During the early ‘90s, acclaimed rapper and producer, Large Professor, supplied Nas with beats for his Illmatic album and in a new video interview with Out Da Box TV the former Main Source member reminisces about working with the Queensbridge rapper.
“There’s a lot of memories man but I remember there was one time–because he [Nas] was staying in Flushing a lot while he was doing the Illmatic album–he let me hear ‘N.Y. State of Mind’ after he and Q-Tip knocked it out,” Large Pro recalled. “He let me hear the joint and he said, ‘So now I’m jetting to the building lobby/And it was filled with children probably couldn’t see as high as I be.’ When I heard that he put those two together in a rhyme, I remember laughing mad hard and bugging out.
“He always would come out of the norm as far as the words he would rhyme and it was always very impressive,” he continued. “That’s what always made me have faith in Nas.”
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During the interview, the Harlem native listed both Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. as rappers he would’ve liked the chance to work with in the ‘90s. And in regard to his current music, he says that his focus remains on wordplay. “Things that inspire me are just my interest in the English language, slang, and writing,” he explained. “We grew up hip-hop saying all different kinds of words and slang–this is for us, this is our language. I don’t speak all these different languages, so my language is slang.”
In 2002 Large Professor released his debut 1st Class which featured guest appearances from Nas, Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip. And in late 2010, he revealed that he had recorded new tracks with Nas but did not elaborate on when they would be released.
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