“I slept with Nas” double feature (tell-all book reviews)

[Blue_Tires]

Carmen Bryan’s It’s No Secret and Kim Osorio’s Straight From The Source

The Nas who recorded Illmatic as a hungry teenager was many things: a self-taught poet who dropped out of school in the eighth grade, the second coming of Rakim, a fiery political activist with a singular gift for rhetoric, and hip-hop’s lyrical messiah. He was a genius who created one of rap’s greatest, most unimpeachable albums while not old enough to drink legally. It’s hard to overstate Illmatic’s importance: Last year, Michael Eric Dyson edited Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas’ Illmatic, a compilation of essays about the album from leading members of the smart set. The book arrived on the heels of Matthew Gasteier’s entry on the instant classic for the 33 1/3 book series.

To Carmen Bryan, the mother of Nas’ daughter Destiny and the author of the tawdry tell-all It’s No Secret: From Nas To Jay-Z, From Seduction To Scandal—A Hip-Hop Helen Of Troy Tells All, the man-god born Nasir Jones wasn’t a poet or a prophet, but a broke-ass loser who still lived with his mother in the projects. And it wasn’t burning ambition that kept bumping back Illmatic’s release date.

Here’s Bryan on the real reason Nas kept listeners waiting:

I was used to people being all hot and bothered about Nas’s debut album. Sometimes it seemed all of New York City was in a fever of anticipation. Everyone assumed perfectionism was delaying Nas’s album. Though I hate to admit it, in my view, Nas was simply relaxed to the point of apathy about going into the studio.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/i-slept-with-nas-double-feature,38319/

more industry sleaziness at the link...