Nas Reflects On "King’s Disease III," Says Hip-Hop Is His "Therapist"

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Pandora Sounds Like You NYC Featuring Nas, Young M.A, Dave East And Biz Markie DJ Set
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 19: Rapper Nas attends Pandora Sounds Like You NYC featuring Nas, Young M.A, Dave East and Biz Markie DJ Set at Brooklyn Steel on July 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Pandora)
Nas recently sat down for a candid interview with the "Wall Street Journal."

Nas says that hip-hop has become his "therapist." The legendary New York rapper discussed his career, working with Hit-Boy on King’s Disease III, and more during a new interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Saturday. Nas explained that, at some points during the recording process, Hit-Boy would ask him to re-use flows from his older songs.

“Sometimes I’d be like, ‘But I did that, I did that already.’ And he’d say, ‘I know you, you’re going to go into a new cadence on it. Can you, please, just do this flow right here? I promise you’,” Nas told WSJ. Of King’s Disease III, he added that he was pessimistic he'd ever make the record. “In my head, I said, ‘There’s never going to be a KD3,” Nas confessed. “Why did I say this? I’m tired.'”

Nas & Hit-Boy Ahead Of The Grammys

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 02: Nas and Hit-Boy attend the Pre-Grammy Brunch & Surf Club Label Launch Celebrating Hit-Boy at the Lavo Restaurant at The Palazzo Las Vegas on April 02, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

Nas released the first iteration of King's Disease back in 2020. The album went on to win "Best Rap Album" at the Grammys. The follow-up, King's Disease II, was nominated in the "Best Rap Album" category but lost out to Tyler, The Creator's Call Me If You Get Lost. Nas dropped King's Disease III back in November.

Further in the interview, the soon-to-be 50-year-old reflected on his relationship with hip-hop. “It’s become my therapist, my friend,” Nas said. “It’s not always the happiest place, sometimes I want to do other things. But I feel compelled to be there. In this day and time, it’s all about the studio.” The Wall Street Journal piece comes days after Nas teamed up with Tobe Nwigwe and Jacob Banks for the new single, "On My Soul," off of the soundtrack for Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. The full film, along with the soundtrack, will be releasing on June 9.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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