Nas Debuts at Number One
On his new album, Life Is Good, Nas goes into some detail about the ups and downs of his unsuccessful marriage to singer Kelis, with whom he has a son, Knight. But despite that tumultuous experience, the Queensbridge rapper says he still hopes to find happiness in matrimony someday.
"At some point I'll do it again. It'd be great. I want to be better at it. I want to be the best at it. I want to have fun," he said in a recent interview with NPR. "It's a beautiful life. You learn, you win, you lose, but you get up."
Nas said he's been heartened to hear that people have connected with his new album emotionally, particularly the song "Bye Baby," on which he describes first meeting Kelis and later going through divorce.
"For one, it means I nailed it and to me that is the greatest feeling of achievement," he said. "You don't want to disappoint. Especially someone like me who's been out of music for years and hasn't had an album in like, four years. I don't want to disappoint — that's a nightmare to me. So when I hear people love it or like it or even cry to it, it just says, 'Wow, I did something right. I got it; I got it done. I'm not falling off.' That song, I had to. It was to me the most important record on the album."
Once again single, Nas said he's still looking for the one. He talked about the difficulty he has meeting new women and noted that many famous artists have had a hard time forming lasting relationships.
"Well, I thought that I found one, and I don't know, bro. I'm messed up out here, man. I got the opportunity to meet people all over the world," he shared. "Brilliant women, tall women, short women, slim women, thick women, you name it. But, I don't meet them. I have the opportunities to and it's a little bit — I'm a little shy, so I don't meet them and I don't know who's right for me. I looked at people like Harry Belafonte — he's been married like three times; Richard Pryor — he's been married like five times. So many affluent men are faced with finding love problems. I'm sure beautiful, affluent women are faced with the same things sometimes. Halle Berry can't seem to get a break, you know what I'm saying? So, it's just something that I don't know if we'll ever figure out. I hope I do while I'm here."
One thing Nas can celebrate: his album is a success. Life Is Good debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts this week with an estimated 139,000 copies sold. The album, his 10th, is the sixth to land at No. 1.
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(Photo: Island Def Jam Records)