Who would have guessed it?
I left school on the eighth or ninth grade.
I left school early.
My mom was always worried about me and my brother.
We did not know what we wanted, but we did not want to be negligent.
I did not know what my future would include.
Darkness became a little hint of hope.
My son Nas was born into the world.
I felt that the king was born.
Every rhyme was the best, what I had heard.
10-year-old spoke of God and devil.
Nobody did that.
How many are "Illmatic"? One two Three!
"Illmatic" was a new start for rap.
It was gangster life through poetry.
He was a genius.
The 1994 classic "Illmatic" was prophetic.
He dared talk about the darkness of America's black life.
"Illmatic" is the hip hop change moment.
That record is still one of the best of hip hop for a hundred years .
His lyrics changed the image of MC riddles.
It was honest.
It will always be one of the best albums of all times.
When I did "Illmatic", I tried to make a perfect album.
I tried to get the listeners to experience my life-
to see hip hop in a new way-
and feeling that hip hop was getting more real.
I was showing how the streets felt-
sounded, tasted, and smoked on one disc.
I tried to capture the mood in a way that no one had tried.
When I'm on the way to a concert, I wondered to myself:
"Wow! This is my bread work."
I chose this, this happened, and now I do this regularly.
This is best, what a man from Queens can achieve.
My music did not begin with me.
I'm from the family of musicians and artists. This is in my blood.
That's what I am now, is extension of it, what they were prior to me.
My artistic roots come from Natchez-
Natchez is Mississippi.
My name is Olu Dara.
Nas's father
It means "God is good".
I was born in the USA in Natchez, on the Mississippi River.
It was the heartland of the race separation, where Ku Klux Klan was born.
There were all the time burning crosses.
My father's family were musicians.
My dad and my godfather traveled around the country in the Mellowderes band.
The tribe consists of musicians, artists, teachers farmers and prostitutes.
They all were tops in their field. Never poke down.
Even prostitutes were the best whores.
We did everything at a high level and we did it great.
I was 4 years in naval.
I was released from service at New York where I met Nas's mother.
I was too long, my money ended and I was stuck here.
At the same time Nas and his brother were born.
Their mother and I were difficult. The whole family had.
I started to travel in Europe to make money.
And Nas's mother moved to Queensbridge.
I was worried because it was a tough neighborhood for him and for the kids.
In the 70s there were fathers and mothers, in the 80s there were single mothers-
and in the 90's grandmothers raised the children.
The G.I. Regulation guaranteed to all the possibility of training-
I borrow and reside, so people did not have to live in cities.
Blacks only got a small share of apartments, only 2.1%.
That is why there was a white middle class to which blacks had no access.
Then were built areas for which people packed like sardines.
Down the poverty! Down diseases, crime and fire hazards.
Release the sun and the sky. The USA is about to start a new era.
Thank you very much, Mayor Laguardia.
Historically, the areas were built to the working class regardless of color.
US racial segregation is so blurred, and when blacks came from the south-
and started filling the cities, the whites moved away.
With the white of the cities , money and wealth also disappeared.
Queensbridge seemed to me confused.
It looked like a buried diamond.
I got the chance to be a child at least a little while.
I felt that I had to grow up early to adult to survive my environment.
So early, that my parents were different.
They were good people and they did work. We had a color TV and videos.
We had Carpet and fine stuff.
Some of my friends did not have anything.
They ate rolls, and they did not have furniture.
We always had food. My mother was a good cook.
Everybody wanted to come to us to eat Mrs. Jones's food.
He was happy, and he did not curse or spoke the floor lamp.
If we needed something, he promised to get it for us.
My dad was a library room. There were all sorts of books.
Everything from the Dead Book to Malcolm X.
Sun Tzu and the history of Chinese philosophy.
They came before Columbus, Aisopos's fairy tales.
Afrocentricity, J. A. Rogersin From Superman to Man.
The Bible and Trials and Tribulations of Ghetto Life.
My dad had traveled all over the world with naval and music.
He told me and my brother stories from distant places-
block, neighborhood, New York and the US.
We had xylophone, trumpets, guitars and trunks.
They were toys for me. We used them when their dad was gone.
I thought Nazi would become a good trumpet player.
He played every day with a trumpet with drummers on the street.
