Hit-Boy Talks "Magic" & DJ Premier's Reaction To Nas' Gang Starr Line

January 10, 2022

Hit-Boy reacts to Nas calling them "the new Gang Starr" and speaks about "Wave Gods" and "Meet Joe Black" in his new cover story.

Nas and Hit-Boy are having a moment, delivering three straight albums in the later stage of Nas' career, which all sound like they could rank near the top of the legendary emcee's loaded discography.

With Nas, Hit-Boy has been on an insurmountable run. It feels like, at this point, he's delivering the best sounds in all of hip-hop, cementing himself as a true producer's producer. That's why we had to catch up with Hit-Boy for our first digital cover story of the new year, chopping it up with the 34-year-old Grammy-winner for all of his stories on the making of Magic, including the two stand-out songs "Meet Joe Black" and "Wave Gods," as well as DJ Premier's reaction to Nas calling him and Hit-Boy "the new Gang Starr."



Speaking about the surprise release of Magic, Hit-Boy revealed that Nas locked in on this album as soon as KD2 was complete.

"We started working on Magic right after KD2 came out, King's Disease II. I just was just inspired, man," said Hit-Boy. "I had the vision for where to take the album, as far as just kind of... Man, it's crazy because I was trying not to be super obvious on King's Disease and King's Disease II, that's why you got songs like 'Spicy,' '27 Summers.' You got songs like 'YKTV' in the mix, and it's because I was trying to keep some of his essence, but still give him a new flare aesthetically. You know what I'm saying? Musically. But this one, I said, 'F*ck it. I'm going to just give these motherf*ckers what they want. I'm going to just give them the most Nas-level beats I can.' I usually don't want to be so obvious and be like, 'Oh, I have to make a Nas beat.' This one, I said, 'Cool, this what y'all want? I'm about to give this sh*t to y'all,' and it's been the biggest reception so far. And this was probably the easiest for us to make because it was just Nas music. You know what I'm saying?



Finally, Hit-Boy discussed the making of "Wave Gods,"DJ Premier's contributions to the record, and his reaction to Nas' "Gang Starr" line.

"We study this, man, we look at what people are saying. I seen a lot of people [saying the Gang Starr comparisons], and Nas must've caught wind of that too, to throw that bar in there," he said. "The beat sounded like a Premier beat, like some Gang Starr sh*t or whatever the case. It just was a vibe. I mean, if Drake can say he turned into Jay[-Z], how the f*ck Nas can't say me and him is the new Gang Starr?

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