Nas Quotes

As artists, we have to be brave. If we aren't brave, we aren't artists.

I always look for projects that are risky and ones that want to do something unique. If audiences don't like it, you feel good knowing that you were brave enough to do something original. If they do like it, you feel like everyone is rewarded, because we all got to see something new.

If you're not pushing your own technique to its own limits with the risk that it might just crumble at any moment, then you're not really doing your job.

A true artist, in my mind, is willing to fail sometimes, because if you're not brave enough to say yes and follow your gut, it's never going to be good.

I think I'm inspired mostly by other artists that aren't actors, like writers or singers or artists, for being so brave.

I like Public Enemy a great deal.

Much respect to Eminem - he's the greatest.

Kendrick Lamar is not a whack rapper, not at all. Do I think he's a super-mega-lyricist? Not really.

I love Honey G, Honey G is great. I think she's not a singer, she's a rapper.

Kendrick Lamar is a great, great thinker. He's a tremendous artist.

I like Macklemore.

I love Drake's music.

From the beginning with 'So Far Gone,' Drake's work has been to find a way to deftly balance his singing and his rapping.

I do like Drake's 'Forever.'

Azealia Banks - love what she's doing.

Snoop Dogg has had me to Hollywood to rap with him on his records, and the 2 Live Crew brought me to Miami and wined and dined me to make a record with them.

I want to be a little bit brave. I want to feel scared sometimes. That's what's going to change the music business, if we have that kind of attitude.

Ain't nobody bumping Nas no more, no disrespect to him. He had his time.

I'm saying nobody's got the guts to be a J. Cole. Nobody's got the guts to be a Kendrick Lamar. We need more of them... Everybody wants to go the easy route.

I came out with sounds that didn't sound like the usual hip-hop beat. I took that chance because no one would identify with me if I sound like somebody who's already out.

In every artist there is a touch of audacity without which no talent is conceivable.

I would much rather see somebody bring something new to a genre than produce something that seems safe.

The advancement of style is the cornerstone of hip hop. There is no correct or conservative way to make rap music. Rap is and must remain the answer, the alternative, to the conservative approach of making music.

I think Lil Wayne is definitely a dope rapper.