Nas breaks down "It Ain't Hard to Tell" with Harvard Poetry Prof. Elisa New 

Mikki Farmer GZA rose from the slums of Brooklyn/Shaolin to giving lectures in universities and work with NASA, another true Hip-Hop icon

I didn't know that about the GZA. The Wu-Tang alumni is also dope. Good looking out.

Rs!

DZA they from Staten island boy

Mikki Farmer Why hello there, fellow Space Ghost.

The Grammys are racist if a black person makes a pop like album or anything that’s not hip hop it gets marked as urban. “Urban is a politically correct way of saying the n word”-Tyler the Creator.

Grammys are for sale and always have been.

Lol Grammy’s is a (NWO) joke

Yes it is

I realize the Grammys was full of shit after I found out Lil Wayne got a Grammy but Tupac didn’t.

I think he be inhaling those Cuban cigars his voice all types of fuked up

JonathN leviyev 😂Yh man concerned for his throat

Facts, cuz when he was 23, he actually looked 23. Lmao crazy how that works.

well he looked 10 when he was 19

@@Sasat123 look up Interviews from the 90s his voice was always like that

Thats why he is the greatest

surprised they didn't seize it without a warrant. in the united states of america. so touchy. it would hurt peoples feelings. death sentence! lol.

Everyone included in the song is a professor of some sort, Large Professor, Nas and a harvard one

@@csar07. got you🤝🤝

Wasn't he 16 when he started writing illmatic, with New York State of Mind, then around 17 he wrote it ain't hard to tell, and I think at 18/19 he released the album

Straight up...I did. The essence of real rhymes is poetic and timeless.

Eventually someone is going to study rap in the future. He is one that they might study but I feel it might be more Wu-Tang, DOOM or Immortal Technique. I say maybe 200 years from now.

I thought the same thing too never thought this generation will be so thoroughly about illmatic album

23 years ago

M. Man OCD much? 😂

One of the best hip hop album....which should be part of hip hop history.a

@@patrickmillion it's the best hip hop album of all time

Illmatic the way nas did the album he was so poetic.

Seconded

Facts

One up

The basic instructions before leaving earth

That's Why it's time to bring true words to them, that the path of every underground culture...and you can't do nothing about that! We've lost something and we have now opportunities to be heard and should profit of that situation , and I'm not speaking only of cash benefits

VZA The reason it was seen that way back then was due to the lifestyle a lot of it portrays, how trashy a lot of it can be, and the informal, broken english vernacular that a lot of it uses. It has taken this long for people to open their ears and realize that a lot of it is poetic and there is often actually something being said in rap, whether or not it's necessarily always said in the best way possible, or in a way that's "proper"

@Champ Champ White ppl don't care about that, they want to know about that cryptic, greatest of all time NY slang, they got that other shit mastered because they created it!

Traversy Media love your programming/development course.

Lol Nas is over big and pac

Dumitru Nancu Stra8 facts Nas is the GOAT

Keyser Soze Jesus I hate you Pac stans trying to discredit Biggie over 20 years later

@Keyser Soze why you slandering a dead man's name I guarantee he's not what you just described him as, biggie over pac in terms of replayability, longevity, lyricist, flow all of the above pac isn't even top 10 in terms of MC's and lyricism but in terms of influence he's up there

ryno6040 she want it 😂

holding the m16, see with the pen I'm extreme

It's in N. Y. State of Mind

His pen is extreme

Check this out - Stogie T - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0NnCP4sS7A0.html

I like that he read too. Made sure they had it down correctly.

Cmon it's over 20 years back, you know how much stuff he's done since then?

Omar Scruggs slot of people don't get that. I said the same when people slammed canibus for pulling the pad out in the battle. Yeah he shouldn't have done it, but better that then not spit anything. These type emcees with tons of complex rhymes juggling new material with show material it's just crazy, that's why they are at a disadvantage in a battle situation.

+mc365mc Nah man a rap battle is a completely different scenario. You gotta have that shit memorized, it comes with the territory

Prince JellyFish you not getting the point. Yes it shouldn't be done in a battle. My point is, memorizing is why established artist don't battle in these battle leagues. They are at a disadvantage because they have to have play list of songs memorized for shows, they are also working on new material, so then to dedicate time and effort to come up with additional material for the sole purpose of a 1 time event is more difficult for the traditional artists vs a guy who doesn't do anything but write material for one time use. This is especially true for an artist that composes very complex rhyme schemes like CanIBus. If you had a 1 day contest to make a diss record canibus would destroy most of those dudes in the battle league.

I think of crime, when im in NY state of Mind

Can you guess mine?

…rhymes so ill They should be Locked in a cell It ain’t hard to tell.

