Official Nas Thread

[Budda]

I'm sorry but i think posters on here would do a better job than her if they were on Nas team, @spliz @Ziggiy @Piff Perkins@Primetime21 is perplexing she doesn't understand that the best way to boost sales is to do collabos on his own album that he simply hasn't done, also appear on other notable artists album to build a buzz. Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J Cole, Kodak Black, Metro Boomin are all artists who have publicly spoke about their admiration or intention to ork with Nas, its Nas who hasn't extended that olive branch and worked with them.

His best selling album of the series contained the features with Em and Lauryn and thats no coincidence, if Nas teams want more sales then they need to act like it, i always said they missed a chance of adding Drake on Replace Me for example, these are things that add a few extra k to your first week sales, and generate more money in the long run.

Nas still has the ability to create songs that are relevant to a younger audience, but he needs to branch out to the younger artists who are moving the needle amongst these younger audiences, he is one of the most respected artists in music business, there is very few artists who would turn down an opportunity to work with Nas, its up to Nas to extend that olive branch, i mean we've seen tweets of Metro Boomin reaching out to him publicly to work with him 10 years ago and its only now that collabo has happened, the older fans are generally happy with him producing great music but as a business i understand its only natural for his team to expect more love sales wise that aligns with the greatness of his work, if thats the case they need to make some moves, which are pretty straight forward to act on it.

 

[Ziggiy]

She clearly doesnt get that Nas fanbase has kids, wives, work and bills..

Its days where I dont wanna hear no rap.. Im at that stage..lol. fuhk that

I’m always gonna wanna hear GOOD rap and i’m always gonna wanna hear Nas. I’m just talking strictly about if she and by proxy Nas team wants certain results then its proven that the more traditional aspect of an album rollout works better for Nas sales wise. I think putting the onus on the same fans who sold out MSG, sold out The NY State Of Mind Tour from state to state, called out publications like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone for their biased and downright untrue coverage of Nas music, purchase the merchandise, etc. I don’t rock with that. Nas is the ONLY rapper that debuted in the early 90’s who is selling anything over 20K first week. Literally, he’s the ONLY ONE from the Golden Age who moves the needle. Fans are supporting Nas.

 

[L. Deezy]

I’m always gonna wanna hear GOOD rap and i’m always gonna wanna hear Nas. I’m just talking strictly about if she and by proxy Nas team wants certain results then its proven that the more traditional aspect of an album rollout works better for Nas sales wise. I think putting the onus on the same fans who sold out MSG, sold out The NY State Of Mind Tour from state to state, called out publications like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone for their biased and downright untrue coverage of Nas music, purchase the merchandise, etc. I don’t rock with that. Nas is the ONLY rapper that debuted in the early 90’s who is selling anything over 20K first week. Literally, he’s the ONLY ONE from the Golden Age who moves the needle. Fans are supporting Nas.

Right

 

[Prolific_1011]

This is almost laughable. You have to throw features on to get more spins, or does she think its a coincidence that the album with Lauryn Hill and Eminem on it sold the most out of the KD series? What makes it even more comical is that from “her”’own words, using quotations because I dont know what she really knows, there were young artists with fanbases that wanted to be part of KD3 and even wanted to promote it and those collaborations didnt happen. So you cant turn down free promotion and then come finger wagging at the fans for not doing more. Her whole shtick of blaming fans for shyt that they as a label/marking entity are supposed to be doing is so corny. For goodness sake she was recruiting fans to make album promotion posters for KD3 core Nas fans are not teeny boppers with time to be doing this shyt

Yep. Plus from her own mouth, his team (specifically, Gabe/G-Code) was upset that Nas rejected a collab with Drake.

 

[kes929]

Talked about Nas international fanbase vs North America

Said Nas and Mass Appeal are HUGE in India and that if North American fans treated Nas like he’s treated in India he’d be so rich he’d probably retire (She said it as a joke)

Talked a lot about sales and insinuated that Nas hopping on Soundtracks is an attempt to reach younger fans because the Core fanbase isn’t doing enough

I asked her if Nas is supposedly not doing so well with these algorithms why are so many artists and companies still clamoring to work with him. She basically said that Mass Appeal is more of a media/entertainment company and not just a label and the fact that Mass Appeal does business with every major company we can think of Nas will always be front and center because he’s the face of the company. She also said Nas has friends in high places that love him and like being associated with him so Nas will never have a problem getting placements.

