Unbelievable? No. I'm just acknowledging the line. Didn't know he had ties to that crew back then outside of Eric B.
I think Preme was their unofficial manager
DX: I always thought it wasn’t so much personal or anything but that the media kind of did that in when they started anointing Nas “the second coming.”
Large Professor: Right.
DX: I always just speculated that Ra took a little offense to that and that’s why he never really worked with Nas.
Large Professor: Right, right, right.
DX: You don’t have any extra insight into that, if that’s true or not?
Large Professor: Well, with Rakim and Nas, it wasn’t nurtured.
The dudes [in the Paid In Full Posse] who were co-signing Nas couldn’t really get to Rakim like that, like Supreme [Magnetic], [DJ] Hot Day, Ant Live – Ant Live was Eric B’s brother. Like, a lot of times when I’d be doing the sessions I’d be in there getting busy and I’d be doing Nas shyt and Supreme would come in and be like, “Yo, that shyt is hot!” Or Hot Day would be in there and be like, “Yo Paul, that shyt is hot right there, y’all doing good” kind of thing.
But Rakim was kinda in his own zone, where it was like, “Yo, be quiet.” Like, “When Ra is here, just let that man think.” We gonna chill and let him get his work done kind of shyt. So, you know, for it to be like that to begin with, you wouldn’t come and overlap and be like, Yo Ra, by the way, Nas man – It was just good that he came in on it and that he did have knowledge of [Nas]. I wasn’t even trying to push the issue. I wasn’t like, Yo, you should sign him! It was just like, nah, now Ra gotta get [in the studio] and do what Ra gotta do. ‘Cause that’s the God right there, so it’s like, “Alright, we gotta turn this shyt off, wrap this shyt up real quick and let Rakim do what he gotta do
Large Professor On '90s Babies, Nas & Rakim's Relationship And Lupe Fiasco's Rights To "T.R.O.Y."
