[...] this is fascinating. Rakim tells my friend Jerry Barrow that he had mixed feelings about Nas’ “Unauthorized Biography of Rakim” song (off [...]

[...] Props: UrbanDaily [...]

So much for giving another man props

[...] explains to TheUrbanDaily that he originally had mixed feelings and felt funny about Nas’ Streets Disciple record. [...]

Makes since to me! I love em both, I can see this working out for the best! Im just like in ahh(a fan of both Gentlemen) Hope it gets resolved sooner then later yamean.

I understand where Rakim is coming from Nas should of ask permission before doing something like that, some people don’t want their business out like that and he is one of them.

I’m a little surprised at Rakim’s reaction. Nas has done several of these, and I always took it as him showing nothing but love and reverence. At the end of the day, I just have to accepts Rakim’s feeling on the situation.

Rakim, youse a straight B***H for that s**t!!!!!!!!! Thats hoe s**t, anytime a nigga showing you Love and you straight s**t on him like that, thats a b***h nigga for you, and In lost all respect for you after that!

WOW!!! In fairness I can understand where Rakim is coming from. However, NAS intentions were good I am sure. He is one of the few left in Hip Hop who is humble and gives props, acknowledgement, and pays homage to the true LEGENDS!!! Hopefully, they can smooth this one over.

NAS ALREADY TOOK OUT JAYZ IN A BATTLE BUT IM NOT TO SURE IF HE CAN BEAT RA

I CAN FEEL WHERE RAKIM IS COMING FROM & IT DON’T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES NAS HAS DONE THIS BEFORE WITH OTHER RAP ARTIST..HE NEEDS TO ASK PERMISSION FIRST! THAT IS THAT MAN’S BIZ!

WHY NAS DIDN’T ASK FOR PERMISSION? ITS ALMOST LIKE SAMPLING SONGS WITHOUT ASKING

I CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WAS SAYING…BUT NAS DID’NT HAVE TO GIVE HIS ASS HOMAGE EITHER….

I believe both side of the coin: one that love him (Nas).the you shouldn’t put my business out in the street.Rah you influence me everytime i go to work or when i was in High school 20 years ago.You put rap at a higher level that influence others to this day!!! Brother he is wrong for not telling you or inviting you to rap with him,Get your respect or honor due cause you are one of “The Godfathers of Rap” that made you a legend. “Rock-em’-Allah”.You real brother. Old schoolers need to teach these other rappers respect before they put it on wax.

i understand rakim where he said he said s**t he shundnt have like sayin his kids names dats goin to far no one really needed to know that ..u neva go to mention anyones kids even if its jus to say good things u jus dont do it buh otherwise i think nas had nothin buh good in tentions and it shud b taken as such …..buh to each his own

rakim got static with this whole issue like every old rappers do:that new rappers are scared that there ain’t enough money to share ,especially when there’s already competition with new ones keep poping up.that’s why jay-z went to def jam to see future potential upcoming stars to put under his wings.some of these rappers don’t give a s**t about the legends even if they still got it and because of greed for themselves and scared that they get out shyne that’s why nas did it in pimp style even though its half way good.

Did Nas say something foul? I don’t know. It is about intention and it seems to me that Nas had good intentions. Unfortunately, Rakim would have wanted Nas to get permission to speak his name and his children’s name which I’m sure a lot of people knew before this cut.

And just as much as Nas could have reachedout to Rakim , Rakim could have done the same. Rakim is sounding weak on this.

I’m sure this nuttin that cant be forgiven with the exchange of currency from one Nasir’s bank account, but being that he got a bunch of hands pullin on his piggy, he aint gone be to quick for this, but it does add to the much need pub for Ra, so all is good… I hope the album crushin

Um wasnt “Unathorized Biography” on the “Streets Disciple” album?? and dident that album come out like in 05 or 06…like 3 albums ago lol. My question is why is this even have coverage right now. I understand and agree with Ra feeling funny about that. But also look at the fact where we live in a country that has freedom of press. Ra is not entitled to anything by law, but yeah it would have been nice if Nas broke him off some change or hell…even a phone call. The song was hot and got alot of airplay on what was arguaby one of Nas best albums ever. Streets disciple was up there with I’am and Stillmatic in my opinion…because everyone knows Illmatic is untouchable as Dr. Dre’s the chronic or Snoop Doggs doggystle.

@Gods_chosenman you pretty much summed it up. And people remember the song was called Unathorized Biography of Rakim”! I’m sure ya’ll know what the word unathorized means.

