‘Yara Shahidi’s Day off’: Yara Shahidi and Rapper Nas Discuss Community and Youth in Season Finale [Exclusive Clip]
In the season finale of Yara Shahidi’s Day Off on Facebook Watch, Yara Shahidi hosts rapper, and recording artist (and her cousin), Nas, for a heart-to-heart about the importance of community and his vision for the future generation.
The episode, “Family Reunion,” has Shahidi feeling a lot of love. “Family Over Everything! Got to sit down with my cuzzo Nasir, AKA Nas, the living legend and multi-platinum recording artist, his daughter Destiny, and my brother Sayeed for some family fun! Between games and mocktails, we share old and new family stories. Nas opens up about where he’s come from, what’s to come, and why he’s all about investing in the next generation,” she described the episode.
Yara and cousin Nas talk about learning from others
In an exclusive clip shared with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Shahidi observes how Nas surrounds himself with interesting people. She wonders how he cultivates community and the importance of being surrounded by people in different spaces.
“So the people I like around me are people that can teach me things I don’t know,” he says. “And people who can teach me things I didn’t know I needed to know. Then I pull from that. And they pull from where they’re from and we come together.”
What does Nas think is important for today’s youth?
Nas creates a dialog from these collaborative experiences. “We talk about the experience and learn,” he says. “And I think what’s important for the youth today is to take their experiences and turn those things into tools to use to navigate themselves through the tech world. Whatever future that they’re looking to have.”
His reflection on the younger generation shows how Nas takes the high road. Especially after 21 Savage shaded Nas, by publicly questioning his relevance. “He’s not relevant,” Savage said about Nas during a Clubhouse panel (via Revolt). “He just has a loyal fan base. He still makes good music. What’s y’all definition of relevance?”
The remark was met with outrage and questions about why would being young dictate relevance. Savage replied that relevancy is someone who “controls popular opinion, is closely connected, or is appropriate to what’s being done in order to be considered.”
Nas is all about building community and change
After the shady comment, Nas and 21 Savage shocked fans when they collaborated on the song”One Mic, One Gun” from Escobar.
But it goes back to Nas’s remark about learning and sharing with everyone around him. His passion for community extends far beyond music and Nas talked to Essence about lifting up local communities. “I want to go back to my neighborhood and grab 50 good guys have a talk with them about me bringing them into any kind of business and changing them into businessmen,” he said. “Seeing what happens over the course of a few years, give them the resources, introduce them to people, and seeing how that would change things.”
Yara Shahidi’s Day Off season finale debuts on Thursday, December 1st at 9amPT/12pmET on Facebook Watch.
