Nas Best Quotes & Sayings

There was a side of me that knew I was gonna change the game, but I didn't know how many people would respect it. — Nas

I'm a firm believer that we all meet up in eternity,
Just hope the Big Man show me some courtesy — Nas

I never see the whips niggas be claimin' they drivin,
I guess 'entertainment' means blatantly lyin'. — Nas

But uhh, a thug changes, and love changes
and best friends become strangers, word up — Nas

Anybody I'm dating, I don't want them to talk about my music. I don't talk about my music to them. — Nas

My earliest memories of rap music was mixed with my earliest memories of reggae music. They were big sounds around the way, heavy bass lines, strong messages, definitely. — Nas

Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne — Nas

Just sitting in silence is one of the best things a man can do. — Nas

With age comes common sense and wisdom. — Nas

Unfortunately, man, a lot of places in America have to deal with unnecessary violence. Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate ... I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it. — Nas

I want you to know who I am: what the streets taste like, feel like, smell like. What the cops talk like, walk like, think like. What crackheads do - I wanted you to smell it, feel it. It was important to me that I told the story that way because I thought that it wouldn't be told if I didn't tell it. — Nas

Much success to you, even if you wish me the opposite. — Nas

Africa has been going through so much for so many years; it's time that it stands up the way other nations are standing up. — Nas

I used to carry a notebook to the studio. I don't do that no more 'cause I don't have the time to write anywhere but right there in the studio on the spot. So when you hear my stuff, know that I wrote it in the studio. — Nas

No matter where you're from - you can be Native American, Italian, Jewish, Latino, African-American - whatever you are, we're all distant relatives. — Nas

Hip hop started in NY so it's important that New Yorkers realise that to talk about NY music and its sound should not be a small-minded conversation. Music is supposed to evolve. It's supposed to be going through changes, it's not supposed to sound exactly the same as what it did when it started. NY hip hop has to be allowed to move on and grow and expand. — Nas

Shorty's laugh was cold-blooded as he spoke so foul,
Only twelve tryin to tell me that he liked my style.
Then I rose, wiping the blunt's ash from my clothes,
Then froze, only to blow the herb smoke through my nose. — Nas

I never brag, how real i keep it, cause thats the best secret ... — Nas

When I try to sound like the contemporary sound, it never turns out that way. That's just me. — Nas

I got the opportunity to meet people all over the world. Brilliant women, tall women, short women, slim women, thick women, you name it. But, I don't meet them. I have the opportunities to and it's a little bit - I'm a little shy, so I don't meet them and I don't know who's right for me. — Nas

People have stopped battling in hip hop, in the primitive sense, and the focus of the competitive element has shifted to the music. It's less about bragging and more about being the best lyrically and poetically. — Nas

Respect all fear none my pride is everything — Nas

I was a super-duper Tupac fan, and I realized later, when I became a huge Nas fan and a huge Eminem fan, I was drawn to the storytellers. They all told stories in different ways, but they were all like the best storytellers. — J. Cole

I used to wanna rap like Jay-Z,
Now I feel I could run laps around Jay-Z,
Nas ain't seen nothing this nasty,
B.I.G. & Pac got it coming when I pass too.
You got the mic, I ain't the one you wanna pass to — Ab-Soul

God gushed me out his nuts, the devil swallowed me up and I burnt a hole in his guts — Nas

When you're a teenager, you want to meet a lot of girls - you want to get the most girls. You don't know anything about respect; you don't know anything about being faithful and loyal to your girlfriend. — Nas

In the past I had to deal with issues that hit me as a younger man. As a man who wasn't married who didn't really have the experience that I have now. Today I'm a different guy. — Nas

So I think hip-hop is moving and is going to continue to move in the direction of rappers just being honest with themselves, whether you're talking about Common and Mos Def or Nas and 50 cent. — Talib Kweli

When I fell in love with hip-hop, my favorite rapper was Jay-Z. But I used to like Common and Nas. But I was a South dude. So I grew up on UGK, Triple Six, Outkast, and Pastor Troy. That's where I get my lingo, my slang, my passion. — Cyhi The Prynce

You can't please everybody. You'd be crazy if you're trying to. So take some time out to do some things for yourself. — Nas

I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me. — Nas

When you look at a guy like a Jay-Z or look at a guy like a Nas, you don't necessarily qualify them as conscious rap purely, although they are extremely conscious of the social inequities that prevail. — Michael Eric Dyson

Jadakiss is not no walk in no park. Nas is not no walk in no park. These are dudes that could have ended my career. — Beanie Sigel

No temporary chaos is worth your sanity. Just knowing that whatever happens, it happens to the best of them too. — Nas

Every generation witnesses atrocities. People in power try to fulfill prophecy. — Nas

Sunlight and seeing something that was a thought become a thing and materialize - that makes me come alive. — Nas

I think marriage is a beautiful thing. I'm still a supporter of it. — Nas

The things Nas' Illmatic was saying were sometimes hard realities but it was done on such a high level, I felt I could point to him as a representative. Someone who put my struggle and my worldview into poetry. — Erik Parker

You're a smart girl. You're going to replay everything we've done, and you're going to reach the same conclusion I have." He moved in close, leaning down to kiss my jawline and lower.
"And wh- what conclusion is that?" When had he discovered how sensitive my neck was? With one spot in particular ...
He pressed his lips directly to my pulse point, making my knees weak. "Eto ne izbezhno dlya nas." You and I are inevitable. — Kresley Cole

At one point, the old school club retires and you're next up to bat, but if you stop before your time, you will see someone else live your dream. — Nas

The big stars in rap, they were too big, so when my rap generation started, it was about bringing you inside my apartment. It wasn't about being a rap star; it was about anything other than. — Nas

It hurts to see anybody in pain, if you've got any kind of heart. — Nas

So sometimes if I'm working with a rapper, like Ghostface Killah or Nas, producing usually means, in hip-hop, that you make the music. You make the beat, and you give it to them. And they write the rhymes. — Mark Ronson

Nas' Illmatic blew my mind when I first heard it. The poetry was done on such a high level that in a way, it validated our existence, our culture. He used the language of the street at the time and made it art. Art tends to be validating. — Erik Parker