Also if its a money issue why cant Rakim get in the studio?? I mean I would work with Rakim for next to nothing if i was a producer. All he needs is good beats, the dude is so unbelievable…I often wish things would have worked out between Him and Dr. Dre cause I know the beats were on point and I know Ra was rippin the tracks, as evidenced on The Watcher 2…he lyrically blew Jay z outta the water like a double barrel shotgun. No lie when I heard Ra’s 16 I thought I was watching a movie…Rakim’s can make you envision what he’s talking about through his rhymes. THats a gift.

I’m “Rated R,” my brain contains graphics thangs
It turn traumatic teens into addicts, and fiends
It’s like, watchin a movie through a panoramic screen
Which means, I can see the whole planet in the scene
Cash is the topic, the object, a fatter pocket
Some take the crack and chop it, but those that haven’t got it
take away the added profit, it’s catastrophic
I take the gat and c**k it, and I’ll sit back and watch it
These New York streets is ugly, I keep it gully
The world is mine and can’t nobody keep it from me
Yo, my neighborhood is never sunny
In the place where the number one cause of death is money
You can try copin
I’ve seen enough s**t to leave your frame of mind broken
I’m still alive and scopin
Be another hundred years ’til my skies close in
And I’ma die with my eyes open, the watcher [echoes]

@ Rakim…..FYI…NEVER DO AN INTERVIEW FOR DA TABLOID URBAN DAILY.

Nas is foul and will always be foul. This is the man that took my stage name “Naz” and claimed that he is from the New York City, when he is straight from Medford Suffolk County NY,. He also had enough nerve to let Foxy Brown talk about me in the song called the firm, which my lawyers made him to stop playing and using my name. He stop for awhile calling himself Nas Escobarg, now he is back calling himself Nas or the N. What a misguided man. It is funny how people that have the power to make a difference in life, use it wrong.

Naz

LUV ME SUM NAS BAY BEH

I have to add, I met Rakim back in the day , and ask him to colab and he said that he is his own man and can do anything he wants , and if I need him just call and he will help. Then he gave me his phone number. Which I lost. But that is the kind of person Rakim is. If you read this Ra, Hit me up, got a project now.

lmao this is too funny publicity !!! aint it funny how this track was released druing his ablbum drop lol all set up to stir up controversy and sales…..spare me lol

i’m trippin @ the dude below that said he lost rakim # lmao

I ain’t in it.. lol.

I feel where Ra is comin from, he is right, Nas should have approved it with him first, but I’m confused why he just now talkin about it? That song was from albums ago…

Lmao@ the n*gga that calls himself naz(a couple of posts below me)… look man… The n*ggas governemnt name is Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, so “Nasir” to “Nas”…. that’s not that big of a stretch. I can see if the n*ggas name was steve and you were some cat with a lot of buzz at one time and then fell off and steve changed his name to nas but damn man… that’s like Jay-Z(Sean Carter) tripping because lil’ wayne call’s himself DeWayne Carter. That’s his d*mn name!

Nas is the dude’s name n*gga. You need to pause with that homo-hatin homie… for real lol… N*gga trying to make himself look important to some females on the internet lmao!… C’MON SON! fucc outta here with that sh*t man…

Good to see a new Rakim interview! He’s entitled to his opinion. I wouldn’t hate for speaking his mind and not being a yes-man. By the way…what ever happened to that KRS-One biography Nas promises at the end of that song?

hip hop is all about respect and that there no matter who u are would sit right

I fel 100% I didn’t like the song so I skipped the first cd was dope second wasn’t my cup of tae maybe a few joints over all I agree with Rakim should have been approved

Do not focus on me, focus on how this guy that can have anything he wants. And do whatever he likes. Decides to disrespect people he do not even know. Living dangerously. And this is someone to look up to. Wow!

I agree with Ra but at the same token like old boy before said… “Why is this getting coverage?” The song came out a few years ago and now they wanna ask Rakim how he feels. This is why nobody tries to keep up with any type of news tabloid anymore. They always half ass it and look for wayys to start drama. As for Nas and Rakim, they both grown men so I think they should be able to sort it out.

Rakim is a legend..I remember back in high school when me and my dance partner won 250 bucks at a dance competition dancing to rakims I KNOW YOU GOT SOUL!!! one of the best songs to dance to.Plus as a producer,you know I got all his albums.even the MASTER.. rakim never fails in my eyes..

