Ricardo A. Hazell
©2016, The Shadow League
Nas’ ability to seek out business deals that are in line with his personal beliefs have to be applauded.
Never one to mute his view of the world, he recently announced he would be selling a line of kneeling Santa Christmas sweaters, an homage to Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protest, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Center of Criminal Justice Reform.
During an interview with Revolt TV Vice Chairman Andre Harrell, Nas explained his thoughts on the historic significance of the matter.
“It was so a ‘Thank God’ moment for me,” said Nas. “Every generation should have a few that ain’t havin it. I was fortunate enough to have an interest in brave people throughout history. I grew up where that’s what we were doing to get to the ’90s and 2000s, where the hip hop industry is a billion-dollar industry, the sports industry is a trillion-dollar industry. I was looking around and said, ‘This generation don’t have that.’ [That] leadership, brave ones out there who would do things. I been known I’ve done some things where people was like, ‘That’s career suicide, what are you doing?’”
“To see this generation have someone to do something so powerful as Kaepernick did, it was a ‘Thank God’ moment,” he reiterated. “I even needed to see that, this generation needed to see that: ‘This who you are. You are strong.’ My generation, we seen [people speak out and lead] it and we were desperately needing someone younger… He stepped up and hit a home run.”
Like Kaeprnick, Nas recently expressed his feelings on the legacy of deceased Cuban leader Fidel Castro on social and was lambasted for his opinion in a land where freedom of speech is supposed to be protected.
His Instagram post read, “RIP KING FIDEL CASTRO #revolutionary only 5% understand. I’m not Cuban, I don’t fully know how he affected my Cuban family, so I’m sending strength and power for your pains. But lots of us, as Black people, n some others in the USA, we saw him as an Ally in the Struggle.”
No word yet on when the kneeling Santa sweater is slated to drop, but we’ll be keeping our heads on a swivel.
This story originally appeared on TheShadowLeague.com, a site dedicated to journalistically sound sports coverage with a cultural perspective that insightfully informs sports fans worldwide.