I took it away, not lick his lips.
I told her to wait 7 years. He really loved the trumpet.
When he was seven, I gave it back-
but he already had something else.
He woke me every morning in his rhymes.
Because he woke me up, I said, I did not like his rhymes.
He woke me up again and asked: "Is this better?"
I knew he was the best, as soon as I heard him reread.
I had a good friend named Will Graham.
We did music together as a teenager.
Will and I made cassettes and we played them to our friends.
We loved making music.
Will lived in our downstairs. He was like my third son.
He had a different worldview.
Together their minds created an explosion.
We baked and made videos to him.
Once she told the girl on the phone: "I bake and I make videos."
And he started laughing. It sounded soft in his ear.
After that he said the same always on every phone.
He made people laugh. He knew how to have fun.
We were the same.
We did music all the time, but then it was still fun.
Everything was different. We used TR-808 drum machines-
and people liked fun.
The style was new and colorful. It was varied.
In the park, jam. One DJ was my block. DJ Hot Day.
Hot Day was known in the neighborhood. He always had DJ interest.
I tried sometimes to help, when she took her to the park.
There was life. Everything was great and promising.
Only later I started to see degeneration-
and the effect of the substance called the crack .
We fight a drug-free US on behalf of many fronts.
The city started to look crazy. It was sad.
It was not just a gangster thing. Everyone got money from crack.
It was the greatest survival.
The collapse of the middle city economy has created a new drug economy.
Older types saw the opportunity to earn.
It spread everywhere.
I was looking at that page.
I know a dick, who has good stuff You must forget your vacations Insider Information
Big guys dissolve in a woman's stomach As my spirit evaporates. We did not sleep I wanted to convey the picture from New York at night.
There was a gun shot every night.
Pregnant women burned crack.
It is worth $ 100 billion worth of business.
Crack crime is increasing.
Types awaiting robbery in the evening.
We tried to stay away from it all.
Police had to be crazy if they came to the area in the evening.
The atmosphere was electric.
Angles filled with children, who did not see over the head This Game Has Changed Young Apprentice Guns Name
They take the corners Shocking kids in the daytime Weapons always involved The same types sell drugs.
There is an informer Keep the warehouse until prices drop It was a hell to try to survive there with the family.
Especially without help, and we did not have any help.
My parents came to the final break point.
My dad said things, he said his brother.
He said I was a man in the house, and he would not be there anymore.
They had a big dispute, and my dad never came back.
I looked out the window, and mom said she would never return.
He said I should not let Dad in if he came back.
It shocked me a bit, because I was so small.
Mother did not treat me as a child, but spoke to me as an adult.
He assumed that I understood what happened.
Then I realized that it was true, but I'm still looking for a father in the window.
Father never returned.
He moved to Harlem. I went to see her there.
Mom never talked of evil father.
Mother knew that Dad had badly treated her.
He was hard to work and he / she took care of us and my dad.
Father did not always work. Mommy got us all.
Father was talented. We got our talents from him.
Laughter and intelligence came from his side-
but reason came from mother. My mother is already dead.
My dad is still alive. I would like my dad...
I love you, Dad, but I wish, that your mother would have the same praise.
Especially from Nas's achievements and life.
Without a mother, we would not even be here.
I remember that mom sometimes wept and was sad but he hated us, and said everything would be arranged.
They were good moments. We had a beautiful home in the neighborhood.
Our home was mostly good.
We had a lot of love. Mother was very positive.
He was happy and we laughed a lot together.
He wanted me and my brother the best.
I went to this school.
Sometimes someone was shot here early in the morning.
There were fewer police officers here, so the move was hard.
I went to a school that was like a prison.
Here is my school.
In New York, children were not raised as in the south with the whole family.
They did not receive the same kind of love.
When I put my kids in school-
it was like I'd let them know to hell.
It was shocking and it felt bad.
My dad and I grew up in good schools.
But my children came to New York School System.
I first liked school.
I remember good teachers, like Miss Braconi.
Nas was a good student for the first and second classes.
I remember we did a project where children had to make a mask on their faces.
I hung up on the wall and I walked back to look at them-
and Nasir's mask stood out from the others.
He was not happy that day for some reason.
He had captured himself in his picture perfectly.
I thought that boy knew his feelings.