Yeah kinda of confused on this one. This song came out like in 2004? So gets news now? Yeah I do feel him on it. You have to get at somebody before you do something like that. Especially a great MC like that. Damn I miss real hip hop

Urban Daily hows about you provide the rest of the interview? LOL So do you think Ra had something to do with the question he was asked? Further more were is the rest of the interview? Ant hills into mountains. One thing I wish Bp would stop doing is trying to give Nas bad press. I really would, as if the man doesnt have enough going on. At any rate fans will be fans regardless to this bs. I really hope its not a money mater cause thats dead.

I respect Ra to the fullest, he’s been a real dude from day one. B

But this interview is kinda fishy, becuase does anybody rememeber the MTV Interview both Rakim and nas had together. This interview they had was after the song came out, and Ra said “I love nas music” , And he said “I even heard that song about my life and s**t was dope, Im glad a rapper like you from a genration after me showed me props on that song”. And Nas said ” No doubt something something , I had to throw it up to you, cuz I always wanted to know what u thought about that song”. I even rememeber what hat Nas had on in that interview it was a black whitesox baseball fitted with a black leather vest. If I can upload that interview from MTV on here I will.

Now I see this interveiw , with Ra saying this now something dont look right, Yo whats going on s**t been looking real funny in this rap game. I really dont understand

NAZ is the greatest of all time period…a true lyricist!

I got respect for both Naz and Rakim. I think both are wrong. Naz should have confirmed with him first for the track. Rakim is wrong for airing him out in the media when the song has been out years ago and Naz had good intentions. It wasn’t like he made the tack to disrespect him. I’m disappointed in Rakim for that.

Hello people! thats why the name of the song is Unauthorized Biography but Nas didn’t do nothin but praise the MC but I understand where Rakim is coming from too..I don’t think Nas was tryin to play him out or anything

How anyone on here can claim to love NAS & claim he is the greatest rapper of all times but yet don’t even know how to spell his name correctly? His name is NAS, not NAZ.. I must be missin somethin…LMAO,& I think NAZ001 is delusional, talkin about you met Ra back in the day, and Fox was speaking about YOU on The Firm track? Ummmmm okkkkk, alrightey then..lmao, and his name is NAS dumba$$, not NAZ, so how u figure HE took YOUR name??..and he never called himself Nas Escobarg(with a G), it was Escobar… LMAO at bigbendalibra, EXACTLY!

When I first heard this joint off of Nas’s album I kind of thought the same way. I didnt Nas used a whole lot of discretion if was indeed. “Unauthorized”. In a different way I think it was a credit to hip hop for those who watch MTV and thought Jay-z was the greatest of all time. Nas did a great credit to Rakim by putting his name out there. I just didnt think all the personal information was nessasary at all like. Naming a man’s wife and kids on wax in today’s atmosphere of clowns with no personal behavior and etiquette just lacks a whole lot of wisdom especially seeing where they both are from. But all in all I think its good for young people outside of New York to know who Rakim is and was. Jay-Z listed over Rakim?!?! Word? That whole MTV panel should have been stripped of their hip hop cards

DRAMADDESTROYER2 shut the f**k up…u don’t even know whats going on dummy…i don’t where they got this bogus ass video…Nas and Ra been took care of this…and if anybody got any kind sense…you would have mixed feelings if someone put your biz out there like that…without permission…so please think b4 you speak..

Rakim is full of sh!t. They talked about this in 06 http://www.mtv.com/bands/n/nas/news_feature_050206/index3.jhtml

MTV: Rakim, Nas paid you the ultimate compliment in 2004 by recording “U.B.R. (Unauthorized Biography of Rakim)” [on Street's Disciple]. What was it like when you heard that song breaking down your whole life?

Rakim: That kind of puts things in perspective. You got this far and somebody that you respect, somebody that’s on a high plateau, took time and showed you love. And to hear a lot of it, I was like, “Where did he get that from? How did he know that?” He does put things in perspective, man. He kind of opened my eyes, like, “OK, people’s watching. People really know about Rakim.” It kind of let me know where I was in the world.

Nas: Thanks, man. I always wanted to know how you felt about that, ’cause if somebody made a song talking about me and stuff like that, I wouldn’t know how to react. I just had to make a song about Ra ’cause if we in there making songs in the studio, let’s make songs about things that are important. The dude is important right now, so I made a song about how he inspired [people] a great deal. I used to look at Ra like, “This dude’s an alien. He’s an alien. He’s not from here.” That’s how I feel to this day.

