Nas Quotes

There were aspects of stardom I didn't like, which were of no consequence, really, but the positive things far outweighed the negative. By the time I came to write 'Setting Sons,' I felt my writing was more like prose, set to music.

I always envisioned myself being a rapper and being in the game and having success, but you never know what it feels like or how you're going to be when you're there.

I knew what I wanted to be, but I didn't know exactly how to get there. I thought you move to Nashville, you sing downtown, and someone discovers you, and you become a country music star. I had no idea.

As long as I'm around the cats in the hip hop scene, they'll throw me a track and I'll write a rap over it.

I've never really aspired to the spotlight; I just wanted to do music, which is kind of weird because music comes with that spotlight.

I think fame is such a scary thing, and it's something I can never understand. It's terrifying, but it's the only way I get to do what I love every day, you know?

I knew that it's typical for a black kid to say, 'I'm just going to rap.' I was like, 'I'm going to rap, but I'm going to study, I'm going to figure out what this is and how to put it together.'

I was 17 when I first started rapping and 18 before I started taking it seriously - when I really knew I could rap and have fans and be a trendsetter.

I don't want to be a rap star. I want you to see me and just say, 'That's Mase,' not 'That's Puff Daddy and Mase,' you know.

I want to be a rap icon.

I didn't want to just be a rapper, I wanted to be a star.

When I made Illmatic, I was trying to make the perfect album. It comes from the days of Wild Style. I was trying to make you experience my life. I wanted you to look at hip-hop differently. I wanted you to feel that hip-hop was changing and becoming something more real.

I understand wanting to do your craft. I understand wanting to have a passion for your art and for your ability to be an actor, to be a singer, to be a dancer - that I understand. Wanting to be famous - I don't get that. But that's where we're living right now.

People need to understand that hip-hop that has gun talk is just for entertainment; similar to if you were watching a movie.

I want it all. Fame, fortune and all the commercials there are to do.

If I hadn't had the experience of being famous, I would have searched for it my whole life. I would have just gone on and on trying to find it.

I didn't come to New York to be a star, I brought my star with me.

I didn't want to be an actress at all, or famous even. I certainly enjoy acting now, absolutely. Time will tell whether or not I enjoy fame.

I never grew up thinking I wanted to be a quote-unquote star or anything. My thing was just feeling blessed to be able to make my living acting.

I want to get so famous that I don't have to wake up in the morning. It'll probably never happen.

I never really acted full-time. I certainly had gotten past the point where fame and fortune was something that I was dreaming about or anticipating.

To be a star is to own the world and all the people in it. After a taste of stardom, everything else is poverty.

Being a teen idol is what I've waited for my whole life.

Part of me would love to have been a leading lady because there's a lot of glamour that goes with that and a lot of applause, but I've been very blessed.

You can't compete with hip-hop. That doesn't mean I don't want to be as big as a rap star. I do - I'm always competitive. But there's this weird perception of me as someone who's sitting around plotting like a devil. It's not like that.