Nothing NaS wrote will ever beat when he says : "Cuban link flooded jesus , My actions are one wit the seasons" & "why shoot the breeze about it when u can be about it , my degrees are routed to those project brick houses" The way he worded that track will never get old or outdatted ever !!!!! Idc how much slang changes over the years

FlipStar26 I totally agree that was dope

Yeah this was a really nice interaction between the two parties

This shit was dope

That's the point of Poetry.... it's open to be interpreted.

He didn’t get questioned, she’s treating rap as poetry and said what her interpretation of the lyric was. Poetry is always open to interpretations. Notice how he said he ain’t think of it that way?

Cake Rap (Rhythm And Poetry)

They are talking only about the poetry aspect.

Even if one has intent it's all subjective to the reader. If you think "the lady" over analyzed it know that's what people do with poetry. I like this, i hope this would be a series, with many rap artists. Maybe it is

Lions Fan shut da fuck up punk

Lions Fan come on dont act that way... you are Ignorant

my boy woodie destroys him

JRoc Da Mic definitely one of the best to ever do it

JRoc Da Mic AZ is my favorite

Nas: The word The Professor: Ah yes, the unit of language comprising one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, functioning as a carrier of meaning. Nas: Word

ԐԀɪ DԆŮМS W

LOLWAT Pac is my favorite rapper ever, but let's be real his vocabulary was pretty average. Pac music doesn't need to be broken down because it was straight forward.

LOLWAT Nas 65 years old...😂🤣

Craig Washington Nas was born in 1973 he's only 43 years old where did you get 65 from?

nigga stop making shit up, lmao

that is not true at all. He just didn't use metaphors in his raps often but his rhyme style was straight up poetic

OG Awesomoby so true

Lol

Not really. Do you really think best of hip-hop lyrics just came out of boredom? They didn't work hard on it?

@@mjz5254 well, sometimes they do, just like that, a thought comes to mind and you elaborate on it

Nah, when Nas wrote this he was being mad philosophical, up to 2 mins I only hear this teacher being basic AF.

Word

Yes

Too Spu I would say mos def but has is definitely top 5

Mos Def is amazing but can you point out how over the course of discography and years of work that Mos is better?

Mayur Doshi I'm just saying lyrically I like.mos more not.knocking.nas

*emcee*, but I know what you meant.

Peak nas is probably the goat but rn he is too inconsistant

No shit he had pete rock, premo, qtip, large profesor and les

Jesus Christ is Lord God of all! God bless you all! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is too difficult for the Lord our God, with Christ, ALL things are possible!

@@jasonmcmechan2072 dude it’s a figure of speech calm down.

@@jasonmcmechan2072 stfu

Not sure any artist can do what he did on their intro record. That's the goat.

They aren't songs.

LeatherCladVegan Yes they are

@@LeatherCladVegan ?

@@alexmoorehead8501 A song is sung. Nas doesn't sing. His tunes are not songs.

@@LeatherCladVegan damn we got a Ben Shapiro fan here

It wasn't a 'Better way' it was another "perspective" - Its all his words either way. jesus christ.

Remember Nas was only a teenager writing this poetry and with no HS education.

Patrick Echols things some ignorant 13yo says in 2017

Az would demolish nas

And am a sheep!!!!!!

pac is

@@ironmind674 nah, nas would probably come on top , only because his disses go hard as hell

Faiq Mustafa loooooooool

It's a joke man chill tf out, Nas is the GOAT

Faiq Mustafa lmao like when he said "now it is, since you said it"

hahahah i get what u mean lmfao his face when shes saying these deep meanings that she wasnt even intending

he wasnt intending*

he is explaining himself to a jew, I'm glad you think that is cool ... sell out!

@@user_unknown1488 okay, dummy...

@@GoTPLATANOS get back on the plantation negro, there is cotton to pick okay.

Anthony Muhammad My point exactly!

Nigga was just making mics bleed and the woman had to add her own flip

true but the best part of art is that different people from different parts of the world in different times can understand the art in ways that even the artist did not intend for.. thus making it timeless

Anthony Muhammad i lost it when that dropped

Art can change each time you experience it. What it means to one person it may mean something else to the next. Is this lost on today's emcees?

Edu Macation the GOAT

OnPoint yes i love the fact that he goes hard at what he says & do

Well, it is actually precedented (the ancient greeks and romans have written beautiful poetry and they also used a rhythm/flow). But i agree that it’s one of the greatest forms of poetry.

Rakim

@@rwarren4637 Great choice, I'd agree Rakim but really it's hard to compare objectively like apples/oranges ya know?

​@tvm2209 I know Rakim seems comparable because of his reputation that comes from the influence he had since he came up before the Golden era, he therefore had huge influence, but to compare him to Nas is insane, Nas is levels above everyone, Krs and Pac come close, but damn Nas is a half man half amazing with the pen.

