Why has Nas never made it properly in mainstream ?

[Wacky D]

i thought OP was asking why nas wasnt as big in the mainstream as some of his peers like 50 & jay.

hence the term "properly".

i didnt think he meant tthat nas wasnt mainstream at all.

 

[mobbinfms]

i thought OP was asking why nas wasnt as big in the mainstream as some of his peers like 50 & jay.

hence the term "properly".

i didnt think he meant tthat nas wasnt mainstream at all.

Your guess is as good as ours breh. OP posed an incredibly vague question and then ran out of the thread. Classic troll thread.

 

[Wacky D]

The funny thing is that Nas sold more copies with "I am" and "Nastradamus" than Diddy and Ginuwine albums in 99/98. Getting diddy on "hate me now" was more of a statement than a sell out move because Puff was one of the most hated people in hiphop.

compare r&b sales to rap sales brehs.

and ginuwine was hotter than nas when they shot that video. by far.

at the time of "hate me now", puff's last album was still "no way out". so no, nas was not out-selling puff when they did the track.

Dude Nas always focused more on the less mainstream topics than Jay in his raps.

Only pure mainstream album he had was Nastradamus yet even after that he had songs that hit the mainstream.

Many people complained about Nas voice being monotone and his beat selection yet he still hasnt changed that much.

Jay on the other hand focused on more mainstream topics and even used Biggies fame by biting his lyrics to get his boost in the mainstream and dont even get me started on how Beyonce helped him stay there as well.

you act as if all jay rapped about was money, cash, hos.

their albums were in the same vein from '96-99. sure nas had a different approach, and yea he spoke on more stuff. but overall they were in the same boat.

"i am" was basically nas' answer to volume 2.

lol @ jay using biggie's fame to get a boost. and thats not biting breh. thats saluting. jay bit plenty of rappers in his time(and still counting) but biggie wasnt one of them.

dude is 20 something years in the game and is still able to make hits i dont really think he has a problem just because somebody like me dont check for his albums.

this has nothing to do with what i was saying.

That's not the bottom line.

E-40 has been getting "crazy radio spins EVERYWHERE" for about 20 years, and has been everywhere with it.
We don't even have to use the term "legend".

And I brought him up because he and Nas are to the point where they don't have to make "hits" or be "mainstream"
to do well. They are comparable in that sense.

@ the bolded.

e-40 is from the bay. they were the most supportive urban fanbase around.

again, theres no comparison to nas & e-40. nas was a mainstream star. e-40 was more of a regional guy. theres nothing wrong with that.

Aside from the fact that Nas HAS achieved incredible mainstream/commercial success, let's not ignore that Nas intentionally shied away from being bigger on a commercial level than he could have been... word to Steve Stoute.

how so?

 

[Blackout]

you act as if all jay rapped about was money, cash, hos.

their albums were in the same vein from '96-99. sure nas had a different approach, and yea he spoke on more stuff. but overall they were in the same boat.

"i am" was basically nas' answer to volume 2.

lol @ jay using biggie's fame to get a boost. and thats not biting breh. thats saluting. jay bit plenty of rappers in his time(and still counting) but biggie wasnt one of them.

Yes Jay was all about money cash and hos.

Nas always had his conscious side in his albums. Jay kept to the same money cash and hos lane.

The only thing that made Nas move a bit from his lane was his beef with Jay cuz other than that Nas never tried as hard as Jay to stay mainstream.

Yes he did use Biggie fame to get a boost and made that same crappy excuse of saluting him when he got called out for it.

Also thanks for mentioning how he bit other rappers to show how much work he put into succeeding in the mainstream compared to Nas.