Wait,wait,wait!!!! Now correct me if I’m wrong U.B.R. came out on Streets Disciple which came out in 2004-05 something like that. In 2006 for the Air Force 1 anniversary,celebration or whatever Nas and Ra along with Kanye and KRS-1 collaborated on the song called “Classic(Better than I ever been”. Now maybe it’s just me but if Ra really felt some kinda of way about it, why didn’t he say something to Nas when they was recording this song or shooting the video or even when they was on stage together AT the Air Force 1 celebration. Just seems like that would have been the logical thing to do. But hey maybe it’s just me.

@italianmami37

“How anyone on here can claim to love NAS & claim he is the greatest rapper of all times but yet don’t even know how to spell his name correctly?”

After further review, that sentence is grammatically incorrect. I can teach your in your own game. You ignorant trash…you think you know better? You don’t know black culture to filter in on our issues anyway. I suggest you either stay away or read without comments.

Take_it_all, don’t get mad at me cuz you are a fraud, hiding behind a blank page, I hide nothing about myself on my page.. so lets’ start there… You are the one who looks like a clown claimin what you claim but yet you don’t even know his name is Nas and not Naz? How do you look & sound? Don’t get mad cuz u got schooled by a white chic..And you can continue to be ignorant and claim cuz I am white I don’t know s**t about black culture or your issues, that’s funny cuz I know enough to know that Nas’s name is spelled Nas, not Naz dumb ass..Seems to me that YOUUUUUUUU don’t know about black culture..you don’t know me, what I am, where I was raised, who I’ve been raised with… but all that doesn’t matter anyways cuz the fact of the matter is, you couldn’t come up with anything better to pick on about me other than my grammar, only to deflect the fact YOU CLAIM TO LOVE NAS BUT YOU DIDN’T EVEN SPELL HIS NAME RIGHT…You don’t want it with me papa cuz I will destroy you on here.. now take your b***hasness and keep it movin and study your hip hop legends before u try to get at me.. oh and by the way, did u know that Nas was discovered & signed by a white man? Haha, M.C. Serch, probably not..Anything else? And if you have a problem with white ppl commenting on these blogs, too bad, take that s**t up with the ppl that run the sites.. you can’t handle bein challenged by a white chic? love it, this s**t is too easy..

Take it all. You gonna let this dumb white b*tch talks s*it like that? hahaha. Well we all know italianmami is e thuggin. Talkin s**t behind a computer….friggin coward. lol No good and damn well she wouldnt have that mouth in person. Such a wannabe.She look like Don Jnotts in the face also ha ha.

Sorry didnt want my first post putting somebody on blast. But I hate those wannabe white b*tches actin all hard. C’mon Son! You really think you hard like that? Get the f*ck outta here with that sh*t. lol

Back to the interview. If Ra felt that way then that’s his right. You have to holla at somebody first before you do there Bio like that. If you cant get at them then fall back. Not knocking Nas though. One of the best Lyricists to come out my city.

italianmami37

Why don’t you just go hide without a pic…at least people might mistake for a black person because the more you type, the more you ignorant you get….smh. Stop trying so hard to fit in or be something you are not. You just make me a laugh. You think know more than me because you gobbling on black d ick? Get real!

I threw the truth out there, to peep. and you just couldn’t leave it alone. Guest you wanted to hear more from me. You have no clue. I got Foxy in my video before people even knew about her. Shot it at Jamaica Ave.Park. Then she shows up in Nas video talking about me. Wow, So My lawyers made Nas shut it down. He was foul from the begining. Put his baby picture on the first album, not his current. Road my coat tail. It is just how he does business. Grimey

Naz

ahhh, you guys on here make it toooo easy! ain’t noboy e thuggin, i never claimed to be hard, i just simply put u on blast for claimin to love nas but yet you can’t even spell his name right? u r the fraud, not me…and this is exactly what i would say to u or anyone in person, u guys r the ones hidin behind ur comps hunny, with no pics, empty pages..if you knew italians, u would know that we r outspoken & we shoot straight, u don’t like it, go have a tantrum somewhere, take that s**t to oprah…..again, don’t get mad at me cuz “some white b***h” put u on blast for not knowing how to spell nas name correctly, and twice at that.. smh… lmao. that’s ur issue boo, not mine, i will always speak my mind, whether it be on here or off…u bein racist is not my problem, that’s urs, i will ALWAYSSSSSSSSSSSSS do me..and u sound ignornant cuz I didnt know there was a way of “SOUNDING BLACK”.., that’s funny cuz I know plenty of broths & sistas who don’t “sound black” as u would call it…u guys on here r some feminine actin chics, for real, hatin & arguing with a chic? and a white chic at that? thank u for makin it so easy for me to get under ur skin… dammm, i do it everytime, y’all make it sooooo easy.. pretty good for a white b***h…lmfao..

