M.I.A. likes Nas and Kanye West. Not so big on Jay-Z.
The always rebellious M.I.A. is currently out on the promo trail for her new single “XXXO” and upcoming third album MAYA, shooting a cover story with Complex Magazine where she talks about the government controlling information over the internet, her son and husband, kids today not being “critical thinkers”, the current state of Hip-Hop and more.
While discussing Hip-Hop culture, M.I.A. brought the now legendary feud between rap heavyweights Nas and Jay-Z, implying that Jay’s main focus was money and success while Nas stayed true to music and knowledge.
I was having a conversation about Jay-Z and Nas and how it was really crazy how they were having this Nas vs. Jay-Z moment 10 years ago and no one really talks about it now.
Jay became the biggest representation of rap music who’s still alive, started dating Beyoncé—everything was so much bigger and better with Jay-Z. I hope people don’t think that that wins. The fact that Nas didn’t become all this sort of stuff changes people’s perception about the music and the work he achieved in his lifetime. I don’t wanna say Jay-Z sold out, but I just feel like we have to wait another 10 years to see what happens. Jay-Z’s ambition was to become like Frank Sinatra, a household name all over the planet, and own a casino in Vegas and stuff like that. And I think Nas was really sticking to knowledge. I still think the biggest point about hip-hop is in there somewhere, what happens to those two artists.
In other words: Jay-Z is a money hungry, fake snake.
One person who M.I.A. does like though is Kanye West, respecting his commitment to innovation and his controversial, outspoken nature.
I think Kanye is trying to take it [hip-hop] into a new realm and he’s sort of putting the artistry back into it and sort of taking it in that direction.
…I love Kanye, I think he’s been super-consistent, everything he’s done has been good. I like his interaction with the media, too—he’s just him, and he’s living it.
Gotta agree with her on that one again, except maybe Kanye should do a little less “living it” and start “thinking it” a bit more first. The VMA’s fiasco wasn’t cute.