 

[Wacky D]

Nah not really. If I Ruled The World video was in constant rotation, still gets radio spins, hit top 5 on numerous worldwide charts which was extremely rare for rap songs at that time.
Street Dreams went #1, video was revolutionary (one of the first big budget hip hop videos) and in constant rotation.
Nas Is Like hit #3, video in constant rotation
Hate Me Now hit #8, one of the biggest/most controversial hip hop videos of all time
Oochie Wally hit #2, video in constant rotation
I Can, can't stand the song but that was a radio staple for a long ass time
All these songs were some of the biggest rap songs on radio and video the year they dropped. How do they not qualify as a massive hit?

you listed more singles than that initially. you had practically his entire videography on file in the previous post.

and youre still abusing the term "massive".

he only had 2, maybe 3 joints that could be considered massive.

Yes Jay was all about money cash and hos.

Nas always had his conscious side in his albums. Jay kept to the same money cash and hos lane.

The only thing that made Nas move a bit from his lane was his beef with Jay cuz other than that Nas never tried as hard as Jay to stay mainstream.

Yes he did use Biggie fame to get a boost and made that same crappy excuse of saluting him when he got called out for it.

Also thanks for mentioning how he bit other rappers to show how much work he put into succeeding in the mainstream compared to Nas.

no he wasnt. lol. youre one of the people he was talking about when he said "do you dudes listen to music or do you just skim thru it?"

nas & jay's albums were basically marketed towards the same crowds. nas had more to say, certainly. but he wasnt on some ole other chit. he just advertisted his conscious side alot more. plus, jay's depth was more street-based, as opposed to nas' which the backpackish crowd to identify with more.

yea jay is a bitin ass rapper. he aint bite biggie tho.

 

[Blackout]

no he wasnt. lol. youre one of the people he was talking about when he said "do you dudes listen to music or do you just skim thru it?"

nas & jay's albums were basically marketed towards the same crowds. nas had more to say, certainly. but he wasnt on some ole other chit. he just advertisted his conscious side alot more. plus, jay's depth was more street-based, as opposed to nas' which the backpackish crowd to identify with more.

yea jay is a bitin ass rapper. he aint bite biggie tho.

I listen to it and I heard mostly money, hos and cars.

Then you look at Jays moves in real life and you can see how he made himself even more popular with the examples I gave before.

Marketed toward the same crowds? The conscious crowd aint checking for Jay as much as they do with Nas so you lost me with that lol.

Nas identifying with the backpacking crowd? No as well because Nas raps have substance and they are simple and straight up for street dudes to get into.

 

[iliketurtles]

Nas doesn't need to be mainstream, he's a legend. respected by real hip hop heads no matter what race, color, or nationality and recognized outside the hip hop world by his peers

To be a goat u need to be versatile which Nos is not

 

[Wacky D]

I listen to it and I heard mostly money, hos and cars.

Then you look at Jays moves in real life and you can see how he made himself even more popular with the examples I gave before.

Marketed toward the same crowds? The conscious crowd aint checking for Jay as much as they do with Nas so you lost me with that lol.

Nas identifying with the backpacking crowd? No as well because Nas raps have substance and they are simple and straight up for street dudes to get into.

yea. the conscious & backpack crowds have basically been one in the same for over 15 years now. already filed under nas in the previous post. im saying, outside of that, they were geared towards the same exact demo from '96-00.

yea. im not saying that street dudes couldnt get into nas' substance. i just said him & jay were geared towards the same crowds b. but jay had substance too. the backpackish/conscious crowd just didnt catch i for whatever reason. either because jay didnt advertise it, or because it didnt reasonate with them.

as for the biggie thing, which i ended abruptly in my previous post; all those biggie lines that jay quoted were well-known. its not like he was rehashing lesser-known or obscure biggie verses and passing them off as his. its funny because there are rappers today that do stuff like that and nobody says anything.

people usually dont call out the real instances of jay biting rappers tho. and its crazy, because theres plenty of options to choose from. i dont know why people keep trying to force the biggie issue.

