Nas has been one of hip-hop's great figures since he first hustled onto the scene with the 1994 classic 'Illmatic,' an album of gritty street stories about his teen years in the Queensbridge projects that became symbolic of rap's '90s golden age. Eventually, the former Nasty Nas would become wealthy and start rapping about his success on tracks like his P.Diddy collab 'Hate Me Now.'Though he spent a few years wandering the artistic wilderness, Nas stormed back strong in the 2000s, and after a summer spent performing 'Illmatic' on the retro-centric Rock the Bells tour, Nas is prepping his 10th album, 'Life is Good.'During a recent Toronto visit, Nas spoke to The BoomBox about returning to his old-school grit and offered his take on new-school MCs like Drake and Odd Future. He also discussed how hip-hop's "voice of the street" became all about the Maybachs and whether wealth-flaunting rhymes are cool during an economic crisis.
