I remember an interview from Nas maybe by MTV I think where he was sitting in a car and he got a call from his agent about doing commercials and endorsing products to capitalise on his fame and Nas responded that doing business other than music made you a sucker and a sellout. Nas never became a music mogul like his peers and watched them pass him by. Even though he won the battle he didn't win the war as he signed to the empire Jay-Z had made a place for him wanting to be at Def Jam. A real sucker move on his part, first time Nas was slippin imo. Fast forward 15 years and...
I do rate Nas on his recent business successes, but his stupid ideal of "selling out" made him miss the opportunities that other rappers/artists didn't take for granted like 2Pac, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Birdbrain, Master P, Puffy etc. Nas had a 5-10 year start on his peers and didn't put no one on, become a mogul or make major investments until now.
Soooooooooo