During a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Nas revealed that he is no longer inspired by his peers to make music. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host asked Nasir Jones, 49, about his inspiration 30 years into his career. The veteran artist expressed that rappers from his generation aren’t as active, so it’s difficult to look to them for a creative spark.
“I’m really trying to figure out what my next move is, and I feel like a lot of hip-hop artists my age are not putting out a lot of material, so I can’t look to them as a reference,” the Queens emcee expresses. “They kind of slowed down—for whatever reasons, I understand it’s a tough thing, but I got bit by the bug, man.”
“I collaborated with this cat Hit-Boy who’s like the best,” he continued. “And he’s produced all of those albums: King’s Disease I, II, III. We’re kind of inspiring ourselves at this point. It’s really interesting.”
Colbert, 58, asked the Grammy award-winning artist what he sees in Hit-Boy that “he sees lacking in himself,” to which the acclaimed lyricist jokingly said, “youth.”
“He’s younger than me. I’m hooking up my jumper cables to him—and this is reciprocal because he’s getting some kind of wisdom from me. We’re just a perfect match.”
The Life is Good rapper has ramped up his output since late 2019, linking with the producer to drop four projects so far: King’s Disease I, II, III, and Magic. The historic run resulted in the duo snagging the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album — Nas’ first win of his career.
To commemorate the King’s Disease trilogy, Nas is set to play his first show at Madison Square Garden for one night only on Friday (Feb. 24).
Watch the video above.