Kanye lazily addressed his “slavery” comment by stating that wasn’t even him “on a wild day.” Similarly, Nas succinctly deflects the Kelis allegations by rhyming, “go write whatever blog, messiness is not ever the god, do what’s necessary, I’m never worried,” on the pensive “everything.” They’re two prideful, self-aggrandized moments that rouses their devout supporters as much as they agitate their critics. That reality was compounded by the presence of Kanye as curator. I knew that listening to his next project - which Kanye announced shortly before Kelis’ interview - would be more complicated to evaluate than his past work.

While Nas may be better with his words than 99.9% of men, perhaps he’s just as susceptible as any to abusive behavior. Kelis’ allegations have to be taken seriously. No one knows the true nature of Nas and Kelis’ relationship, but the compulsion to inherently discredit women’s allegations in order to keep our peace of mind has to stop. In an ever-expanding pool of abusive or dimwitted artists, some of whom make you want to throw the whole rapper out, Nas could be counted on as a guilt-free outlier. His name is so weighted that merely stating allegiance is regarded as a badge of hip-hop purity - ask his traditionalist stans who take it upon themselves to strictly govern what “is” or “isn’t” hip-hop. In fact, more than any veteran, mainstream hip-hop artist, he hearkens to the essence of hip-hop as a culture instead of the billion-dollar industry it’s become today. I didn’t want to not be able to enjoy a Nas project in the manner that I always have. The same happened to me with Kanye West, I just couldn’t get into his Ye album after the idiotic slavery comments and Trump advocacy that preceded it. Ever since Kelis accused Nas of getting blackout drunk and beating her up during their marriage, I knew I’d have a different listening experience with his music.

Nasir album tracklist