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Nas on racism, America and his upbringing

'I didn't expect to be born into a perfect world' - hip hop legend Nas talks to 5 Live's Nihal Arthanayake about his parents' experiences, upbringing, racism and America.

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

“They were living it. They were fighting. My pops was in the navy, my Mom went to New York City. It was hard to see – 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… they saw how bad it could be, I wasn’t 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.â€

“I didn’t expect to be born into a perfect world. I learned quickly that it’s real out here, from being a small child.

“Coming from the south – 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 – they wanted us to enjoy life.â€

“[They told me] things like, ‘because you’re dark, you gotta work harder’. ‘Just know that it’s not going to be easy. But that’s what gives you characters, heart and makes you strong.’ That’s all I needed to know.â€

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Release date:

Duration:

6 minutes