Everybody loves intergenerational camaraderie. Now, that very type is forged as Travis Scott and Nas share an extensive conversation for Playboy. Speaking on their respective come-ups, both Travis and Nas share a sense of mutual admiration for one another, citing some of the key distinctions between past, present, and future. Luckily, Nas has shifted his perspective, no longer declaring hip-hop dead, but rather thriving.
"We came up on iPhones, you know what I mean? We’re at a point now where we don’t even write our raps down. We’re just going straight off the dome in the booth. I know from people I work with, like Young Thug and Quavo, most everyone likes going in and just laying down whatever’s on their minds," reflects Scott, drawing a distinction between his generation of rappers and Nas' own.
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Nas picks up the conversation with an interesting insight of his own. "When hip-hop started out, you only had a top five. You had a short list of dope rappers, from Ice Cube to Slick Rick. You could count them on your fingers," he states. "Hip-hop is such a big thing now that everybody’s jumping in on it. There are so many different styles that by the time you do the thing that you do, this dude over here done started a whole new way. You got to stay on top of what’s going on just for the love of music."
Scott is quick to compliment Nas' legacy, breaking down his experience discovering East Coast rap as a Houston boy. "Listening to East Coast rap and West Coast rap is a little different from the South," explains Scott. "It’s a different type of tempo, a different type of tone. So when I heard it, it just sounded foreign. But the swag, you know what I mean? The way you carried yourself. Just growing up listening and dialing into your albums, you hear the art of telling a story."
For more from Nas and Travis Scott's conversation, peep the whole exchange via Playboy.