer.

I got more heights to
reach up but-- and I'm--

(RAPPING) Imagine another
rapper making me perspire.

I got more styles and more
flows, plus I'm much flyer.

I got more heights to reach,
yet I'm already higher.

I just need this cannabis
license from Albany higher.

[LAUGHING]

my cannabis license, light up.

Yeah, I like "light up."

(RAPPING) Cannabis lice--
All right let's get it in.

(RAPPING) More styles and more
flows, plus I'm much flyer.

I got more heights to reach,
yet I'm already higher.

When I get my cannabis license
from Albany, we can light up.

I said high up.

But I was thinking about
how high up we were

because the windows behind us.

And I worked in
the studio before

and there's a good
view of the city.

And he was saying something
along those lines.

I don't know why
I thought about--

I guess being in New York
and the cannabis business

is growing.

So I'm like, I need a
cannabis license because I'm

exploring that business.

So again, those raps
are all about my truth.

So what I call it tweaking
is go back with a chisel,

like making a statue.

I might get a different
idea, different thought

for a different line.

Take that line out, change that.

But I like it.

(RAPPING) Big nines.

Old money, new money.

Rap money, tech
money, flex money.

What's next?

You funny.

Me, myself.

I'm the illest alive.

Me off-grid is like seeing
a recession in Dubai.

My daughter is a businesswoman,
I'm so proud of her.

My son he's almost 12 and
he's so knowledgeable.

New music, new content,
new programming.

(RAPPING) I ran the gamut
got my hands in everything

like kids with bad manners.

Save the high school banter.

Sway In The Morning, you
ain't got the answers.

I hear my calling, heart
pounding on my chest.

Wish I could bring
back X. God bless.

I don't practice, I
don't remember my lines.

I'm just here so
I don't get fined.

(RAPPING) I'm
athletic with poetics.

These are alpha male alphabetic.

Never touched a Rolling Stone
cover but I don't sweat it.

Imagine another rapper
making me perspire.

I got more styles and more
flows, plus I'm much flyer.

I got more heights to reach,
yet I'm already higher.

When I get my cannabis license
from Albany, we can light up.

(ECHOING "LIGHT UP")

Sometimes it happens real
fast and you're like, wow,

this came about real crazy.

And other times
it's not done for me

until it's out,
until we put it out.

Thank you for
watching this process

you got a peek of what I do.

Sitting here with hip boy.

This is kind of like how we go.

The words need to taste
like clear fresh water

in your mouth.

You need to be happy
to say these words.

You need to fall
in love with words.

You need to fall in love with
the way you sound and the way

your voice sounds and the way
you sound spitting off words

that express the vigor , express
the angst and the attitude

in you.

[MUSIC - NAS, "IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

I leave your brain
stimulated, niggas is frozen.

Speak with criminal slang,
began like a violin.

end like Leviathan, it's
deep, well let me try again.

Wisdom be leaking out
my grapefruit, troop.

I dominate break loops, giving
mics men-e-strual cycles.

Street's disciple, I rock
beats that's mega-trifle.

I leave your brain
stimulated, brothers is frozen,

speak with criminal slang
began like a violin, end

like Leviathan.

It's deep, well
let me try again.

Wisdom be leaking out
my grapefruit troop.

I dominate break loops, giving
mics men-e-strual cycles.

Street's disciple, I rock
beats that's mega-trifle.

You need words that
do that for you

so that when you're giving
them the attitude, when you're

saying these words, you're
actually saying words

on top of your own attitude.

The words you're saying are
matched with your attitude

and it's double the explosion.

When you're creating
a song, start

where you feel it's
comfortable for you to start.

I don't always pressure
myself at the top

because then everything I
write will be super intense.

But if you just take the
pressure off and let's

see where it goes, you
know, then you know.

Then you kind of get
your rhythm going.

Make sure you feel good.

When you're saying
it, when you're

listening to yourself say it,
it should feel good to you.

[MUSIC - NAS, "IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

I leave your brain
stimulated, niggas is frozen.

Speak with criminal slang
begin like a violin,

end like Leviathan.

When I say stuff like
begin like a violin, end

like Leviathan, the
metaphor is I begin sweet

and I end different.

I begin lovely, fluffy, soft,
beautiful, sounds, imagery,

and ends with
uncertainty, mystery.

And it's just a
play on words, words

that rhyme that are not being
used together as a norm.

You can use one word
in more than one way.

It ain't hard to tell, I
say wisdom be leaking out

my grapefruit, troop.

Well, let me try
again, words still

be leaking out my
grapefruit, troop.

That's a little
wordplay there.

My grapefruit, meaning my head.

You know, my grapefruit.

You find different ways
to describe things.

It's how you throw
words around like a pro.

In a way, that makes
your mind go, wow,

that was just beautiful.

When crafting lyrics,
metaphors are important.

Those are like
the brain busters.

When you can come up
with a great metaphor,

that can change everything
in a positive way.

It can really take
you into a career.

And the metaphors have to be
a way of unpacking a story

and in a way that
makes you think, like,

how did this guy just
say compared this one

thing to something I
didn't even see coming?

And it blows your mind.

