Hip-Hop Theory: I think Nas always wanted AZ to stay in his shadow

[Ziggiy]

@ this whole "theory" resting on the AZ/Nas collab being delayed.

Do you know how many times Nas made me wait for a project that never happened? I still remember adding Nas "Slave to the Page: Book of Rhymes" to my amazon wish list back in like 2005, which was supposed to pretty much be what Decoded ended up being for Jay.

I just googled it and it supposedly has a release day of June 2019

Slave to a Page : The Book of Rhymes by Nasir Jones (Hardcover): Booksamillion.com: Books

Even if that's true (which I doubt) it would still mean he had that book on the shelf for 15 years

Still waiting for Lost Tapes 2 and we going on 2 years since Nas spoke "the album done nikkas wait and see"

This post aged soooooo badly

 

[kej718]

AZ signing to that label was the worst thing that could have happened to him. As far a collab album back then it is hard to do because Nas is the bigger name of the 2, so how is the label going to split everything? If anything Nas tried to bring AZ to the mainstream with the Firm, and that didn't go the way it was expected. This was right after his most successful album.

They can do it now and you see from that last AZ verse when the 2 of them come together they have to bring their A game.

 

[Zero]

It was the speech impediment

 

[Metal Face]

AZ kept himself in the shadow by picking even shyttier beats than Nas

 

[Mike Wins]

Nas put AZ on, appeared on his albums, did The Firm. What more you want?

AZ never reached the commercial heights he could have because he never had the machine all the way behind him. Really that simple. In the mid-late 90s you needed the big budget videos, the label and management pushing you on radio to get any bigger than AZ was. There were very few exceptions to that. AZ's management didn't get him guest appearances on big R&B artists singles. Label didn't get him big name guests on his albums outside of Nas. He never had a top A&R team working with him. Never had a Stoute or Puff or Chris Lighty in his corner.

Stoute wanted to sign him but he stayed loyal to his people he came in with. I think Stoute undermined him and Nas relationship because of that. Bad business move and it cost him but Nas did what he could. Usually there's a very small window for an artist to get a big commercial break, for AZ that was 96/97 but with his label folding and The Firm underperforming it never happened for him.

 

[Pop123]

Walk with me for a sec... and older heads please chime in (because I could be wrong... it's just a theory)

Illmatic came out in 1994. It was universally heralded as a classic and Nas was on his way. One of the standout tracks was "Life's a bytch", featuring Brooklyn rapper AZ. It could even be argued that AZ outshined Nas on this track.

While Illmatic was a critical success, it didn't really catch on mainstream. There's no record of any of the singles charting.

In 1995, AZ releases his debut album featuring the hit single "Sugar Hill". "Sugar Hill" topped at 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, higher than any Nas song at that point in his career.

Enter 1996. Nas drops "It Was Written" with his breakout single "If I Ruled the World" "If I Ruled the World" topped out at 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Street Dreams" peaked at 22. [It must have been a timing situation because IIRTW is clearly the more popular song]

From that point on their careers go different directions, but they did collab on the failed Firm project and numerous songs in the future. For some reason, AZ is relegated to underground rapper status while Nas becomes a superstar.

Here's why I think Nas wanted AZ to stay in his shadow.

• Over the years, despite fans CLAMORING for the AZ/Nas collab project, it's never happened. This is largely due to Nas. He's the bigger star and dictates what happens. Nas has never really had a good excuse for the collab not dropping either.
• AZ blew up commercially before Nas, Nas probably felt some way about it. Especially after putting AZ on.
• Nas kept delaying the collabo album and now nobody wants that shyt.

Questions I have for NY/older cats:
Why didn't Sugar Hill launch AZ into superstardom? I remember hearing it all over the radio. It's about a good of a single one can ask for in their career.
Why wasn't AZ seen on Nas' level? He's got the lyrics, flow, and even has the look.
Has there ever been any public beef between the two? (i.e. Did Nas feel some type of way about AZ being in Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" video.)

This is all just theory and an attempt to get some real hip-hop discussion going. Nas is my favorite rapper alive but I always wondered why AZ was underrated.

