It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
NasRead
Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days... that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you. It speaks to your livelihood and it's not compromised. It's blunt. It's raw, straight off the street - from the beat to the voice to the words.
Interpretation
Hip-hop is an authentic and urgent expression of life derived from the streets.
In this quote, Nas emphasizes the essence of hip-hop as a cultural movement that originates from the streets and is characterized by its raw and unfiltered nature. He highlights how the music captures the urgency of life experiences, resonating with listeners on a personal level and reflecting genuine emotions without compromise.
In practice
During a music seminar discussing street culture and its influences on hip-hop.
It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
It's a thin line between paper and hate,_x000D_ _x000D_ Friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights,_x000D_ _x000D_ Hell or the pearly gates...I was destined to come,_x000D_ _x000D_ Predicted, blame God, He blew breath in my lungs.
I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth._x000D_ _x000D_ Not the biased truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ Not the liest truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ But the highest truth.
Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.
If you scared to take chances, you'll never have the answers...
I don't respect killers, I respect O.G. knowledge,_x000D_ _x000D_ Codes of the streets got new rules, but no guidance._x000D_ _x000D_ Lessons, detrimental to a young disciple;_x000D_ _x000D_ Folks, take care of your brothers, niggas do as I do._x000D_ _x000D_ Keep your enemies close, where they can see you._x000D_ _x000D_ It's not your enemy who get you, it's always your own people.
Every form of theatre has something in common with a visit to the doctor. On the way out, one should always feel better than on the way in.
Often I don't know what the song means until it's finished. Sometimes months later. I don't think that's bad. It implies that I don't know what I'm doing but-I think if you're able to follow your instincts, then that's knowing what you're doing.
Maybe I am not very human - what I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.
It's important as a writer to do my art well and do it in a way that is powerful and beautiful and meaningful, so that my work regenerates the people, certainly Indian people, and the earth and the sun. And in that way we all continue forever.
The truest writers are those who see language not as a linguistic process but as a living element.
I'm not a journalist; I'm a poet.
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