You want to place your metaphor
at the right time in your raps.

You want to land
with the metaphor.

So once you know it,
you write the setup line

for that metaphor.

So they'll never see it coming.

And when it comes, it
lands, it's explosive.

And then you go from
that to a different style

for the next few bars.

Then, you might want to
bring back a metaphor.

Or you might have
multiple metaphors

that's coming back to back and
that's what everybody's really

going crazy listening to you.

Thinking figuratively
elevates the way songs

go because it's a way that
you use your imagination to--

it's a way to tell a story
in a unconventional way.

It's a way of teasing
your listener.

Give them a little,
bit not too much.

Save it for the
next few lines when

you hit them with the line.

[MUSIC - NAS, "IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

I drink Moët with Medusa,
give her shotguns in hell,

from the spliff that
I lift and inhale.

It ain't hard to tell.

I drink Moët with Medusa,
give her shotguns in hell from

the spliff that I
lift and inhale.

It ain't hard to tell.

Now, when I'm saying
I give her shotguns,

that's when you smoke the
blunt and you blow it through

and the next person inhales it
because your faces are close.

You're not supposed
to look at Medusa,

but being this close to her
that you're not even worried.

You're smoking a blunt and
you're sharing it with her.

You're blowing it out
and she's inhaling it

right from your mouth.

That's a shotgun.

And we're doing this in hell
because where else could we

be because that's where
Medusa is from, right?

But I'm not staying
there, she is.

And it's only from-- this
is coming from the spliff

that I lift to inhale.

So it's like hell and inhale.

You using hell twice, but
it's two different ways.

It's not hell.

It's that's hell,
then it's inhale

because I'm talking
about the weed.

You wouldn't think that I
would end a rhyme like that,

but it was just to show
you how crazy I can get,

even as the verse is
ending, the last line,

to remind the listener, you're
on a journey with a wild one.

[MUSIC - NAS, "IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

I drink Moët with Medusa,
give her shotguns in hell,

from the spliff that
I lift and inhale.

It ain't hard to tell.

Rap brings all
things together.

What's the newest movie?

What's the best movie?

What's the best movie
you've seen in a long time?

What's the best this
or that or what's

the scariest this or
what's the hardest that?

[MUSIC - NAS, "IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

And groove even smoother
than moves by Villanova.

you're still a soldier.

I'm like Sly Stone in Cobra.

And groove even smoother
than moves by Villanova.

you're still a soldier.

I'm like Sly Stone
in Cobra, packing

like a Rasta in the weed spot.

So smoother than moves by
Villanova, college basketball

team.

I'm like Sly Stone in Cobra.

That was a mistake.

I was trying to say
Sylvester Stallone

but I winded up talking
about the musician.

And Sylvester Stallone, I said
Stone instead of Stallone.

And in some off
way, it still got

through the people because of
the mention of the movie Cobra.

At the time, Cobra was hard.

It like sums up, what's
the current events?

The current events
are in this verse.

I come up with my analogies like
just the things I think about.

I want to lay it out
for you real nice.

Nas is like Earth, Wind,
and Fire, rims and tires,

bulletproof glass inside
is the realest driver.

I'm just talking about
myself and this car.

And I'm just making
earth, wind, and fire rap.

Earth, Wind, and Fire being one
of my favorite musical groups.

You kind of have that
double thing going there.

I'm like, Nas is like
earth, wind, and fire.

And I'm like those actual
elements, earth, wind, and fire

in my own way.

Rims and tires-- you
know, at that time,

rims and tires was hot.

You got to throw that in there,
whether it's slang people are

using at the time, whatever
brands are popular at the time,

you throw that in there to keep
the people's attention span

and to stay hip, alert,
and current with what's

happening in the world.

So it's important to you know
drop those candies in there

so that people, it
catches their ear.

Inside is the realest
driver, you're

just talking about yourself.

Bulletproof glass-- you
know, that means life is lit

and I need bulletproof glass.

I'm that kind of guy.

It's presidential.

It's diplomatic.

It's big time.

You're painting the picture.

I use slang to speak
directly to the audience that

created hip hop,
the audience that

loves hip hop, the audience
that's voiceless so that they

know I'm there for them.

They know I got their
interests at heart because what

affects them affects me.

So I'm speaking to
them in our language.

That's very important.

The power of slang is is
the way we communicate.

It says what needs to be
said in the coolest way.

It's making up a code
word for certain things.

And slang always changes.

There's a few words that
still around from the '80s.

People used to say that's fresh.

Fresh was a word
we said years ago.

Everything was fresh.

That turned to dope, ill, lit.

Slang is always changing
with each generation

or with each new
shift in the things

that people are interested in,
the way we talk about things.

When you put it in
your music that you're

speaking the right language
to the right people,

it feels like it's just
you and that person.

It's the language of the
people and it's the way

you connect on the real side.

Sometimes, flaws make
things better in the song.

Sometimes, flaws
mess up the song.

I like to lean toward
the first part,

like, flaws can make things
like its own unique design.

It changes it from--

its the imperfections of it that
makes you love it even more.

It makes you relate to
the artist in a way,

like it humanizes the artist.

It ain't hard to tell it has
a lot of mistakes in there.

