大象传媒

In a special bonus episode of The Fight Of The Century, 大象传媒 Radio 5 Live's Nihal Arthanayake speaks with hip hop legend Nas about his parents' experiences of 1960s America, his upbringing and racism.

鈥淭hey were living it. They were fighting. My pops was in the navy, my Mom went to New York City. It was hard to see 鈥� it was hard for them to watch all the turmoil. It gave them wisdom. Teaching me and my brother about life, they had all the information. They saw things opening up, they saw opportunities鈥� they saw how bad it could be, I wasn鈥檛 allowed to play with toy guns outside, [I was] told as a child a cop could kill you and say they thought the toy was a gun. You see things like Tamir Rice a few years ago. You realise that thing has been happened before I was born and is still happening now.鈥�

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect to be born into a perfect world. I learned quickly that it鈥檚 real out here, from being a small child.

鈥淐oming from the south 鈥� my mom from North Carolina and my dad from Mississippi - they saw another level of it, from another time. But they were more about us being great, us being unstoppable at life. They wanted us to find careers and things that we love 鈥� they wanted us to enjoy life.鈥�

鈥淸They told me] things like, 鈥榖ecause you鈥檙e dark, you gotta work harder鈥�. 鈥楯ust know that it鈥檚 not going to be easy. But that鈥檚 what gives you characters, heart and makes you strong.鈥� That鈥檚 all I needed to know.鈥�

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