3 2 Bridging The Gap
Multi-million albums sold, numerous awards won and
countless collaborations with the best in the business
notoriously tough housing projects of Queensbridge,
New York. “It was really needed. He and my mum
really instilled that into me and my younger brother. I
realise today now how hard it must have been for both
of them. They must have thought me and my brother
were crazy; we’d do graffiti on the bedroom wall, we’d
fight all the time, I chipped my tooth, cuts, bruises,
running around – we must have almost gave them
heart attacks as kids. But they told us to be the best,
to always strive to be better.”
They’re words Nas has clearly adhered to. With multimillion albums sold, numerous awards won and
collaborations with everyone from Lauren Hill to Alicia
Keys and Tupac to Puff Daddy, Nas has achieved more
than most in his relatively short life.
So what next for the man who has already earned
legendary status as a rapper and who has dabbled in
the film and fashion worlds? Well, Bridging The Gap
marks a new musical direction but it also points to a
continued growth in his lyrical life. Taken from his new
double-album, Street’s Disciple, the 25 tracks deal
almost exclusively with social and political concerns.
“When I recorded Illmatic, I talked about what I lived
and what I saw as a teenager,” he says of the battlescarred similes that informed his first thesis. “I just
thought it was crazy that we were living like this at
this young age. After that, I’d do new records and talk
about how I’d grown,” he explains. “It’s always been
about growth for me. I don’t talk about guns on this
album. I thought about it; I wondered if I mentioned
guns and cocaine and fashion designers enough?” he
grins. “But it wasn’t necessary for me to do that here
because that’s not what was really in my head, what I
really wanted to get off my chest. I wanted to express
how I feel today – whether it be the state of hip hop,
the black family structure, or father and son – all that
is what came across on this album.”