AllRespect.com // Nas Says Common's Fox News Critics Are 'Just Miserable'

Posted on 2011-05-17 03:00:23
Artist/band(s): Nas [FB]

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663963/nas-common-white-house.jhtml

Complaints about Common's White House appearance show detractors 'are not open to change,' Nas tells MTV News.By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

NasPhoto: MTV News

Common might be the latest rapper targeted by Fox News, but he isn't the first. Years before Fox News described the largely progressive Chi-Town MC as a "vile rapper" on its website, Nas faced similar criticisms.

In an exclusive sit-down with Nasty Nas, MTV News' Sway Calloway got the Illmatic rapper's take on Fox's reaction after Michelle Obama invited Common to the White House for a May 11 poetry reading.

"The people who feel like Common shouldn't be performing are really old in their thinking," Nas said. "It's like your grandparents have a microphone, and not even smart grandparents — just ignorant grandparents."

Nas faced similar criticism in 2007 after he performed a free concert in support of students in the wake of the now-infamous Virginia Tech shooting. Fox News correspondent Bill O'Reilly denounced the performance and criticized Nas for his violent lyrics.

"Things change. So, a smart grandparent is gonna say, 'OK, I get it.'Ignorant grandparents who are just stuck in their own ways, they just need to die," Nas said. "There's a new America: There's a real good America that's here, and they don't want it to happen because it means that they are gone.

"It scares the hell out of them. They feel like an endangered species in their way of thinking," he continued. "People that are not open to change are just miserable."

Regardless of the criticism, Common went on with his scheduled White House appearance last week. He has declined MTV News' requests for comment.

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