Large Professor Discusses Russell Simmons' Decision Not To Sign Nas

During a recent appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, Large Professor discussed Nas. He reflected on people in the industry passing up opportunities with Nas in the early days of the rapper's career. “From the start," Large Professor began, "When they brought Nas’ demo to Russell [Simmons], Russell was like ‘Nah, he sound too much like [Kool] G Rap." “It was crazy," the artist continued, "We was in the same camp though. That’s what he wasn’t seeing — it was like, ‘Yo, Nas is actually a descendant of G, so… you should you know, accept a new generation type shit. But, Russell ain’t know that Force.”

Large Professor agrees that Simmons "f*cked up" on that one. It's clear that Nas has managed to do well for himself in the time since, however, just recently dropping his 16th studio album, Magic 2. The LP acts as a follow-up to 2021's Magic, and features 50 Cent and 21 Savage. He did limited promotion for his latest offering, only announcing the release date days before the drop.

Large Professor Thinks Russell Simmons "F*cked Up"

Nas also recently announced his collaboration with Hennessy in celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop. He flexed alongside his new "HenNASsy" bottle in an Instagram post yesterday. The "vibrant limited edition cognac" works to "[mark] a unique cultural milestone" with the help of Nas, according to Hennessy. The brand calls him "one of the genre’s most prolific talents."

In a recent interview, 50 Cent discussed some other ways Nas was misunderstood earlier in his career. He revealed that his "Office Hours" collaborator turned out to be far more intelligent than he previously believed based on his music. "We’d be on the tour bus, and he’d be reading books and stuff," Fif explained. “[Nas] was ahead of us. What he had, and I was looking at it going, ‘You gotta be careful’ because he was smarter than the music he was releasing… He was smarter than things he was saying on the records."

[Via]