Bandstand hey what's up man

Bandstand kendrick lamar is no where close to nas level. NOT EVEN CLOSE

kendrick is clever but not on Nasir's level

Bandstand trust it won't be the same!

He will never be as good as Nas!

Powerful

He got that from AZ is you didn't know

Fredemon1 !!

Fredemon1 ooh..that bar is fire!

Amazingly perfect quote...

Alex Johnson that's why nas agreed, he didn't want to explain it lol

Alex Johnson that's a good way to look at it. I always took it as he regularly kills the mics... metaphorically making it bleed.

Enabler I am referencing rap lyrics where Nas uses the metaphor to describe the microphone being his bitch. Nobody is disrespecting anybody's mother. Get off your high horse

'' Nobody is disrespecting anybody's mother.'' That's not what I said... Nas is giving the mic mentrual cycles, which means the mic is a female, so automatically you assume he means the mic is his ''bitch''. There is something about your culture that makes you think you have to degrade women in order to be a real man...

Are you saying female is synonymous with bitch? That is very rude sir, where are your manners. Those are two entirely different words

Ever heard of Gary Grice AKA the GZA, genius, maximillion? If not you better ask somebody

right

right

Judba Kilam Lol there's no way somebody knows who Nas is and doesn't know who GZA is

Judba Kilam “Uh! The GZA! Uh, God damn! The GZA!” - Method Man, Shadow Boxing

+Sixfeet Stacks She said what he meant, just in a more articulate form. She wasn't straying from the meaning at all. "Give me this form and I will dominate it".

That's where the poetry comes in.

I think she just had a clumsy lack of understanding into the way he sees the world and that line gave her glimpse into it. Her explanation wasn't reaching, in fact it was almost stating the obvious. She does that a lot in this. Still awesome tho

Sixfeet Stacks thats her job

no its not reaching imo because it ties into the overall theme of the line.

#Facts

Xolani Nkosi the GOAT

Genius! :D

.com

Herman Lauve Hansen damnn you read my mind!

F medina they should make a show like this, and breakdown all the raps with the level of stature this one clearly has. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Hahaha fr though

There's things to break down if you search for it deeper than the mainstream

kids just looking for a quick dollar now... no passion.

It's fucking plenty.

There is, but deep underground

‼️‼️‼️💯💯💯💯!!!

He is now a professor! You sort of predicted it

Nicolas Dane common's verse was legendary

you have a lot of those lyrics wrong bro, you should google them

Mos def is wack af kid nas is top 5 u shldnt compare the 2

Nicolas Dane my top 3 all time rap songs.

Nicolas Dane Yeah, Mos was transcendent on that one. Intelligence in hiphop is in the cemetery

A BEAUTIFULLY SUCCINCT synOPSIS on the WONDERS and _CAPABILITIES_ , of *_HIP-HOP_* !!

💯💯😁🙌🏾🙌🏾!!!

Rakim is God The Father.... Nas is Gods Son.... feel me ?

Nah, Nas is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Blasphemy

Young Wavy for sure 😊

Nas is not the GOAT. his 1st two albums are classics, but he couldn't hold on to that consistency. that's what really hurt him. he was pretty much off everybody's rap radar until the battle with Jay.

17

Nathan Tyrrell Kinda both, some of it was written at 17 and some at 19. It came out when he was 20

how tf was he so smart lmao

@@SuperTerri86 I really wanna know as well, I’m tryna be like him fr, an articulate poetic type nigga

@@ayad3834 It will come to you. Keep reading and writing and you will be up next. If you truly want it enough you can have it. Good luck to you I’ll be watching for you.

MrRealm1537 For someone not from that world, probably.

MrRealm1537.....Yes. the poetic form yes indeed...furthermore Nas delves deeper into the young black mind so many people find inquisitive and alluring...his flow on that track was melodic like graffiti flow...the beat itself was inspiring...touching on an 80s note that symbolized the rise of the Hip Hop culture which so many can relate to like everyone can relate to Michael Jackson worldwide but also catchy to the ear...very clever....no lie I have been dissecting those verses for years and still am impressed of the flow not really a gangsta flo but still gangsta in the mental that was how he got you.

Only one I didn't understand was "grape fruit troop". I dominate break loops was self explanatory yet she dragged that one out lol

It does. Not everyone is from that "world". I remember listening to Mo Money Mo Problems as a kid in Nigeria. I liked diddy's line "bigger than the city light down in Times Square" it wasn't until I moved to New York that I finally understood it lol. Sometimes you understand by growing or by exposure to other cultures. The analysis might not help you or me, but it helps others. "Deep like the shining" makes sense when you watch the movie.

My Playlists it's a word though

Pac is more charismatic

lol no

Meh nah

J Pete not sure

tupac might has been more charismatic and a person but comparing pac and nas as rappers is disrespectful to nas. He is true poetry