[MUSIC - NAS, IT AIN'T HARD TO
TELL"]

So analyze me, surprise
me, but can't magnetize me.

Scanning while you're
planning ways to sabotage me.

Analyze me, surprise
me, can't magnetize me.

That was a play on the word.

I was saying magnetize.

You can't magnetize me,
pull me in, control me,

get my attention.

I'm not even fazed by you.

But it was a street
way of saying magmetize

because I heard Rakim say
magnetized on the mixing.

And sometimes, to me, it was
like he was saying magmetized.

So I never changed
it because I thought

it had that old feeling when
I said it and people got it.

Magnetized from Rakim
became magmetized.

When writing, never be afraid
to make mistake or flaws.

That's going to happen.

Anybody that just writes perfect
all the time, it's not human.

Most things you hear are
songs that took a lot of work.

By the time you
hear it, you don't

realize the work that was put
into most most of the songs

you hear.

There was a lot of flaws.

There was a lot of
mistakes before the song

became perfect and
ready for your ears so

don't be afraid of that at all.

I came up with the song
Rewind as sort of a punishment

to myself because I didn't
feel creative that day.

It's funny, I didn't know--

I didn't know what to
write about that day.

I'm in the studio.

We're in Long Island.

I'm with Large Professor.

He's working on tracks.

And he plays something I liked.

The original T La Rock
It's Yours drums, I loved.

So we were listening
to that song

and he just chopped it up
and made it into a beat.

And I felt like it
was getting late

and I wanted to get
home soon and chill.

So I said, I need something
because I couldn't come up

with anything good today.

I'm just going to make a
story that starts at the end

and make it go backwards.

[HIP HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

Listen up, gangsters and
shorties with their hair done.

Pull up a chair, son.

Put it in the air, son,
dog, whatever they call you.

God, listen.

I spit a story backwards.

It starts at the ending.

The bullet goes back in the gun.

The bullet holes close on
the chest of its brother.

We're back to square one.

Scream and shoot.

Don't, please.

He put his fifth
back on his hip.

It's like a VCR
rewinding the clip.

He put his hand--

something like that.

If it's going to go
backwards, then everything

has to go backwards.

Not just the story but the words
coming out these people mouths.

So you just say the
words backwards just

to really keep the
whole thing tight.

It was one of the
fastest songs I ever

wrote because I wasn't trying.

I wasn't trying hard.

The next day, we heard it
and we said, it's a keeper.

It fits.

It's right.

And that became one of my most
talked-about songs because I

couldn't figure out--

I couldn't find a song that
I wanted to write that day.

So I didn't want to go
home empty-handed so I made

a simple song going backwards.

(RAPPING) Listen up gangsters
and honies with your hair done.

Pull up a chair, honey, and
put it in the air, son, dog,

whatever they call you.

God, just listen.

I spit a story backwards,
it starts at the ending.

The bullet goes back in the gun.

The bullet holes close
in the chest of a nigger.

Now he back to square one.

Scream and shoot.

Don't, please.

I put my fifth back on my hip.

It's like a VCR
rewinding the hit.

As a writer, I think
you should give yourself

writing challenges
like I did with Rewind.

Pick a topic.

Pick something that no one's
done, something that is simple.

But it's up to you
to make it good.

Any idea, and you make it good.

Make sure you put that much into
it so that it's descriptive,

it's good, it's on beat, and
you say things and do things

that no one's done.

The world is your oyster.

And you have your
paintbrush, which

is your pen or your
phone or your computer

or whatever you write on.

And you can do whatever
you want there.

It's your world.

There are no rules.

Eminem's song Stan, where
he talks about a fan,

it doesn't happen.

That's not something
that happens in rap.

And on top of that,
it's a tragic ending.

It's like a movie.

You get to know Stan.

You see where his
thoughts are twisted.

You think about Eminem's safety.

That's just one way.

That's one great writer that was
able to do something different,

was able to take his
imagination and take something

as simple as a fan and
making a movie out of it.

You have that ability.

You are the gold.

You are the treasure.

You are the dream maker.

You are the one that
can change your reality

and uplift the art of
rhyming by you being brave

and bold enough or daring
enough to try to do something

that hasn't been done.

It's important that people
know the evolution and origins

of hip-hop because it's the
most exciting thing ever.

And you're robbing yourself
of a great education

or a great treat to know how
it started, where it started,

who started it, how it evolved,
or how did these labels form--

Def Jam Records, all
of these labels--

Cold Chilling Records--
all of these great records,

all of these
production techniques

that were started back then.

I like to watch stuff on BB
King, Muddy Waters, Marvin

Gaye, Al Green, Elton John,
Queen, Elvis, Sinatra.

I want to know about these
guys and they're not even rap.

So it's cool that now we
can go back almost 50 years

and trace where--

how this thing got to
where it is today and then

you can learn from them.

You can learn from the pioneers
and it could help you today.

You know, when you go back
and listen to those artists

I named, you're going back,
listening to musical geniuses.

Not to take away from
us today, but these guys

wrote original music.

They didn't sample.

They may have been
inspired by other tunes

and did their own
versions of it.

That was their way
of sampling artists.