I was trying to put me in low grade in lower grade.
But mom caused the scene and got me out of there.
I had dreams. I wondered what kind of would be in the art school or some other school, who would challenge my talent.
But when growing in the environment -
where taxpayers do not get, there is no funding for schools.
And when schools do not have the money, they get poor education.
People can not find out motivation but they start looking for other, faster ways.
I stopped concentrating and just dreamed.
I was kicked out of junior high school and I changed school. I did not care.
When it was time to start high school, my grades were bad I did not care about it.
I spoke to Vice Rector and Mathematics Teacher.
They said, "The boy is not here." They did not care.
Boys were in my eyes men, because I was a grown-up when I was 13-14 years old.
I told them, "Take work and make money, this is the USA."
"Leave school if you want to do something for your life."
"Focus on your story." I'll support you. "
My mom and my sister played and shouted: "How can you do around?"
I would have hated myself if I had given them to continue in the indifferent school.
Teachers did not care about children.
He said that I should not go to school if she did not learn anything.
I was smarter than teachers. They just stumbled upon us.
The father said that the whole school system stuck to the development of black boys.
He commanded us to read and to teach ourselves what happened.
He knew that we should become entrepreneurs- so he said, we do not need to go to school.
Mother did not agree, but it worked for us.
My mother's worst nightmare was that we should not be in school.
My friends sold drugs, but I just wanted to do it.
I did not want to do it at all.
I did not have to do it. I had great plans.
I did the music and the printer. I made everything artistic.
I went to myself, I did not get that job.
I had passion for creation, and this was Tapani to let it out.
We came here today to start something or to do something crazy.
At that time, Roxanne Shante became known as a racket in that area.
He came once from our apartment house and heard us in the corridor.
Shante said: "I want you to perform."
We had heard about Queensbridge festivals.
He wanted to bring us on stage with his genguin. We talked about it every day.
Shante noticed we were not good.
He asked us to blow up, and we tried.
We started to laugh, because we were bad.
He said: "If this is not right next time, I will cheat you."
He was older and longer, and we believed him.
About 1984 I started playing disks at home in Queensbridge.
I did not play discs or I was in this field for money or some other reason.
I played disks in the window.
If the passers-by did not dance, I would come up with a new rhythm.
Ladies and gentlemen. MC Shan and Marley Marl are here.
They want to tell you where they come from.
I was 11 or 12 years old in 1985.
My friend said that MC Shan was a song from our region.
It should not have been a disk, but temporary music for festivals.
But it spread in Queensbridge and it became a hit there.
The end is history.
You love to hear over and over again how it all started in time
When I heard it I quit everything what I was doing and listened to.
I knew immediately that it was a hit.
We were proud. We had our own song that was played on the radio.
I could not believe they lived here. It was awesome.
We saw Shania in the city and Marley with her car.
Before that song nobody knew from this place. It changed everything.
I went to the south. I liked Shan and I was proud of my living area.
When I came back, everyone spoke from South Bronx.
It was a song, where I was dissatisfied with Shania and Marley.
I had to hear it.
They chased us. They tried to mimic Shania and Marley.
But it was also raw. South Bronx, South South Bronx Great game.
Then Shan released the song "Kill That Noise".
I'm sorry for any style but True freestyle about real stories If you knew the same as me you would put that noise off Then came "The Bridge Is Over".
It cooled down everything. We just thought, "Oh."
"They are so serious."
Bronx creates genuine stuff and Queens but fires
- That was true. - It was a battle and Shan was involved.
Shan made his own story and KRS One of his own until Nas came to the charts.
It was our life. Not just we, but whole Queensbridge.
KRS One sang "The Bridge Is Over".
We grew up there. The Bridge was not really dead.
We had to tell the whole world, how good we were.
"Are you crazy? We are here."
I knew I should either forget wrath or tear it up.
I decided to tear it into pieces.
This is true Every day can be your last here.
Every corner is full of criminals We do not starve at them Tourists should leave Before they encounter reality Peacekeeping police officers try to get us caught.
When I was a kid, I felt like that every day-
was just a step away from the end to end.
I and my friend Will and Bo saw Alien 3 Will did not burn the grass, but we we loved it. It relaxed us.
Will was unpredictable. If someone said the wrong word, Will could hit.