Said Nas is most popular in India, Africa, Australia, and The UK. She said Nas is willing to do more special stuff for the fans overseas like meet & greets and special song performances because he’s more appreciated and the fans are extremely respectful.

She said Nas team was dismayed by the sales reception for KD3. Said Nas will go back to working with other artists but he thought the fans would support and be appreciative he held down an entire album dolo.

I pointed out that Nas is the only rapper besides Jay-Z to have 15 top ten debuting albums and does that signify support and consistency? She basically said the albums need legs and that international support is what makes the albums turn a profit.

She spent some time trying to educate us on how sales and streams work and how bigger artists fans do this and that and Nas fans aren’t really up on streaming. She basically said that Billboard will “bend the rules” when it comes to counting bundles towards sales for artists like Taylor Swift and Travis Scott but Nas wouldn’t get that same treatment.

She mentioned Nas gets a lot of internet support but that doesn’t translate to sales

She said Nas DOES sell a shytload of merch and she’s trying to get more bundles and merch packages poppin. She said Nas fans “Show Out” for Merch

She confirmed KD3 was mostly recorded while he was on tour with the Wu. Said it might be the most expensive of the KD albums because Nas had to fly Hit Boy out several times both in America and overseas

She basically confirmed a new album is coming. She said the team is trying to strategize how to best reach fans. She specifically said interviews and being on the Breakfast club doesn’t move the needle

You broke this out perfectly

 

[HNIC973]

Basically. How old is this chick? She doesn’t really seem to have a gauge on how shyt works.

25 she's expecting us to be like Beyonce fans or some shyt. Nas on Spotify has been at steady 10.3 to 10.4 million followers, that song with Metro jumped to 10.8 in not even a day. Do features that matter R-means are cool, but it's obvious what features get the streams up he hasn't done them. Again, I'm not believing that Nas is so called disgruntled about the sales he doesn't move like he does. She also said labels might not see the interest with a K-Dot or Cole Nas collab so there's no push for it I'm calling BS on that. Since she keeps bringing up the other guy his top 10 currently on Spotify 6 Ye on 1 his wife 1 A keys 1 Rihanna only 1 song is a solo

 

[kes929]

I can only infer as a fan from the things she says and what we actually see but it seems to ME there is some sort of disconnect between Nas core team and whatever portion of the team she’s on (the marketing team I guess)

She says Nas interviews don’t move the needle but the two albums in which he DID do extensive interviews (KD1 and 2) he did very good first week. She really harped on Rolling Stone and said NOBODY on Nas team fukks with Rolling Stone and I get it. But Rolling Stone ain’t the only media publication out there. There’s a gazillion podcasts and publications plugged DIRECTLY into the culture that Nas could easily hop on to do promo. ESPN plays Nas songs all day, he could hop on First Take for a ten minute interview (Stephen A LOVES Nas) muthafukking anchors on CNN quote Nas lyrics! He could go on there 10 minuted promoting his booming business portfolio and the album. None of these opportunities are out of his grasp if he WANTS them.

Now if he doesn’t then thats completely up to him. I’ll always buy a Nas album no matter what so it doesn’t matter to me. But when we got someone whose plugged into Nas and his team lamenting the lack of sales when Nas himself doesn’t really push it then it just seems weird

Nas sold out MSG EASY! Fans support Nas. I’ve seen him in concert 7 times including last year with the Wu. The shyt was PACKED. And it wasn’t all old people either. Younger women LOVE Nas and think he’s attractive, and dude is about to be FIFTY!

It just seems like Mass Appeal as a company is doing more for Nas as a brand than they are for him as an artist. The commercials he’s in like the Sprite ad and all the Hennessy stuff is excellent. They just need better marketing synergy when it comes to his releases

I honestly think the only disconnect with the sales and KD3 is the no features part. You are relying solely on your fan base only as opposed to other fan bases joining in. I like that it was no features, because it made it even more of a classic doing it so. However, if he had a few big features, in the mix with some younger features. The album probably would have sold in the 50k range as opposed to 30 k.

 

[CHERUB]

Yep. Plus from her own mouth, his team (specifically, Gabe/G-Code) was upset that Nas rejected a collab with Drake.