They would hear something-- a
blues song would inspire a rock

song and a rock song
would inspire a R&B song.

And then Queen, "We Will
Rock You", that's a rap song.

He was rapping.

So that's one of the first
rap songs ever heard.

That got played on
the stations that

played black music because
it was that feeling,

it felt like hip hop,
and it was hip hop.

So these guys were geniuses,
guitarists, pianists,

drummers--

these are the guys we sample
but they made that stuff

from themselves from scratch,
like, that's missing today.

So we're going
back to a lost art

when we go back and
listen to these artists.

One of the most
defining moments for me,

I was watching the movies
"Wild Style" and "Beat Street".

First off, they were
no hip hop movies

so these were like the
only hip hop movies we got

and these guys documented a
time period we knew that there

was no limits for it.

We knew that you didn't just
have to listen to hip hop,

you could watch a
story about hip hop.

Not just a story
about hip hop, a movie

starring hip hop artists.

"Crush Groove" with
Run DMC and Fat Boys,

another big defining moment
because it took hip hop just

off the radio and the mix
shows and the concerts.

It took it to the main
stage, the world stage.

In the '80s, the artists
that I saw coming up

were just some of
the most profound,

incredible sounding
artists I ever heard.

I go back to Melle Mel from
the Furious Five, LL Cool J

when he came on the scene,
Public Enemy just taking

on social issues like no other
music group in the world,

especially at that time.

After you see what Rakim
did, what Kool Moe Dee did,

what Kool G Rap did,
what Cool J did,

you're trying to find
what they didn't do.

And I was looking for
what they didn't do.

I was developing my style
while listening to them.

At some point, I had to find a
pocket that they left for me.

So I had to find my own pocket.

As the '90s approached,
it was guys like myself,

B.I.G, and a host of
others who kind of grabbed

the baton from those
'80s guys and we

wanted to kick the doors
open as they were closing

and kick them open so that
they'd never close again.

And it was our duty to see it
through that this thing that

was built by these pioneers
stays and gets bigger and gets

the respect it deserves.

We wanted more.

We didn't just want
to ask for Yo MTV Raps

to please play our videos.

People wanted to see the hip
hop tradition go from the '80s

into '90s.

They wanted to see it because
there was a lot of new voices.

Ice Cube is '80s but, you know,
these voices come from places

we never heard of--

Compton.

And this thing was
like at such a rate,

there were records that
with too many curses,

the language wasn't
allowed on radio.

So that left an opening
for more artists to say,

OK, they're not allowing
us on the radio.

Maybe we put a
little R&B in there.

Maybe if we take a record
that used to be a hit

and flip it with rap on it.

These were ways to
get on the radio.

We worked hard until the
game changed in our favor.

It was a lot of work.

Two artists that shaped
hip hop, in my opinion,

is B.I.G and Tupac.

B.I.G not only was his style,
his voice, the pictures he

was painting, not
only were they great,

but he changed
the fashion world.

He made Versace a household
name in the hood along with DKNY

and a lot of different
high living things

that the hood guys
didn't care about.

Tupac introduced
tattoos to hip hop.

Today, tattoos are normal
but before Tupac, they

didn't exist at all.

It wasn't even a cool
young Black thing

to have many
tattoos until Tupac.

Tupac rapped about the
struggles in America

and he was somewhat
revolutionary.

And rap music, we
never saw that--

I don't think in all music
we've seen anything like that.

We saw two great
artists on their way

up to being the biggest
artists in the world be killed

and these are kids--

basically, still kids,
you know, early 20s.

And killed over the East
Coast West Coast thing.

There's other things
in the middle of it,

other reasons it
happened, but it

was the energy behind the
East Coast West Coast beef

that put both artists
on such high alert

and made their worlds close in.

I saw Tupac a couple of
days before he was shot.

I was supposed to
meet him in Vegas.

He was in the hospital
by the time I got there.

Biggie-- supposed to
meet him that night.

We were supposed to talk
because a lot of time

had escaped us when we
should have been talking,

so we made up a time to talk.

So it affected me in a
major way, to say the least.

[MUSIC - NAS, "ONE LOVE"]

What up kid, I know shit
is rough doing your bid.

When the cops came, you
should've slid to my crib.

Fuck it black, no
time for looking back.

I think Illmatic
was a defining moment

because it was putting a light
on the essence of hip hop.

My love for the music
made the album sort

of like a recharge for hip hop.

I paid homage to the styles that
came before me, the people that

came before me, always
kept that alive, always

kept that in my walk.

I always spoke
highly of the guys

that inspired me to be here
and Illmatic shed light on--

just the name itself,
Illmatic, shed light on a time

before that that
present time we were in.

The importance of hip hop was
pieced throughout the album,

whether it was a scratch,
whether it was something

I said, whether it was a
breakbeat that was sampled,

it was all in there.

And then lyrically, it
was put together like all

that mattered to me was lyrics.

And there's a lot of people that
care about lyrics so, you know,

I could say that's
probably what it was.

It was like that album was
homage to the ones before me

and carrying on tradition.

All those producers I
worked with on Illmatic,

I was just big fans of them,
Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr,

Large Professor, Pete
Rock, and CL Smooth.

