Last week, Nas joined Charlie Rose for PBS' tribute to Maya Angelou where the Queens native also took the time to discuss his influences and impact on the game, hip hop culture, and more. During the interview, Nas discussed the current state of Hip Hop in comparison to when his career first began over two decades ago. "Today it's a lot easier to get into the rap game but, back then in '94, it was a lot harder," Nas says when describing his journey to success which began with his first feature on Main Source's "Live At The Bbq," followed by the release of his classic debut album, Illmatic, released 20 years ago. Discussing the impact that Illmatic had in hip hop, Rose asks the emcee if he felt that his presence changed hip hop to which he replied, "Yes. Yes I did and it was my point to. I was a new voice and being a new voice, automatically it was beyond my control." Speaking on his influences coming up Nas states, "I've influenced a few artists for sure and I've been influenced by a lot of artists as well... Slick Rick, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, A Tribe Called Quest, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra. It's a wide list."