This why i respect Nas movements in the industry so much. Like its no need for Drake in 2023. The time to collab would have been 10 years ago. It be so much so much behind the scenes red tape we dont know about

 

[kes929]

I can only infer as a fan from the things she says and what we actually see but it seems to ME there is some sort of disconnect between Nas core team and whatever portion of the team she’s on (the marketing team I guess)

She says Nas interviews don’t move the needle but the two albums in which he DID do extensive interviews (KD1 and 2) he did very good first week. She really harped on Rolling Stone and said NOBODY on Nas team fukks with Rolling Stone and I get it. But Rolling Stone ain’t the only media publication out there. There’s a gazillion podcasts and publications plugged DIRECTLY into the culture that Nas could easily hop on to do promo. ESPN plays Nas songs all day, he could hop on First Take for a ten minute interview (Stephen A LOVES Nas) muthafukking anchors on CNN quote Nas lyrics! He could go on there 10 minuted promoting his booming business portfolio and the album. None of these opportunities are out of his grasp if he WANTS them.

Now if he doesn’t then thats completely up to him. I’ll always buy a Nas album no matter what so it doesn’t matter to me. But when we got someone whose plugged into Nas and his team lamenting the lack of sales when Nas himself doesn’t really push it then it just seems weird

Nas sold out MSG EASY! Fans support Nas. I’ve seen him in concert 7 times including last year with the Wu. The shyt was PACKED. And it wasn’t all old people either. Younger women LOVE Nas and think he’s attractive, and dude is about to be FIFTY!

It just seems like Mass Appeal as a company is doing more for Nas as a brand than they are for him as an artist. The commercials he’s in like the Sprite ad and all the Hennessy stuff is excellent. They just need better marketing synergy when it comes to his releases

Very valid point.

 

[FrankieLymon757]

Can we get a new Wu posse cut feat Nas is the question...imagine that

 

[spliz]

25 she's expecting us to be like Beyonce fans or some shyt. Nas on Spotify has been at steady 10.3 to 10.4 million followers, that song with Metro jumped to 10.8 in not even a day. Do features that matter R-means are cool, but it's obvious what features get the streams up he hasn't done them. Again, I'm not believing that Nas is called disgruntled about the sales he doesn't move like he does. She also said labels might not see the interest with a K-Dot or Cole Nas collab so there's no push for it I'm calling BS on that. Since she keeps bringing up the other guy his top 10 currently on Spotify 6 Ye on 1 his wife 1 A keys 1 Rihanna only 1 song is a solo

25? Shorty is a baby she buggin out. Lol.

 

[kes929]

Y’all have valid points about the disconnect from fans and her. One thing I think I could do better as a fan is support the singles better by buying the individual song. Especially since those are only $1.29 each. It sounds like songs can really shoot up charts and visibility if even 1,500 fans bought a single for 1.29.

 

[Ziggiy]

Can we get a new Wu posse cut feat Nas is the question...imagine that

Can the Wu get on a track amongst THEMSELVES should be the question

 

[HNIC973]

Can the Wu get on a track amongst THEMSELVES should be the question

they jumped on that Statik song

 

[Piff Perkins]

Not to sound like a broken record but there seems to be a disconnect between how Nas actually moves and what this chick is obsessed over. You don't do surprise releases or next to no promo if you're trying to sell records. I seriously doubt Nas is sitting around pressed about sales, especially after MSG. However if I was a glorified street team person enjoying the perks of my boss being active (jet rides, overseas tours, noteworthy LA meetings, etc) I'd be focused on keeping the gravy train rolling too. The main thing running it is Nas being passionate and rejuvenated, and if his focus changes then suddenly that chick is stuck in NY again. So she wants to run numbers up and show that this thing is going great but she doesn't know how to do it. That's my read on this, personally.

The 21 Savage song has more total Spotify streams than any song off KD1-3 and Magic except for Spicy. And it was released six months ago. If you want to do more numbers it's pretty obvious what to do: big features and collabs people want to hear. Cole, Kendrick, Jay, Drake, Kodak, [insert popular r&b chick] etc. Doesn't have to be some Blueprint 3-type mash of features either. Just a handful of big ones, throw in something for the old heads (Jada), do actual promo with some interviews and podcast stops, drop a dope video with one of the features...and you can do 50-60k first week while ensuring healthier sales in subsequent weeks. I still don't understand what they thought they were doing with the KD3 release strategy.

I'd switch up on the 100% Hit Boy thing too but I'd imagine nobody here agrees. He can do the majority of the album and exec produce but I'm not turning down a boi1da or 40 beat with a Drake verse. I'm not turning down a dope Alchemist beat. I'm throwing Dre on there just because fukk it. No ID is probably scrapping that big Kanye album he was working on...best believe I'm calling him and asking for a beat. Anything I can do to make a BIG record, I'm doing it this time.