I felt like if I could get
a beat from these guys,

I'm in the game because
anything else would be kind

of like disrespecting myself.

I worked really hard on the
writing so I needed the best.

Anything else, I felt
like, would be a waste.

I didn't know that they
would all work with me.

I was lucky, they
was all into it.

So I just wanted
their production.

When I was putting
it together, I

knew it would have a crazy
impact because of everything I

was putting into that record,
the way it was sounding,

the people, the
producers I worked with.

I put that album
together knowing

that it would have an impact.

When I hear Illmatic is
greatest album of all times,

I feel very accomplished.

I feel like I set
out to do something

and I actually did it.

And it says that if
this kid could do it,

coming from where I came
from, anybody can do it.

You know, that's what it proves.

I hope that I captured a time
that you can sense, smell,

taste, feel, enjoy on play.

The moment you
press play, I want

to take you through
the sounds right

where I was at, right
where New York was at,

where Queens was at, where
Queens Bridge was at,

where America was at in 1994.

If you're listening to
Illmatic for the first time,

I want you to hear the
sounds, the smell, the taste.

I want you to feel it.

I want you to be there.

I want you to close your
eyes and be right there.

[NO AUDIO]

Hip hop was always truthful.

It uncovered the ugliness in
society, in American society,

from the man on the ground.

It told the truth.

It told what Americans
were thinking.

People were getting together
and listening to these breaks,

and listening to
these rappers, emcees,

speak about their generation,
their demographic, their world.

That movement was a
movement of young people

who were dealing
with the truth--

that was from the beginning.

Creating music for
underrepresented communities,

speaking on injustice
and equality,

and not having
equality was my life--

and it was like a cycle.

It was cyclical.

It was something
that I was living,

but I wanted to call out.

I wanted to call it out.

I wanted to address it.

I wanted to address the powers
that be during this lifetime,

because this is
what I'm here to do.

I'm not going to just
sit back and watch.

I felt like a lot of people felt
like black people were invented

in the lab to be slaves, like
they didn't have a history.

They didn't deserve equality.

And that, to me, was just
like a lazy way of thinking

for white and Black people.

That was like a low-level
mentality for America to have.

So I felt like it
was important for me

to open up this subject
matter in rap music.

I wasn't the first.

I won't be the last, but
my experience here on Earth

could not allow me to just
witness everything that was

happening and not say anything.

(SINGING) They hate you.

But yo, guess who got shot in
the dome piece, Jerome's niece,

on the way home
from Jones Beach.

Plus little Rob is
selling drugs on the dime,

hanging out with young
thugs that all carry nines.

And night time--

What up, kid?

You know shit is
rough, doing your bid.

When the cops came, you
should have slid to my crib.

(SINGING) Should have slid
to my crib, fucking black,

no time for looking
back is done.

Plus congratulations--

I heard he looks like you.

Why don't your lady write you?

I told her she should visit,
that's when she got hyper.

Flipping.

Talk about he acts too rough.

He didn't listen.

He'd be riffing while
I'm telling him stuff.

(SINGING) Be riffing while
I'm telling him stuff.

I was like, yeah,
Shorty don't care.

She a snake too.

Fucking with them niggas from--

One Love was a song,
which was letters

to people I knew from my
neighborhood who were in jail,

whether they did something
bad or not, they were there.

Because you didn't have
to do anything bad or not,

just be at the wrong place at
the right time, and it's over.

I was a teenager and some of
my boys were getting locked up,

so I just wrote it in a song.

It had never been done
before, just saying Dear Born,

you'll be out soon, stay strong.

I don't know if I
heard a rap song with--

in a letter form, so
that to me, I knew

would be fresh to the game.

And that these were
letters to prisoners,

and I shout them out at
the end of the song--

these were people that
I used to hang with.

Some people older than me.

Some of these guys are
legends in the neighborhood.

To me, they were incredible
people, you know?

The bigger message was--

there's something
going on out here.

And two words--
mass incarceration.

And we were hit with it.

We heard it was
coming, and it had

been there before we were
born, but you know what?

I'm still going to
take my chances.

Still going to have fun.

I'm still going
to be mischievous.

I'm still going to be--

you know, that's the
attitude young people have,

and what happens is you
realize that there's

a serious thing happening.

I think they were the topics
that people could relate to,

that people wasn't hearing,
and that was real to them,

and gave them some peace and
some solidarity with the song

being a song there's so many
people can relate to together.

(SINGING) We going ultra black.

I got a toaster that we don't
fold the crap, we going--

a cage and we rose to
that, fuck going postal.

We're going ultra black,
watching the global change,

hopping the coldest rain.

Ultra Black came about
when I was recording

the album, The King's
Disease album from 2020,

during that time George
Floyd was killed.

And the world was upside down,
like I ain't seen before.

I couldn't figure out what
was missing from the music.

I wanted a record that
felt like it was basically

a reaction to what I
was seeing happening.

People want you to be
afraid to be Black.

I don't know if that's
the case or people

want you to silence your
Blackness or silence yourself,

so I went the
opposite direction,

which was ultra Black.

(SINGING) We going ultra Black.

