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Nas wants rappers to do better in their music.

And that means more honesty and more realness.

This past weekend was the 20th anniversary of “Illmatic” — one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time for its realness.

Recently, the “If I Ruled the World” rapper expressed concern over the lack of rappers taking on serious and real subject matters in their music.

TheGrio reports:

Nas’ classic album takes on social injustices and struggles of young black men growing up in an inner city, of which artists lack the honesty to talk about today.

“I don’t see enough emcees who are brave enough to be honest. I would like to see more of that. There’s a lot of good stuff, and there’s a lot of bad in rap,” he said.

He continued with:

“The socially conscious stuff can come off sometime as preachy, so a lot of people tend to stay away from it. It ain’t their bag. That’s not what they do. But still they kind of have some artistic responsibility to do more than what’s the latest trend,” he said.

Nas’ calling as a rapper had a lot to do with having a message.

He said many rappers today don’t have to have a message or gain respect in the game first anymore.

“Imagine me trying to come in that rap game at 19 years old. It was impossible,” said Nas. ” I had to do something that mattered, or I would not have gotten that respect from [the rapper at the time]. If I didn’t get that respect from them it was over. But now it’s a lot easier.”

What do you think of Nas’ call to action? Do you want honest rap? 

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(Photo Source: PR Photos)