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Legendary lyricist Nas is riding high on a wave of success due to his latest album “Life Is Good.” Since its release earlier in the year, The Don has had endorsement offers rolling in. He and his father, jazz musician Olu Dara are featured in the new advertisements for Gap. Nasir Jones’ most recent endorsement deal is with the liquor brand Hennessy for their Wild Rabbit campaign.

Last night, The Urban Daily was invited to a private Q&A session and performance celebrating the new partnership. Since we’ve been a Nas fan since we can remember, we thought we knew everything about the MC. However, there were a few things we learned about Nas during the Q&A session. Peep the five things we learned about Nasir Jones.

1. He Digs The New Crop Of Rappers Entering The Game.

Hip-Hop listeners tend to segregate themselves. The backpackers look down on those who like pop-rap. And most fans expect their rap idols to think exactly the same way. However, Nas doesn’t subscribe to that type of thinking. He is actually enjoying young rappers like Chief Keef and believes they really care about the culture. “Artists like Chief Keef are just introducing themselves to America. Whether you like how they express themselves or not,” Nas said to radio personality Miss Info. “This is what it is. Even if it comes off as violent or embarrassing, it’s honest.”

2. Nas Isn’t Mad At The Rappers Who Bit His Style.

It’s no question Nas is one of the most influential rappers to debut in the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. With that, there have been plenty of rappers who have tried and failed to emulate the Queensbridge native. While fans would assume Nasty Nas would be pissed at his imitators, he isn’t. “I’ve got some advice for other rappers. Stick with your gut feeling with everything you do and try not to have any regrets. Don’t spend your whole career being mad at the guy that ripped you off,” he offered.

3. The Firm Album Flopped Because Nobody Wanted to Listen.

As many successes Nas has had in his career, he’s also suffered through some epic fails. One of those fails was “The Firm: The Album.” During the dialogue, Nas was asked what went wrong with that project considering Foxy Brown, AZ, Nas, and Nature were all considered to be some dope MCs in the mid to late 90s. Nas reasoned the album tanked because everybody wanted to be the leader. “Everybody was new and wanted to be their way. You can’t teach someone how to do what they already do. That’s why the music I made with Damian Marley was better because I was playing him rap records he didn’t know and he played me reggae records I didn’t know,” he reasoned.

4. He Accidentally Quotes Himself In Conversation.

There are celebrities you can tell get off on hearing their thoughts out loud when they speak. Nas isn’t one of those guys. Actually, it freaks him out. Although he’s not walking around motivating himself by reciting the hook to “I Can,” Nas did recall a few incidents where he would wish friends a happy birthday and slip in a song title. “I’d be saying ‘Happy Birthday, Man. The world is yours.’ And then I’d cringe,” he joked.

5. There Are Records More Personal Than “Daughters” And “Bye Baby” in The Vault.

When “Life is Good” dropped, many critics hailed it as Nas most personal album. Although there were plenty of personal anecdotes on the set, he says he left most personal tracks on the cutting room floor. Despite them not being on “Life Is Good,” Nas might place the records on a future “Lost Tapes” type of album. “I left the title track off because I felt like I was giving too many details and wasn’t trying to air all of that out. Me having the wedding dress on the cover was personal enough. I haven’t erased the songs because they might show up on a project if I decide to do a ‘Lost Tapes’ type thing.”

Watch a video of Nas’ performance from the Hennessy Wild Rabbit campaign launch.

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5 Things We Learned About Nas At The Hennessy Wild Rabbit Event  was originally published on theurbandaily.com