Raiders, Oakland hat,
I'll smoke to that.

Pre rose and yet, what's
the results of that?

C notes in bags.

She knows I'm classy like
I'm Billy Dee Williams.

Go Ultra Black, eyes a Kennedy
film, penitentiary too,

Black like out on the loo.

Black don't crack.

It's like the fountain of youth.

The coach is Black, like
Yvonne, she beautiful--

going ultra Black.

To Africa, you say go back.

I stay pro Black.

My Amex black.

High, black like
cornrows, afros--

(SINGING) Black like cat,
black ball from the Super Bowl,

holler, no, I can't go for that.

Motown museum, Detroit,
we ultra Black.

This for New York and all the
map, no matter your race to me,

we all are Black.

It's like, if you want
me to get in my place--

go back to Africa or
behave or go along

with this sickness that's
terrorizing the world--

I'm not going to be quiet.

I'm not going to go away.

I'm not going to tone it down.

I'm not.

This is the time where
I'm most happy to let

the world know it's great
to be whoever you are.

If you're white, Italian, Ultra
Italian, Ultra Chinese, Ultra--

be that.

That is not a crime.

(SINGING) Pitch black like
the night, I'm ultra Black.

Except for the sun,
reruns jokes are Black.

Oh yes, oh yes,
God bless success.

We're going ultra Black.

Like the S is best,
with a mask on.

The freshest breath, African
Black soap caress the flesh.

In the middle of the
chaos in the world,

I wanted to push the
light, so I wanted

to show the beauty
of these people that

was falling underneath this
heavy blanket of hatred.

I wanted to show the beauty
in it, in a celebratory way.

Talking about these
subjects that are going on

in your community
makes it that you

can write a song
about yourself, you

can write a song about
your love for someone,

but it's selfless to take
on serious situations

that affect you,
affect your community,

affect the future
of your community,

affect the future
of the country.

It may help someone if you can
enlighten us with your view

on the way things should be.

The poet's moved the
world for centuries.

Writers are revered.

People talk about writers
centuries after they're gone.

Their words are what
your presidents read.

You may not realize what
you're doing at the time,

but years to come, you'll be
sitting where I'm sitting,

and someone--

like cool people like you--

are wanting to know,
what was it all about?

Why?

I would say never stray away
from what's on your heart

when it comes to writing.

As small as you think it
may be, as little as you

think it may mean to
people, you'd be surprised.

[MUSIC - "THE GENESIS"]

(SINGING) Street's disciple,
my raps are trifle.

I shoot slugs from my
brain just like a rifle.

Stampede the stage, leave
the microphone split.

Play Mr. Tuffey while I'm
on some Pretty Tone shit.

(SINGING) Verbal assassin,
my architect pleases.

When I was 12, I went to
hell for snuffin' Jesus.

Nasty Nas is a rebel to America.

On "Live at the Barbeque,"
I said a lot of wild things.

Entering into the rap
game, I needed to know--

I needed people to know I was
a force to be reckoned with.

I was going to take
people on a journey

that they never saw before.

And it was going to deal
with everything that society

has laid on our front doorstep.

And I was hitting
it head on, and I

wasn't happy about it,
what was happening around.

So I spoke out.

The president's this, the
cops this, even Jesus this.

Why are we going through this?

What's happening?

Something's not right.

Something's not
being told right.

I didn't believe in
anything, you know.

I believed in the
reality that I was in.

And I felt like my
future was uncertain.

Things were changing, you know.

We dealt with street things.

And we were involved
in the streets.

That made me think that
tomorrow might not come.

It was a possibility.

And I felt like
I was a good kid.

I felt like I
didn't deserve that.

I stopped saying stuff
like "snuffing Jesus"

because I love Jesus.

I don't want to offend
anybody like that.

And I don't want
to offend anything

that's holy or powerful,
godly, divine, peaceful.

Anything that represents
peace and love, I'm for that.

So as I got older,
I stopped saying it.

"I went to hell
for lovin' Jesus"

is what I started to say.

It was very raw back then.

There was a point
in time in hip-hop

where the crazier the
thing it was that you said,

the more people paid
attention to you.

When you're young, you're
a big conspiracy theorist

because you haven't lived,
so you just make assumptions.

And you see things,
and you think you

know what you're talking about.

Sometimes young people do know.

A lot of times they're
misinformed, not

educated about what
they're really looking at.

I think, over time,
I changed lyrically

because there was a time
where I felt I was in the war

still, in the street.

Then I grew up.

And now I'm an old guy
telling Vietnam War stories

from a wiser point.

I leave out the gory,
unnecessary stuff.

I say it in ways where you
get the picture, but there's--

I'm not right there.

You get the picture
of what was happening,

but this is from a
survival standpoint.

Before, it was, I didn't know.

I didn't know if
I would survive.

When I released
"It Was Written,"

I was still very
competitive, lyrically.

I still had some points to prove
coming into my second album.

I still had to
prove that I had it.

The first album, and that's
great, but can you do it again?

And there's a lot
of competition.

"King's Disease" was more
comfortable, more freestyling.

Some type of messages
in "King's Disease."

You could do too
much to yourself.