I know more than you because I know how to spell Nas name correctly…lmao, too easy, y’all all mad & s**t, I’m laughin..wantin to fight & s**t, lames…

Peace to the God n Earths, Peace to Rakim Allah.

I understand where Ra is coming from, I am a fan of both.
Nas, meant well on dedicated this because Rakim was his Idol, so was KRS-ONE. However, Nas could’ve called up the GOD and let’em know because his info was out especially his Kids and other things.
Nas, is a humble dude but he could’ve reached out and let Rakim know that he paid Homage. I would’ve felt funny as well…but as I said “Nas meant well but a phone would been kool”.

These Dudes are too gifted and hopefully things will be at ease. I would hate The GODS to beef over something that can easily be reconciled in PEACE.

For you all you HOMO’ niggas that feel that Rakim should’nt be paid RESPECT, ya’ll should kill yaself’s because with out Rakim, there would be no Hip-Hop.
I’m glad Ra didn’t do tracks with Dre bcuz Dre would gave him wack beats like he gave Joel Ortiz and Raekwon and Dre is not all that, Word.

I said it, SO WHAT?!

Primo, Pete-Rock, Beatminers, X-tra P, Etc got hot-s**t…Dre has simple s**t that you Dumbasses suck on!!!!

Rakim ALLAH, will always be RESPECTED!

Will we care about this a week from now? I grew up with RA, as far as painting pictures for me it was RA, Big Daddy Kane and KRS-ONE. I loved Hip Hop because lyrically they painted pictures. When Nas came on the seen it was like a student graduating from that school, so I immediately soaked in Illmatic. @ Naz001, in the rap game, your name doesn’t make you,you have to make a name for yourself. There has got to be thousands of rappers who share the same name, but we will only recognize the ones who made a name for themselves. Keep working on your project, get your name out there. Even if what you say is true, most of us don’t know you as a rapper so it just sounds like straight hate, specially when Everyone else on here seems to have admiration for Nasty Nas, Nas Escobar, Nastrodamus… the N. They need to squash this beef if it really does exist, after all we’ve seen a portion of the interview and not the whole thing, s**t could be taken out of context. I’m holding out for a joint from both of them in collab.

Italian Mami take your Don Knotts lookin ass on somewhere. For you youngins that dont know who he is google him and look at her page and you would agree they are twins..lol You like 40 years old still trying to be down and I bet you aint got no man, just them ugly ass dogs lol. You look like a meth head. Just do yourself a favor and kill yourself because you failed in life. Your whole style is fake. You in a country ass part of FL because you one of the New Yorkers that couldnt make it up here…smh.

The fact that you talkin s**t like you so hard is hilarious. You know you wouldnt be so “italian outspoken” if you were face to face. What are you making easy? You are making a fool out of yourself with these idiotic statements. So what you know spell Nas name. You want a cookie? Get life you third class ho. Queens baby.

A TRUE, THOROUGH NY BROTHA WOULD NEVERRRRRRRRRRRR BE CARRYIN ON THE WAY YOU ARE, NOR WOULD THEY HIDE BEHIND A BLANK PAGE.. YOU CLEARLY ARE A LAME WHO IS AFRAID TO SHOW UR TRUE IDENTITY CUZ U WACK…A TRUE NY BROTHA WOULD NOT BE ARGUIN WITH A “DUMB WHITE CHIC” LIKE YOU ARE… YOU A LAME & YOU GETTIN MAD, NOT A GOOD LOOK BOO. BOYS GETTIN MAD AT CHICS? VERY FEMININE… IT’S CUTE THOUGH..I’M GLAD I GET TO YOU SO MUCH THAT YOU CONTINUE TO SHOW YOUR B***HASSNESS..HOW PRECIOUS…LMFAO.. NUCCA, NOBODY CARES ANYMORE…I’M GLAD IT’S THAT SERIOUS TO YOU…ISN’T YOUR MAN GONNA BE HOME SOON? BETTER HAVE THAT DINNER READY…

All I would like to say is Rakim is sexy, lol, you can continue to fight now, smooches! lol

whatever…he’s lucky Nas even cares enough to make a rap about him to make him relevent to the younger generation who knows nothing about Rakim…sounds like someone’s just tight that they’re not getting a piece of that money-pie. just calling it like i see it

sweet 33 thats bulls**t, nas lyrics could never f**k Rakim’s you are just to young to even understand it ..with no Rakim there would no Nas..that why this new generation as you call has no real juice just bling garbage, my suggestion is you go and listen to tha god online and you will see why nas is jockin him and not the reverse.

