When you do an album about Africa, you can't be too superficial.
Music is not like sports, where you can go and do a hundred reps in a gym and come out and be all buffed up.
I record all night and sleep all day.
Nas is someone who can communicate with the streets and can still keep it real in terms of being human, he doesn't try to be this super perfect person, but has respect for his history and for his ancestors and for spirituality. So Nas always displayed that in his music, while at the same time keeping it hard and something that you can relate to.
I love hip-hop music, ... It's rebel music is how I like to speak about it. Hip-hop and reggae come from the same community as far as class...they both come from the bottom of society.
In Jamaica, them always have throwback riddims, recycled old beats, and the hardcore reggae scene is always present. You have faster stuff like the more commercialized stuff, but you always have that segment of music that is always from the core, from the original root of it. This year, you have seen a lot of it explode on the international scene. It's great. People are looking for something different. Maybe there was too much of one thing, and now they're looking for something fresh.
The UK is one of the places that has always been an advocate of my music and I spend a lot of time touring here. I've got family and friends over here, but more than that, there's a large Jamaican community and the Jamaican culture is very widespread in the UK which I love.
The UK crowds always have a lot of energy, and I've done some milestone shows there that I'm very proud of.
Everything I've experienced, things that my friends have experienced and we talk about, things that are on the news - all aspects of life are in my message.
Technology has changed things, same as everywhere. But the economy has changed drastically. When Jamaica first won independence, our dollar was stronger than the U.S. dollar. Now ours is about 90 to one. That's had a big impact on crime and poverty.
I like singing all songs, really, but I find that writing social commentary comes naturally.
I grew up in uptown Jamaica; I went to a rich school. I was raised by my mother and my stepfather; they made sure education came before anything. I had a good childhood, grew up spending time with my bigger brothers and sisters. My people are good people. I was exposed to a lot of different kinds of people and culture.