I thought she would relax, if she burned grass.
We watched the movie and Will said: "Give me one." She pulled the hooks.
At home I and Bo we went to buy grass and Will went to the corners.
He raised money for a barbecue party.
He also raised money from drug traffickers.
Someone thought of him as a wrestler and hit him.
He had a big Mercedes medal in the chain and the girl took it.
He was already in the fire after the movie, so he reacts.
Will hit the girl, and this one called his child to his dad and his brother.
They came to me. I was here.
Will had never hit a woman.
If the girl was beaten, she was always ready to defend this.
But in a moment of intense man responds to violence by violence.
It was the first time.
I sat here and they came to ask: "Where is Will?"
One of them seemed to be serious.
I tried to lie, but they were serious.
I said that he went in the other direction.
Will came in from and they saw us.
I said, "Will, they are after you." He said, "I do not flee anyone."
And then that guy shot. I looked Willi and his eyes widened.
How did life go? Eyes did not move. He was dead.
I thought I would die too.
I felt bullets through my shirt and through my pants.
One hit this shoulder. It scratched and took some meat.
The second went through my back.
Us came out of that house and saw me on the ground.
I said, "Do not tell your mom." Really.
Like a mother would not notice in the morning, that I was shot.
I heard the shots and I knew they were coming close.
I went downstairs and out. This is my first brother.
He was lying in the ground.
His eyes were open and he was okay.
Then I saw my friend.
I...
He did not move.
I was thinking, "How can we let this happen?"
It was over. We could all die at the same time.
No matter what anymore.
I do not blame anyone but I would have changed if my son was shot.
I told this to my mom. "Why did not we change?"
I was traumatized, when I saw this place every day.
It made me crazy and made a shooter myself.
Give me a hand.
Even life did not feel worthwhile.
Other lives, my own... Nobody felt valuable.
Will was important to Nas. He was creative.
He was in many ways similar to like Nas.
He read a lot and he had the same opinions. They were like brothers.
After Will died, we became more cynical about the world.
There was sorrow and pain in him.
I still see him in her.
He started taking life seriously. He was just getting a record deal.
He had to make a choice between drug and music.
When Will died, he started making music all the time.
We knew what he did. He had made music with Will.
When Will died, I felt that he directed my life from above.
Then we felt it happen. Something good was coming.
My friends Joe Fatal and Melquan introduced me to Nas.
They said he wanted to make a demon in his own case.
He wanted me to make a bible in his demo.
He worked with big names, like Eric B, Rakim and Kool G Rap.
I thought that it was a great opportunity.
In this studio made hip hop albums.
There was a nun in the youth. Nas and I we were only 15 to 16 years old.
We went in and the big said: "Go to the booth" There was an uproar around him and he said quietly, "Go to the booth."
I went and started rushing, and the whole band went silent.
I was in Mecca. I was where they all wanted.
I thought then: "This is what you wanted, now you're here, here you are."
"Here's your chance, give it back."
This rhythmic explosion reveals my vision I stimulated your brain and I showed you that the street noise began like a ring
This is profound, I try again And I bring you to a new dimension I'm giving rhymes to my life And my latest rhythm back This is softer than Villanova I'm like Sly Stone Cobra
Riimini are like pistols on fire and no need to investigate them When you already realize that this is deep Nasin ramp should be put on jail
"Who is there?" "Who?"
"Damn, it sounded good." How old are you? "
It was a good thing for the heck. He was good.
I was really happy. That's where we got off.
Let me introduce my friend. Here is Rapper Nas, Nasty Nas.
I started "Live at the Barbecue."
Everyone was excited. It was new and revolutionary.
My brownie is small I have a ball on the ball with your words Mickey resembles fungus It absorbs wisdom small
Riimini kills. I was in hell at the age of 12 when I killed Jesus Nas is America's Rebel After I left the people pagan
This bunch has a real strength I do not hunt the spit
I was in a woman like a lifeguard Lucky tickets needed by any hater The kidnapping president of every country And my darling as a Ku Klux Klan
I should not sue God rather than challenge I'm killing other than a soldier More sick than an AIDS patient I raise your mind to a new country Thought faster than a bullet And better than Spielberg's My body invades The brain is nudged
This slut is a poison Never a vain tyrant It was the fiery rhyme that MC had said.