You can eat wrong.

You could be living wrong.

You could be your worst enemy.

Back then, your
enemy was the haters,

hanging in the hood too
much, young guy stuff.

"King's Disease"
was more, no, you

can be your worst enemy because
now it's a different time,

and you got to
take care of self.

[MUSIC - "BLUE BENZ"]

(SINGING) I used to be at The
Tunnel, 20 deep in the huddle.

Razors on us that
we'll make skin bubble.

Moet, we guzzle.

Chris Lighty let me in
a few times with nines.

That's on God, wish you woulda
walked by and bumped me hard

or just looked at me wrong.

"Blue Benz," on the
"King's Disease," you know,

we were working, me and
Hit-Boy, and he plays the beat.

And it felt so warm.

It felt so dark.

It felt so hard.

It felt so sinister but yet
beautiful, at the same time.

I saw the color blue.

And I just started rapping.

My chain on, try to
book me, you're gone.

Goons, Italian leathers,
couple bottles of Dom.

Took risks.

This ain't what you want.

There's rules to this.

Don't get it misconstrued.

My suit game was crisp,
silk, linen, chiffon,

Dior to Diadora.

But I rock custom more,
that hustler aura, tap in.

"Blue Benz" was just a
freestyle and just ended up--

ended up about blue Benz's.

It's sort of like the
things that, you know,

I was doing in the
early '90s, I'm

having that conversation
on the song.

Razor cutter, nineties, eighties
lover, raised in gutters,

raised above it.

They made it up out
of the hood subject.

I made you love it.

"That hustler aura, tap in."

You know, "razor cutter,"
you know, razors were big.

"Nineties eighties lover,"
I'm still that to this day.

I've raised above all the BS.

I raised-- raised--

whatever I said.

"Raise above it.

That made it up out
of the hood subject.

I made you love it."

Yeah, you know, that's
been my topic, man.

Early '90s, you know.

I just talked about a
time period, right there.

And it ends off with, you
know, "congratulations

to your success.

You deserve the best."

In the '90s, I just
wanted to be the king.

2000s, I wanted
to be Marvin Gaye.

The early 2000s, I wanted
to be Frank Sinatra.

I wanted to be Michael Jackson.

I wanted to be Prince.

And then I came
into my own again

and I just wanted to be me.

And that's where I'm at.

That's what where I'm going
to always be, forever.

Think about your journey and
how do you want it to be.

Because you can plan it and it
can go according to your plan,

but believe me,
there's going to be

some things that
happen that you're not

going to be ready for.

And that's cool too.

If you plan on making a couple
of albums, then think about--

what I would do is,
like, sometimes I

would, like, create.

I would draw, like,
album covers to albums

that I didn't even make yet.

I would just draw.

Here's five albums.

Wow, imagine having five albums.

It's like clay.

What do I want it to be?

What do I want this
album to sound like?

Who do I think I should be
working with by that time?

You know, plan, plan.

My hip-hop evolution is really
just going with the flow

and seeing which way
things are turning.

I'm always watching to
see who's saying what,

and what people are liking.

And my evolution is
now, I'm very, like,

stuck to observing what's
happening in hip-hop all

the time, and comparing it,
or realizing the new realities

and thinking about the
origins that I grew up

watching, had a front
row seat to watch it,

from the origins to what
people are doing now.

And to me, it's all beyond
fascinating to watch

new artists come
out and crush it.

That's amazing to me.

Want to make music?

Well, you got to sign contracts.

But if you're going to
sign contracts, guess what?

You're a business man or woman.

You're in the business world.

So whether you wanted
to deal with it or not,

you have to because someone's
going to make money off of you.

And you should know
what's going on.

In America or
anywhere in the world,

you want to be a business
person because that's

what it's about here.

And you want to be
the one that says,

this record could be
in this commercial.

This record can be licensed to
this movie, this video game,

not the record company licensed
it to all of these things,

and you don't even know.

You want to be the
one that does it

and make the money
from your work.

Years ago, wasn't like that.

In the beginning, the
only way into the business

was through the
record companies that

had been around for a while.

And most of them didn't have
any real respect for rap music

because it was this
new, young thing that

was a street thing that didn't
really carry heavy weight.

When I got into rap music,
R&B was the bigger thing.

We were just happy to get
record deals and happy.

It was like, again, it wasn't
as easy as it is today.

It was like a miracle.

We had to play by their rules.

When you're in
control of it, there's

nothing that's done in the dark.

It's really that simple.

You have more peace of mind.

And you need a team who want
what you want who has, like,

the time to go on
this journey with you.

No one could do it by theirself.

I never met somebody who ran a
successful record company alone

by themselves.

You need a team.

And you don't need
to live in a fantasy.

You don't need to look at some
successful rap label story

and pretend that you're
going to do the same thing.

You need to do
better than they did.

Because chances
are, today there's

better ways of doing
business than it

was for that big
label 25 years ago.

There's more freedom today.

With Mass Appeal, starting
my own label was inevitable.

It's the only way I would
want to make records

at this point in my life so that
I could find artists and help

them have their voice heard
where, you know, I feel them.

You want to learn
how to really make

a company go from the start to
the top with you and your team.