When posts/threads are this long, 99% I never read the whole thing, I just skim...but I actually read this entire thing. You are forgetting that Nas helped to push and promote "Sugar Hill" by appearing in the video (I'm sure for free). He didn't just appear, he's all over the video, acting and all that. He also made the decision to include AZ in The Firm and have him work with Dre and all that fly shyt. I mean, if you're hinting at Nas lowkey tryna dim AZ's light, that's just simply not facts bruh, at all. AZ is/was great but nobody was calling him the new and improved Rakim...girls weren't going crazy like that over him...he didn't have the buzz around him leading up to his debut that Nas had around him...I mean there's madd reasons why AZ was never received like Nas was commercially. AZ didn't have Steve Stoute and Tommy Motola and all that either.

 

[Wild self]

This is exactly what it is .
I remember the MTV UK interview where Trevor Nelson (big time media ad DJ guy in the UK) interviewed Nas and they were talking about his career and Trevor mentioned AZ when Nas was talking about New York in the 90s and how some guys put in the work to stay afloat. Trevor was working for EMI who distributed Noo Trybe at the time and he said everyone he reached to the US offices about AZ doing promo tours or interviews, they could not find where dude was

There's a whole slew/generation of New York rappers in the 90s who didnt blow up cause they simply didnt want to do the grind of regular label shyt (interview, tours, shoots etc) and dudes would literally go missing and the label couldn't even find them. Nas was like that too, Big had his moments too until guys like Stoute and Puff tried to pull them in. Think about others who actually did blow up and the reason why they reign was short. DMX skipped out big award show performances, you could never get Wu Tang together always like Brockhampton now (shytty comparison I know), Large Professor go missing for years, Big L rather be on the block for like 2 years etc etc
AZ was part of that pack

A lot of 90s rappers thought that the label should do all the work, just because they are extra nice on the mic. That entitlement, is why so many classic albums that should have dropped, never did

I heard that back then, rappers only worked 4-5 months out the year, and basically play video games, smoke weed, record occasionally for the rest of the year, and only drop an album once every 2 to 4 years. A lot of dudes, compared to today, were rather lazy.

 

[Monoblock]

Yea this thread didnt age well at all.
Nas even appeared in the Mo Money Mo Murder Mo Homicide video all tied up and beat up for his man's single.

I'm sure Nas tapped Hype to let AZ in Belly for his little scene with the baby (we not gonna even get into the actual scene and how he didnt look out for Nas )

shyt just happens man and Nas made a way to have the better overall career but who's to say AZ isnt happy where he is or satisfied with what he got out of his career. Just appreciate both for what they gave us and still giving us over 20+ years.

 

[Suspicions]

 

[surv2syn]

The way I always looked at it was Nas could’ve done more for AZ career and made him bigger but he never held him back. AZ not becoming bigger was not Nas fault. It was a mix of things. Label, changing landscape, a&r direction, timing, production, etc…

Nate should’ve been bigger too.

 

[DaRock]

We go hear the same thing about Dave East soon, although Nas literally pulled him from the gutter and gave him an opportunity to do what the fukk ever he wanted to..

But it's gonna be Nas fault the consumers don't fukk with these dudes like that...Nas gotta force them and go ALL the way outta his WAY to make the consumer love these guys

nikka he's shouting these nikkas out, doing songs but if he doesn't do a FULL album then he's hating or trying to keep these dudes in his shadow, when in many ways he brought these dudes to the forefront, you can't make this shyt up

 

[DaRock]

The way I always looked at it was Nas could’ve done more for AZ career and made him bigger but he never held him back. AZ not becoming bigger was not Nas fault. It was a mix of things. Label, changing landscape, a&r direction, timing, production, etc…

Nate should’ve been bigger too.

He wasn't AZ's fukkin manager..
.How can you do more for your peer, other than make him the only guest appearance on arguably the greatest hip hop album ever..

Create an East Coast group album produced by Dr.Dre(only because of Nas)

Be a guest appearance on his fist album..

Do multiple songs with dude..

Have him apart of a movie that features the hottest nikka at that time(DMX- Belly)..


This is disgusting..you literally wanted Nas to hold this dude hand..

He can't help if the people don't feel AZ like that, although dude is nice..

 

[Yehuda]

Did Nas force AZ to put out bullshyt joints?

 

[The_Third_Man]

AZ is talented rapper but he doesn't have "it". he's not very interesting.

 

[Wacky D]

They had a fallout or two.