Nas: “Eric B. and Rakim epitomized and personified the street culture of New York and the rest of the nation. They wore Gucci before Gucci [was popular in the streets], they were counting money on the album cover and they made it look cool. The style of the music was built for the streets. Rakim’s lyrics were the streets put into music.”

Nas: “It’s just amazing. Rapture was just around the time of my little hustler days. Not just me as a hustler, but everyone around me was a hustler. If you had a girl back in those days what she was singing to you made you really appreciate that girl and made you understand the love that you had with for each other when you listen to her. It made you wonder if you really liked that person because the love she’s singing about is not what you have for this person. She was a guide to love during that time.”

Nas: “That’s one of the first rap albums. The commercial success with a different sound—it had rock, they were of a next phase, next plateau from the Furious Five and the Treacherous Three. They were the next thing so they personified the next thing. And then Raising Hell showed how they evolved as hip-hop superstars. The greatest moment of my life being a rap fan was probably when King of Rock came out.”

“Thriller was me being introduced to great music with the total package, which means the artist is cool but he also looks like how he’s supposed to look. His history from the Jackson 5, all the soul added to the whole thing, and the record of course was groundbreaking and took over the world.”

Nas: “When I first heard it, no one I knew ever heard it. It’s funny that so many people love Marvin Gaye but never knew about this album that was so personal. It’s crazy how my new record has a little bit of that. Motown only put out limited copies and it was a risky record. I think the music industry wanted a more hitting album but that record he did was his expression. I’m sure he caught a lot of slack from it."

Nas: “Stevie literally heals the soul.”

Nas: “That’s certainly up there as one of my all-time favorites. It takes you someplace new every time you listen to it, that’s the craziest part about it. If a record can take me somewhere, like really take me somewhere effortlessly, that record there is no joke.”

Nas: “It’s probably my favorite record of his but I love so many other records by him. It just exists on a planet by itself. It’s just a different thing. It’s mature, it’s grown, it’s timeless, it’s sexy, it’s classy, it’s unorthodox. I’ll stop there.”

Nas: “Miles and Coltrane made the ultimate jazz albums; there’s a lot of others too. Miles also got commercial success from a jazz album and if you play it, it sounds like it was supposed to be made. That album was supposed to be made. This world wouldn’t be the same without that album.”