Takes a lot of work.

I had my label.

We started it in '14.

And it was years before I
put out any records on it.

I was just trying
to figure that out.

You learn as you go.

Believe in yourself.

And no one is going
to do it for you.

Nobody's going to wake
you up in the morning

and give you your assignment
and tell you what to do.

You got to want to do it.

And yes, it's a lot of work, but
that's what we're here to do.

It's no easy
shortcuts, you know.

So we have to stay in that
mind frame that, you know,

it's not going to be easy.

But the more you give to
it, the more you give back.

I think that there's a
lot of record companies

that have the experience
that you don't have.

So that might intimidate you.

You might give up.

No, because they'll
respect someone

who respects themselves.

You're going to do
business with the Warner--

Warner Brothers of
the world and stuff,

they respect you when
you respect yourself.

Early on, what I learned about
the music industry and label

deals that I like
to pass on to you

is that you have a right to
want to own your masters.

The name masters is even yikes.

You know what I'm saying?

There's a psychological
thing there

that's underneath it all
for anybody Black or white,

you know.

Someone owns your
masters, you know.

You want to own your masters.

If you own your label,
you own your shit,

you're in control
of your future,

of your family's future,
and of your own art.

You should look at it like
this, up-and-coming artists.

Unless you want to give
everything away for free,

you're going to have to figure
out how your art can help

more than just you financially.

Because your art will help
more than just you, but then

you need to be able to
do something with it

so that you can
help someone else.

And at the same time,
study the art form

that you're in because
the money will come.

Be careful for what you ask
for because you'll get it.

The more important part is
the craft, the art itself.

If you make a lot of money,
then you have more resources.

You have more ways to--

to study your craft.

You have to make the
decision partying or working,

researching, experimenting,
caring, having a vision.

You have to make the decision.

But you can tell when
someone is really

invested in the stuff
they're working on

or if it's just for money.

You could tell.

We all make those--

those mistakes?

No, it's just life.

You may do things that are a
little out of the ordinary,

but then you come back.

You realize where you got off
track, and that's just life.

That's you being who you are.

But coming back and getting
back to the craft, that's

the most important thing.

Hip hop started
in the street raw.

And it should remain that way.

If we can curate it
and keep it rocking

and show the world what it
means, it can be better.

It can be bigger.

Because now there is no--

it's not diluted, the message.

It's about giving it to
you in the purest form.

[HIP HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

I love hip hop music that's
about partying, money, cars,

and sex.

I like movies about that.

I like books about that.

There's a place for it.

And because I come up from
the Rakims and the Kool G

Rap and all these lyricists,
I'm more of a lyricist guy.

So even though this
fun party record's out,

I'm still more drawn
to the lyricist.

So I think to each his own.

I think hip hop
has always talked

about things we didn't really
have but things we aspired

to go for, to get after.

It was always a color
TV so I could see

the Knicks played basketball.

And it was always
ride around in my--

in the fresh OJ, that car from--

what was that car?

OJ was broken down
for something.

And yeah, the suits were clean.

It was always about
the better life.

There was a message in it,
years ago, that was consistent.

It was about the social ills.

It was about crack
is killing America.

Chuck D. was basically
a street news reporter.

So I mean, KRS-One was
teaching Black African history.

It was a different time then.

And those records were needed.

Coming out of that era,
we needed a change.

We needed a different outlook.

We needed to step up
into America in a way

where we're not going to allow
the doors to be closed anymore.

We need record companies.

We need to own our
record companies.

We need to be the managers.

We need to be the
clothes designers.

We need to because we know
what we need to look like.

We know we need to sound like.

We need to be the producers,
the engineers, own the studios.

We needed that all
around the board.

That meant money.

That meant more business.

That meant better lifestyles,
bigger lifestyles, more

entourage, more records sold.

It was inevitable.

I never minded it.

It was only to
the point where it

seemed like that was a one-trick
bag for certain artists.

Then to me it was like,
nah, this is wack.

But I can't be mad
at somebody talking

about how their
life is leveling up

and they want to chill
in the Hamptons now.

It's not for you to know.

Listen, I personally
like the Hamptons.

Going through my past
works in this class

has been something I
needed because these

are songs that I didn't
think about in a long time.

I didn't say the
words in a long time.

It was good to go
back to those places

and remember what
was spontaneous,

what took me a long time to
write, my writing process.

I like to go back and think
about, what was it like for me

to get started?

And go back to that kid
who knew but didn't know.

I think we all kind of
know, but there was still

so many surprises.

I hope I was able to
let you in my world.

I just wanted to talk to
you straight from the heart.

My parting message to the
youth and all you guys

is don't listen to anybody.

Don't even listen to me.

You already know
what you need to do.

It's in you.

It's talking to
you all the time.

You downplay it because you
think you're not experienced

or you know you're not
experienced so you're

scared to listen to yourself.

But you know you.

Your soul knows you.

And that's what you're
listening to in your head.

Trust it.

Trust your gut.

Go with your first instincts.

You can't lose.

Words are life.

Speak things into existence
and create your universe.

Protect yourself
with your words.

The universe is listening.

It's your world.

Do the right thing with it.