 

[Blackout]

yea. the conscious & backpack crowds have basically been one in the same for over 15 years now. already filed under nas in the previous post. im saying, outside of that, they were geared towards the same exact demo from '96-00.

yea. im not saying that street dudes couldnt get into nas' substance. i just said him & jay were geared towards the same crowds b. but jay had substance too. the backpackish/conscious crowd just didnt catch i for whatever reason. either because jay didnt advertise it, or because it didnt reasonate with them.

as for the biggie thing, which i ended abruptly in my previous post; all those biggie lines that jay quoted were well-known. its not like he was rehashing lesser-known or obscure biggie verses and passing them off as his. its funny because there are rappers today that do stuff like that and nobody says anything.

people usually dont call out the real instances of jay biting rappers tho. and its crazy, because theres plenty of options to choose from. i dont know why people keep trying to force the biggie issue.

They didnt catch much of it because Jay didnt put as much effort into it as Nas did.

All of that effort Nas put in is why these backpack crowds flock to him.

Shyt just doesnt happen for no reason dude.

They call out Jay biting Biggie because of Biggies popularity and how he rode him heavy after his death. We both acknowledge that he bit Biggie and you even say that he bit other rappers which is a fake move.

 

[mobbinfms]

yea. the conscious & backpack crowds have basically been one in the same for over 15 years now. already filed under nas in the previous post. im saying, outside of that, they were geared towards the same exact demo from '96-00.

yea. im not saying that street dudes couldnt get into nas' substance. i just said him & jay were geared towards the same crowds b. but jay had substance too. the backpackish/conscious crowd just didnt catch i for whatever reason. either because jay didnt advertise it, or because it didnt reasonate with them.

as for the biggie thing, which i ended abruptly in my previous post; all those biggie lines that jay quoted were well-known. its not like he was rehashing lesser-known or obscure biggie verses and passing them off as his. its funny because there are rappers today that do stuff like that and nobody says anything.

people usually dont call out the real instances of jay biting rappers tho. and its crazy, because theres plenty of options to choose from. i dont know why people keep trying to force the biggie issue.

They didnt catch much of it because Jay didnt put as much effort into it as Nas did.

All of that effort Nas put in is why these backpack crowds flock to him.

Shyt just doesnt happen for no reason dude.

They call out Jay biting Biggie because of Biggies popularity and how he rode him heavy after his death. We both acknowledge that he bit Biggie and you even say that he bit other rappers which is a fake move.

They were definitely more similar than dissimilar.

 

[MJ Freedom]

how so?

According to Stoute, when he was managing Nas back in the 90s, he was bringing Nas a lot of opportunities that would have furthered his brand and really put him even further out on a commercial level with a lot of endorsement deals and whatnot, but Nas was basically turning them all down.

 

[NvrCMyNut]

I listen to it and I heard mostly money, hos and cars.

Then you look at Jays moves in real life and you can see how he made himself even more popular with the examples I gave before.

Marketed toward the same crowds? The conscious crowd aint checking for Jay as much as they do with Nas so you lost me with that lol.

Nas identifying with the backpacking crowd? No as well because Nas raps have substance and they are simple and straight up for street dudes to get into.

During that time the conscious crowd wasn't checking for Nas either. Before warring with Hov made him the default anti-commercial rapper hero he was considered a sell out.

 

[Foxmulder]

OP must be a 90s baby

Nah he's just an idiot.

 

[NasIsTheGOAT]

this thread is funny because back in the day with if I ruled the world, hate me now, streets dreams etc. in the late 90s everybody saw nas as a mainstream sellout after illmatic.

he's had other hits too, made you look, I can, even one mic and got urself a gun charted.

ya'll kids running around here need to learn

just because you started listening to rap three years ago and never heard nas on the radio don't mean he was never mainstream

 

[The Ruler 09]

Nas is a huge artist, he has worldwide respect and love. I consider him a mainstream artist just for the fact he is so famous, but mainstream or underground to me he's a top 5 Hip Hop artist of all time.