Sometime in the last couple of years, Swizz Beatz and Nas got close all of a sudden. I respect Swizz, and his beats are always banging, but I never saw Nas as someone to rap over a Swizz beat. Anyway, their collabo on Life Is Good (Summer on Smash), wasn't that bad tho. I actually heard, back then that they had actually recorded like 3 songs during the studio time for that song.
At the recently concluded Vibe Impact Awards, Swizz Beatz spoke on the countless times, over the years that He and Nas made lots of songs in the studio, but that the songs never made it on Nas's albums...except Summer on Smash, which was on Life Is Good.
“This is my Virgo brother. We’ve done many sessions together. A lot of songs never came out, but we did many sessions together. Because like when we get in the studio it’s just a weird vibe because we forget how much we vibe together. Because he go do his thing. I go do my thing. And when we’re finally in the studio it’s like ‘Man, why we ain’t do this six months ago. You know, I gotta turn my album in next week.’ So, we trying to cram in 50 songs in like a week. And then we say ‘Let’s just save it for the next album.’ We did that about four albums back to back. So, hopefully this album, Stoute won’t let that happen.”
Nas got the a Vibe Impact Award over the weekend, at the 2014 Vibe Impact Awards. Being a long time fan of Nas's music, J.Cole climbed the stage to speak on the Queens Bridge artists' greatness.
“Me, I’m not J. Cole tonight, I’m Jermaine Cole, a fan speaking. I had to put on a suit for you tonight! As a rapper, there's very few greats that I study and I still continue to study and Nas is obviously one of them. I really had his lyrics printed on my wall... I would print these joints out and I would hang them up on my wall and if you'd walk in my room you'd be like, 'What is wrong with this kid?' I'd just be there standing and reading the lyrics. I really wanted to know what it was like to be that good. I was rapping at the time and it was my goal to be that good."
Hmm! Interesting. I never get tired of hearing J.Cole giving props to Nas. It seems like the only Great that people recognize this days is Jay Z. And the irony right here is that Cole is signed to Jay Z's label. That just shows you how great Nas really is...you might not like his business sense, or his choice in women, but you can't deny the fact that he is an incredibly talented rapper. The man is a genius on the mic. If you ain't feeling him, it means you don't understand him. Just know that he is your favorite rapper's favorite rapper.