Damn, I may just break out my old Eric B & Rakim tonight.

I feel you producer6tray.thanks for saying that so i don`t have to repeat it.And this new generation need to pull out some KRS-1 and Chuck D while they are at it.and Sweet 33,Rakim doesn`t have to be relevent to the new generation,he has left his mark on real hip hop already.Like 6Tray said,you to young to know what real hip hop was,cus it aint this s**t that`s out know.

this young cats do not understand rakim was a power house lyrically and he lived the ship he was talking when i lived in bk rakim was known in fort greene for a reason..nas is my dude yes,but respect should have been in order!!rakim,krs-1 epmd,and chuck d was and still is the truth..oh yeah slick rick was fire to! they made sense when they rhymed huh today u have lil wayne..oh geesh!!when does he make sense again and gucci mane wtf!!need i name anymore?

Excerpt of MTV interview of Rakim and Nas a few years ago when the song dropped

http://www.mtv.com/bands/n/nas/news_feature_050206/index3.jhtml

MTV: Rakim, Nas paid you the ultimate compliment in 2004 by recording “U.B.R. (Unauthorized Biography of Rakim)” [on Street's Disciple]. What was it like when you heard that song breaking down your whole life?

“He kind of opened my eyes, like, ‘OK, people’s watching. People really know about Rakim.’ It kind of let me know where I was in the world.” — Rakim

Rakim: That kind of puts things in perspective. You got this far and somebody that you respect, somebody that’s on a high plateau, took time and showed you love. And to hear a lot of it, I was like, “Where did he get that from? How did he know that?” He does put things in perspective, man. He kind of opened my eyes, like, “OK, people’s watching. People really know about Rakim.” It kind of let me know where I was in the world.

Nas: Thanks, man. I always wanted to know how you felt about that, ’cause if somebody made a song talking about me and stuff like that, I wouldn’t know how to react. I just had to make a song about Ra ’cause if we in there making songs in the studio, let’s make songs about things that are important. The dude is important right now, so I made a song about how he inspired [people] a great deal. I used to look at Ra like, “This dude’s an alien. He’s an alien. He’s not from here.” That’s how I feel to this day.

MTV: How much research did you do for that record?

Nas: It took me a day. I went online. I was up on Rakim forever, though — you ain’t up on Rakim, then you don’t belong in rap. I was always up on Ra and I met him as a kid. I was a young teen getting into the game and I met Ra. He came in the studio by himself, put the [medallion] on the table. With the cables, two beepers — it was crazy. I [hadn't] never seen a cell phone, really. I seen them on the TV, “Magnum P.I.” and “Miami Vice.” But I never seen the big, crazy joint — the joint you beat somebody over the head with. The dude was cool then, same as he is now. This brother has always been a cool brother.

MTV: Nas, five years ago we were doing an interview, and we were talking about some of the greats: Slick Rick, Rakim, KRS-One. When did you start feeling comfortable being mentioned in the same breath as some of those people you came up watching?

Nas: You know what it’s like? You can only fight it for so long. Then, when your influence is so great on so many artists, you gotta accept it. Nah mean? God don’t give you a gift. For you, you can’t turn your lights down on your shine. You can’t dim your lights for nobody. It just took its natural course.

MTV: With the climate of rap changing now, how does that affect you when putting out new material? The focus is not on lyrics, as it was back in the day.

Rakim: I’ll answer that right quick, Nas. That’s why it’s up to brothers like me and him to keep it going. ‘Cause if we turn around and fall victim to what’s going on, then it’s a wrap. Nas is doing an album, I’m doing an album. We can make a big statement right here. When this man drops an album, they already looking for it. Nas — you know he’s gonna say something, and the same thing for Rakim. So if we stay focused and do what we do, I think everybody wants that real hip-hop back.

Memphisprince thanks for posting that interview, cuz stupid ass peoeple still asnwering this question, like they didnt see each other after the song came out and spoke about this. I thought I was the only one that seen that interview they had together in 06″. Either this footage of Ra is from 04″ or this dude Ra is bulls**tting. And I know the god isnt like that. Or urban daily did some futuristic CGI trick on the footage to make hime say things he didnt say lol

[...] EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Rakim Speaks On Nas’ “Unauthorized Biography” [...]