6. NasGod’s Son

See Nas, he’s so lyrical that I never used to get him. I used to think he wasn’t good, until one day my brain switched on and I could understand him, and I could understand double-entendres, metaphors, all of those things. When I could understand that, it was like my ears were opened to another world. So lots of people rate Illmatic but it’s not something I would say because I never felt what people felt at that time for it. God’s Son has got the James Brown sample on ‘Get Down’, and that tune where he’s going through his old lyrics – ‘Book Of Rhymes’? That shit was genius, touching.