"When I was twelve, I was in hell because I killed Jesus."
I watched and listened to it probably a hundred times.
The album was good, but who the boy was?
Within a week all wanted to know who he was.
Nas said: "When I was 12, I was in hell because I killed Jesus."
I was wondering who it was. It was crazy. I wanted to find her.
I met Nasin in 1992.
I got to know him properly in 1993-
when "Back to the Grill Again" came out.
I like my gun near And I'm putting pressure on others
Add words and phrases Songs and rhymes to murder You know when Nas comes to the corners I wrap the automaton for the nun I'm ruining my priest in church The serial killer always keeps his word "I swear on the automaton for nuns." I did not see the rhymes as eye-catching.
They were not just a text. They were dealing with feelings.
They were an example.
"I'm so angry järjestelmälle-
that I have to be channeled my frustration siihen-
that will shake the automatic setting nuns"
I'm hotter than a pepper Like a whore who has a cake
Mickey does not waste any ice ever Try to push others all the way to the head
My friend MC Serch called me.
Serch said he had found the son I was looking for, Nasty Nasin.
He had made two demos.
I told my boss that I was forced to have that boy on our lists.
My boss agreed, and it left off.
I always wanted Columbian lists. They seemed credible.
Now I was invited in, and it was time to get recognition.
I watched history on the walls. I looked around and thought:
"You've been waiting for me, I talked on the walls, the boards and the floor."
"You have put this up for me for me."
I felt that way. I had come home.
He did not tell the record deal. He just came home with the money.
He said he had the money, but not much.
He told me to go shopping and bought me Guess's jeans.
Such. He gave me some money.
I did not know where the money came from. I just thought it was cool.
We would never have more money.
I thought we would make a couple of videos and then return home.
I did not realize she would conquer the whole world.
I hear the "The Bridgen" bass. From there you are from.
Bridge came to the house.
People have been waiting for your record. How to go with it?
The disc comes out in January. Its name is "Illmatic".
The demos were ready, and now it was the turn of the album.
I knew that "N.Y. State of Mind" would be the first song on the album.
"I'll take you to hell and back." This is the first song.
I wanted to make a slow track, so it would be gloomy and soft.
The song should get her shoulders to move, and it did.
My rabbit is rhythm and words You know when I put these rhyme balls I pull cocaine than Scarface with the pen I called the danger
Luodinari sees the world Never leaves my gun in the air When I wrote a record disc, I did not know it would change hip hop.
I just knew it was moving me.
"Illmatic" represents the 90s and my youth.
I came to his lyrics.
I'm from Dallas, and "Illmatic" was my secrets and my gun.
It inspires the "Baduizm" disc rhythm.
I was 9 years old in 1994, grew up in North Carolina.
Nas gave us a lesson about it-
how a young black man in the USA.
- I'm with my friend at the lab. - We are here and this is "Illmatic".
Nas called me and said that there was still room on the disc.
"Come to studio and bring all your backgrounds."
I did not have time to call anything. He took my first biography.
I'm from Brooklyn, and there murder statistics are shocking.
When I wrote "Life's a Bitch" I had lost a friend again.
He was the third dead and many were in jail.
I listened to it with my friend and I felt it all in my heart.
My life is not a play Money is taken here for a man's measure I live in dreams and I live in dreams because they are not here We started with the corners Now the money fills with a lull of life Some others lie in the country Others sitting in the cell We hold the flag And we remember the jet
We will stay on the map, although in the end We must go We will leave here Though the money in the pocket is burning
We collect it, we are authentic We hold our pistol, we are not found.
Life is a curse And then I die His rhymes bowed incredibly lightly.
The phrase: "I live dream because of those who have not stayed here" -
all in the middle of its street is a wishful blow.
I woke up on a birthday and thought about it 20 years is a blessing, right?
I did not do it best But body of what I got from God
I like rhyme in the blade 365 I like my fire every day so
Though my head hurts must also go against flow Young donated money, jewelery and masses Bags and passports from tourists I liked the noise of money And I got an eka times a woman.
