Notorious for his low profile, Nas has broken out of his shell with a bevy of media appearances of late. With his current single “Daughters” making headlines and putting a lot of fathers on notice on the heels of Father’s Day this weekend, Nas visited the set of CNN for host Soledad O’Brien’s ‘Starting Point’ to discuss why he crafted the song and how he’s finally learning how to be a better parent. The pesky “N-Word” debate that has followed the rapper around was also discussed.
“It’s a different thing for me, like, having a teenage daughter,” Nas shared openly about his relationship with his 17-year-old daughter, Destiny. “It’s different for me. I gotta be a parent and because of the relationship I had with my daughter’s mother and being in this business, it kind of took me away from her and took me away from being that parent that was there all the time.”
O’Brien then pressed Nas on whether he felt he was a good father, the Life Is Good rapper gamely responded. “You know, I ask her [Destiny] that from time to time and she says I was great,” Nas replied. “She says I was cool. So, yeah, I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough for me.”
Nas made the news after saying last week that actress Gwyneth Paltrow was a “real n***a” and defended the Hollywood star after her now-infamous “N****s In Paris” tweet. O’Brien challenged Nas on his use of the word.
“It’s street corner language,” said Nas matter-of-factly. “I gotta be honest with you. As I get older, the need for me to use it in my music is not so much as it used to. But it’s like young language.”
Although Nas and Jay-Z have long since buried their beef, a video that surfaced showing a mannequin of Jay-Z that Nas was intending to mock-lynch at the 2002 Hot 97 Summer Jam has made its round on the Internets. In an exclusive interview with MTV News, Nas sidestepped the issue.
“I really don’t even want to acknowledge it,” Nas shared with MTV News on Tuesday. “Everybody’s in a different place. I don’t even want to acknowledge it. I can’t acknowledge that. Jay’s my man, and that’s that, that’s all I’m gonna say.”
Watch Nas’ interview with CNN below, and his dismissal of the new Jay-Z lynching vid on the next page.
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Photo: CNN
