At a young prodigal age, Nas dropped his debut album Illmatic, and nearly 20 years later it is almost universally heralded as the best hip hop album of all time. This past summer, The Don released one of his best albums to date, and people have already begun debating whether Life Is Good is indeed a classic. In a recent interview with MTV, Nasir, who has been in the game for more than a minute, says it takes time to put a stamp like “classic” on a project. He also discusses the meaning of a classic work, and realizes it’s not always important.
When asked if he felt his latest LP was a classic, Mr. Jones was laid back, and wants everyone to take their time when evaluating an album in that context, “Time tells, a lot of the time it has to do with time. It’s cool, you can call my record a classic; I'm not tripping.” The Queensbridge emcee adds, “Time will really make me feel it or not, and then if a year from now, another two years from now, I really feel like it's a classic and no one else does, I'm gonna make noise.”
If eventually people decide the album does not stand up to the test of time, then Nas is fine with that and recognizes some works are just ‘of their time’, but still important, “If it's not a classic, that's cool. That means there's a different title for it that is a different meaning for the record. It wasn't a worldwide classic or a nationwide classic or a 'hood classic but it.” Seeming somewhat reflective the God’s Son said, “You don't have to always be classic: You can be incredible, you can be meaningful or needed. You can be a much-needed album, you know what I mean?"
[Via HHDX]