Money, success is all in all Better than sitting inside a stone I changed my motto "forget tomorrow" I say: "remember lotto and drinking"
Sometimes I stood at an angle selling Money was just in the mind Time is Illmatic We have no empty bags
Life is a curse and then I die I'm dragging the skies, rocks and salt
Father told me as early as I was young at the house.
Mother said, that our father still loved us.
So it just went. I was not happy that this was happening but it was life and I continued my struggle.
This song has a jazzy feel. I know the presence of my dad.
I asked her to call something-
what reminded him of our childhood.
That album is still telling many people how to think.
I still think so.
The words are almost philosophical.
It is about life.
That 19-year-old boy was mine.
I was growing up to this day.
If I had not thought in the way then-
people would not listen to me now.
I got the inspiration from Arpinaaman Tony Montana.
In the airship he read: "The world is yours." It was an impressive point.
It was like a sign.
This is the Amal Jamal jazz album.
I listened to it one day and I heard the loop.
I was doing a drum table, but I did not want a usual sting.
I wanted something else.
It was the first bible. He froze when he heard it.
He closed his eyes and got ideas.
He wanted me to sing the melody. I initially opposed.
He sang it as he wanted me to sing it.
Whose World Is This? The world is yours. It's mine.
I'm drinking a champagne I pull my own rhythm I like this like this, I'm going to rhymes This is a murderer screaming over mysteries
The worst thief in hip hop Pull the gap between the corner and the best
I put your mind in the water I like my pen in this life standing I'm sweating at work, The fly is flying in the hearth Circle of time by car with the most amazing Riimini folds in the best field.
I never go under the ground Even the presidents fan me
Dead President's Representation Mecca there Whose World Is This? The world is yours "I give my daughter the name Force and my son Star is my salvation."
I give my daughter the name Force and my son Star is my salvation He leads us there
I did not know I would get the children in order like a printer not their sex. But life went as I did.
I get that idea cold colors.
- Peace. - Peace.
Here I was born.
Snacky Boy! How's it going?
- Not a shame! How's it going? - How's it going?
Karate K! How are you?
This guy always tells me. If I came out in dirty shoes-
he sent me back inside. She's the best.
- How do you go? - I am your fans.
Do you mind if that cameras? I wanted to make sure first.
How do you go? You have become enormous!
I'm no longer a Little Messiah. You are a Big Messiah.
How do you go? Hey.
Peace. How's it going?
- I love you, Nas. - Likewise.
I did not think I could sometimes look back and remember my roots.
And to think of it, how far I got.
This story was to tell. It was already told by MC Shan, Marley Marl-
Craig G, Shante, Juice Crew, Tragedy.
They told the story, and I was just their extension.
They made me the road.
How's it going, little guy. Come to moan.
- How do you go? What is your name? - Noah.
Fun to meet you, Noah. What's your second name?
Nasirko? To this hand!
All who have that name are kings. Never forget it.
Never think of anything else. Know that you are a king.
Be right.
How do you go? Go through this.
I remember when I was in Europe and I had not seen the boys for a while.
I went to Queensbridge to find them.
Man with the camera said: "There they are."
They ran to me and they took me and took the picture.
I will never forget what they looked like. They had changed.
They had been released out of her mother's lap.
They were outdoors playing.
When I saw the "Illmatic" lid, I knew immediately where the image came from.
The picture shows that his mind has opened.
It seems to say: "Wow! What world, what a world."
This is the background of "Illmatic".
Photographer Danny Clinch showed us this picture-
and it felt the opportunity to see neighborhood a lot more.
It was a great day for me, because the album was released and we took pictures for it.
We did not have a stylist or a budget for anything other than a photographer.
It was my biggest day of life, so we celebrate.
Nas asked us out and said that there was a photographer.
Everyone knew that Nas was the rapper and he had released the album.
On that day, people who wanted to kill each other were together.
For images only. It was a crazy day.
Nothing was certain in Queensbridge.
Some were killed, some were beaten and some were put to jail.
Everyone had a story to tell.
I can tell the story of everyone in the picture .
He sits on a 15-year cake. He is charged with murder.
He is sitting on a life sentence. He was imprisoned without any guarantees.
My buddy here-
he sat in North Carolina. His life is crazy.
He has been in jail many times.
Such a life is in a poor area.
That's wrong.
You see what's happening there.
Without music my story would be the same.
Without music I might not have been in that picture.
