When it comes to New York rap legends, few figures stand as tall as Nas and 50 Cent. While they're known for very different styles, over the years (and especially these days) they always make it a point to salute each other for their contributions to the game. Now that hip-hop is still celebrating its 50-year anniversary, it feels particularly fulfilling to see MCs, whether veterans or rookies, showing each other love. Nasir was Fif's guest of honor at his recent tour stop in Los Angeles on Wednesday (August 30), and came out to perform "Hate Me Now" and "Made You Look." Towards the end of his time on stage, Esco thanked the G-Unit mogul for his impact.
"When this man dropped, the whole rap game changed," he said of 50 Cent during his surprise performance. "Queens in the building, bro. Shout out to Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda- my brothers. I love you, man." Most recently, the two teamed up on "Office Hours" off of Nas's Magic 2 with Hit-Boy. It marked their first collaboration in over twenty years, following "Too Hot" and "Who U Rep With" off 50's Guess Who's Back? mixtape.
Nas & 50 Cent Grace Los Angeles With Great Performance & Praise
"Nas, when I first interacted with him, he was like, ‘Yo, who’s that?’" 50 Cent told XXL of touring with Nas when his career first popped off. "'Cause the ‘How to Rob’ record got his attention. He’s like, ‘Yo, that’s like when I first came out. That energy is like raw.’ And he just wanted to see who I was. Just wanted me to be around and s**t like that. Then, he let me come on tour with him and he didn’t have to do that.
"He was ahead of us," 50 continued. "What he had, and I was looking at it going, ‘You gotta be careful’ because he was smarter than the music he was releasing. He was smarter than things he was saying on the records because what he said on the records matched how things felt in the environment not who he was actually [in his head]. We’d be on the tour bus, and he’d be reading books and stuff." For more news and the latest updates on Nas and 50 Cent, log back into HNHH.