Bro.. lets be real tho. AZ isnt that great of an artist. He is a really good rapper, but he doesnt move the needle. If you guiding a top tier rappers career, you have to make those decisions
But that's for Nas to decide.
Guiding a career is one thing. But going around doing shady sh*t for ego and power is another. Stoute was the one that f*cked up the
Firm album too because he felt as Nas's manager he should have Trackmasters on there too. He went to Interscope and said he would take Nas off the album if Tone and Poke couldn't get a piece of the production. And all their sh*t was wack on there, lol. Which is why Dre said he didn't like the process because "people were more concerned with having their logo on the CD, than they were about just making good music."
All Stoute cares about is money and lifting his profile. So if he can snake someone to get it, then he'll do that. He jerked Pusha T for the McDonald's jingle that still plays today. Threw thousands at dude, and took his publishing rights for it. But then paid Justin Timberlake $6M to sing the song. 20 years later, McDonald's is still using the song that Pusha wrote, and he's not getting paid for the slogan or song. Stoute was working as Kid N Play's road manager and stealing bread from them later when Kid was trying to start a label. His whole career is based on lies, stealing, and snaking people to get ahead. He's made Nas some money, but even Nas fired him a couple times too and brought him back. Kid always said Stoute was a "cutthroat guy who will do whatever to get money". He's right.