I did not want this to anyone in that picture. They were my friends.
This is so crazy.
I still dream about living here _. I do not know what it means.
Everywhere there are people who reside there . Something's left.
It makes this place its what it is.
Their spirits dominate these streets.
We always remember the types who died so that we could continue.
I know I'm a voice for those who have no voice anymore.
I was here. This was my life.
This kind of life was.
This song is for all those that you love.
Especially for those who sit in the castle.
L!
O!
True Love!
I V!
E!
Scream for love! Tell love.
Say love!
Large Professor said that I should work with Nasi.
Large, Akinyele and Nas came along.
Phife had a studio in her basement.
Nas said: "I want to do what you do."
"That mysterious thing."
I called him a song, which eventually became "One Love".
I received letters from my friends, who were in prison.
They asked how they went in freedom, and they told you what it was like.
We sent letters, and I tried to keep his mind high.
I had not heard songs, writing letters -
except for love songs, but never from a street perspective.
"One Love" tells about raising mood in jail.
Hello, boy! Do you remember witch time? Policemen yachting at his frost I'm missing out on them, I already forget about it I heard otherwise that you got a child
It looks like I'm gonna fuck you, what else? Why do not your girl write over there?
"It looks like I'm sorry, what else?" "Why do not your girl write on them?"
The words describe what happens when he gets into jail.
It's like a disease among young people among African Americans.
Black men are being jailed.
They do not get into prison just physically.
They also lose their identity, their masculinity and their way of life.
Hello, boy! Do you remember witch time? Policemen yachting at his frost I'm missing out on them, I already forget about it I heard otherwise that you got a child
It looks like I'm gonna fuck you, what else? Why do not your girl write over there?
He says you're too much I'm sorry you got your panties
It is said that a good woman is loyal when you are in jail.
He is not with others.
He lets people meet you. He keeps you in this world.
When is a black man in a poor area in USA-
work is hard to find and everywhere is crime-
women around have a lot of bad influences.
The phrase "Why is not your girl writing for you?" looks-
how the prison system also destroys the alliances.
It destroys love and family.
It destroys hope and I believe.
Not just the prisoner but the people who are waiting outside.
Why do not your girl write on them?
He said he would come to visit But he said you were too shy It does not care for the system Other people already find it Guess who was shot? Jerome sister girl on her way home Little-Rob is now selling a drug and hanging out with young criminals Every night something worse Have you seen Cormega? She is there.
If you are in the same jam say greetings from others.
He was a guy Say to him: "One Love".
Hands in the air! One Love! For anyone who is not here Put your hands in the air For those who are not here
One Love! One Love!
Please let me know! One Love! One Love! One Love!
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Yes! Rest in peace, my friend Draws.
Stay in peace, Will Will.
Stay in peace, Barkim. We represent you.
You are still in our thoughts. We love you.
Hip Hop Archive was founded in Harvard protect hip hop cultural heritage.
Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellowship
give artistic students the opportunity to find the power of knowledge.
Welcome, Professor Morgan, Nasir Jones and Professor Skip Gates.
None of my friends did not complete the university.
No one owns a trade or bank.
Types are sitting in life-style or are dead.
Types hang out in the streets or tie where.
If someone gets aluminum out-
What would it be if Harvard approached him at that time?
The Nasir Jones Fellowship is given to a pupil who has done something.
For a man, who wants to change the world.
I said years ago that we end up in a prison rather than a university.
And here we are now.
They understand that this is art, that you can study at Harvard-
and will be kept in our archives.
We create places for gangs in the area, like Nas Jones.
I represent my friends who have not survived. They helped me out here.
Discuss with them and together rotating for young people all they said and what I told them-
and the things we survived and everything we missed.
I represent all those who did not come with me.
Those who were with me from the beginning.
I did not trust anything that came out of my little world.
I did not care about politics and not even the USA.
I did not care, because they did not believe me.
I am grateful that I am here. I came through the storm.
This is a great honor for me and if I can say it, so also to hip hop.
Give applause.
Poor boy stopped school in New York.
And he became world renowned. This is not just about music.
I wanted to make "Illmatic" to my voice, my philosophy and my idea would remain behind me as a music and a jerk.
It proves I was here.
English: Anne Kaasinen BTI Studios Oy